SPMH (Sales Per Man Hour, or sales per labour hour) measures how many euros of revenue each hour worked by the team generates. It is the key labour productivity indicator in restaurants.
SPMH (Sales Per Man Hour, also called sales per labour hour) is a fundamental operational metric that measures how efficiently a restaurant's team works by relating the revenue generated to the hours of work needed to generate it. It is calculated by dividing total revenue (excluding VAT) by the total number of hours worked by all employees in the same period. Unlike labour cost, which expresses staff cost as a percentage of sales, SPMH expresses it in productivity terms: how much each hour of work generates. The two metrics are inversely related but offer complementary perspectives.
A restaurant may have a high labour cost because it pays its team well, but if that team is highly productive (high SPMH), the cost is justified. Typical SPMH in Spanish restaurants varies by type of venue: an efficient fast-food outlet can reach €50–70 per hour worked thanks to standardisation and high volume; a well-run casual restaurant sits at €35–50; a gastronomic restaurant, where service is more labour-intensive, may be at €25–40. SPMH also varies dramatically by time of day: peak service hours (1–3 pm, 9–11 pm in Spain) generate far higher SPMH than off-peak hours (prep, closing, between services). That variation is exactly what makes SPMH so useful for operational management: it lets you identify unproductive time slots where you are overstaffed and productive ones where you may be short, so you can optimise your rotas.
SPMH can be calculated for the whole restaurant, by department (kitchen vs. front of house), by shift, by day of the week or even by time slot, giving a detailed picture of where value is created and where productivity is lost.
SPMH = Total sales (excl. VAT) / Total hours worked
Calculating SPMH is straightforward: divide the period's revenue (excluding VAT) by the total hours worked by all employees in that period. If your restaurant took €8,500 on a Saturday and the team worked a combined 195 hours (adding up every employee's hours), that day's SPMH is 8,500 / 195 = €43.59. For a weekly or monthly figure, add up the revenue for every day and the hours for every employee. If you take €42,000 in a week with 980 hours worked, weekly SPMH is €42.86.
To analyse by time slot, you need to record sales per hour and the staff hours present at each moment. If between 9 pm and 10 pm you take €1,200 with 8 employees on (8 hours of work), SPMH for that slot is €150; but between 4 pm and 5 pm you take €200 with 4 employees on (4 hours), SPMH is just €50. That comparison shows where the optimisation potential lies. SPMH can also be calculated by department: if the kitchen accounts for 400 hours a week and front of house for 580 hours, you can allocate sales proportionally (or use another allocation rule) to see which department is more productive.
Your restaurant takes €52,000 a month (excluding VAT) with a team of 8 full-time employees (8 × 40 hours × 4 weeks = 1,280 hours a month) and 3 part-timers for busy periods (3 × 20 hours × 4 weeks = 240 hours a month). Total hours: 1,520. Overall SPMH: 52,000 / 1,520 = €34.21. The benchmark for your type of casual restaurant is €38–45, so you are below it.
You break it down by day and time slot: on Tuesdays and Wednesdays you take €1,400 a day with the same team as on Fridays and Saturdays (€2,800 a day). Midweek SPMH is €22; weekend SPMH is €44. The problem is clear: too many staff on quiet days. You reorganise the rota: on Tuesdays and Wednesdays you cut 2 people (16 hours less per day × 8 days a month = 128 hours).
New total: 1,392 hours. New SPMH: 52,000 / 1,392 = €37.36. You have improved productivity by 9% without affecting service, because those hours were surplus. The saving in labour cost (128 hours × €12 gross per hour = €1,536 a month) goes straight to profit.
SPMH matters because it is the metric that links staffing decisions directly and actionably to business results. While labour cost tells you whether you are spending a lot or a little on staff relative to sales (the cost view), SPMH tells you how much those staff are producing (the productivity view). A restaurant with a 32% labour cost may look reasonable, but if its SPMH is €28 when the benchmark is €40, it has a productivity problem: the team is not generating the value it should. There can be many causes: a team too large for current volume, hours poorly matched to demand, inefficient processes that take more hours than necessary, or simply a service model too labour-intensive for the menu prices.
SPMH lets you diagnose and act: if Tuesday's SPMH is €25 and Saturday's is €48, you know exactly where to cut or redistribute hours. If the kitchen's SPMH is €32 and front of house's is €45, the kitchen may need to review its processes or its staffing levels. SPMH is also a motivating metric for the team: "today we generated €42 per hour worked, a record for the month" is more tangible than talking about labour cost percentages. Restaurants that monitor and share SPMH build a culture of productivity in which everyone understands the link between their work and the results.
Zindra automatically calculates SPMH by combining sales data with the hours recorded in the employees module. Dashboards show SPMH by day, time slot and department, comparing it with your targets and history to identify opportunities to improve productivity.
Tools and content to go deeper into this concept.
The staffing ratio is the relationship between the number of employees and the restaurant's customers, tables or revenue. It tells you whether you have the right team to give good service without costs running away.
Prime cost (coste primo in Spanish) is food cost plus staff cost. It is the most complete measure of a restaurant's direct operating cost and should stay between 55% and 65% of turnover.
The staff rota is the document that plans and assigns each restaurant employee's working hours by day and time slot, making sure service is covered and the law is complied with.
Labour cost is the percentage of turnover that goes on staff. In restaurants, a healthy benchmark ranges from 25% to 35% depending on the type of venue.
KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are the key metrics that measure a restaurant's performance in its critical areas: sales, costs, productivity, guest satisfaction and profitability.
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