By displaying the seven days on a single sheet, you get an instant view of who is working, where, and when, without having to open an app, refresh a dashboard, or juggle logins. This overview turns the daily balancing act between kitchen, dining room, and bar into a visual puzzle that you can solve in minutes instead of hours.
How does this template help you
Clarity in one page
A chart captures the entire week at a glance, bringing out trends and oversights immediately. You will see that Tuesday noon has only one server, or that Friday evening is overstaffed, even before the week starts.
Automatic calculation
Integrated formulas total the hours of each employee, indicate overtime in yellow, and put shifts of more than 8 hours in red. No need to retype hours into a calculator—you get an instant overview of compliance and labor costs.
Cover line
Line 5 shows how many people work each day. If your goal is to have five cooks on Friday and you only see four, you know you need to adjust.
History of changes
Since the changes are made on a dated file, you keep track of who was scheduled when, useful in the event of a dispute over the sharing of tips or during an inspection.
No learning curve
Anyone who has already opened Excel or Google Sheets can use it. New managers or shift managers can take over without additional training.
How to use it (5 minute setup)
- Type the name of your restaurant in cell A1 to personalize the sheet.
- Enter the Monday date that starts the week in cell C2 (today's date is pre-filled, but you can replace it). All day headers are automatically adjusted.
- Replace the fictional names on lines 6 through 25 with the actual members of your team. If you prefer to plan by role, replace “Employee” with “Waiter”, “Cook”, etc.
- In each day column, type the length of the shift—7.5, 8, 6—as needed. The cells only accept values from 0 to 24; an error is displayed in case of a typo (no shift of 77 hours by accident).
- Watch columns J (Total Hours) and K (Overtime) fill in automatically. Anything over 40 hours is shown in yellow so you can adjust before the schedule is published.
- Take a look at line 5 to check the daily headcount.
- Need more lines? Insert one and copy an existing line with formulas, everything remains functional.
The model is a great starting point
It's perfect for independent restaurants or one-of-a-kind establishments that need a lightweight, clear, and immediate tool. But as complexity grows, software takes on the same purpose (right person, right place, right time) while adding automation, compliance, and mobile convenience. A lot of restaurants use both: → The table as a draft, → and software as a reliable source once the schedule has started.
