How to write a staff rota for a pub, restaurant or cafe that covers the service, keeps to contracted hours and goes up on time
Step-by-step guide to writing a staff rota for a hospitality venue: forecast the week, set shift codes, cover the busy services first, check contracted hours and holiday, and publish two weeks ahead. Free rota template included.
A staff rota is a plan for who works when, and in hospitality it is also the document that decides whether the Saturday service is covered, whether the wage bill is on budget, and whether anyone quits this month. Most venues build it in a spreadsheet that has been copied forward for years, which is why the same mistakes repeat: the same person on every late shift, hours drifting over contract, and a holiday request that was agreed verbally and forgotten.
This guide walks through writing a rota from scratch in a way that starts from the business you expect to do, not the rota you did last week. It uses the free staff rota template on this site, which has the weekly grid, a shift key, a four-week hours summary and a holiday request log, and it links to the holiday entitlement calculator for the balances.
7 steps to complete
Start from the forecast, not last week
Look at the bookings, the events and what the same week did last year, and write down the covers or sales you expect for each service. Staffing to the forecast rather than to habit is where most of the labour saving in a rota comes from. If you have a till that reports by hour, use it; if not, the manager's estimate is still better than copying last week.
Set your shift codes once
Define the shifts your venue actually runs: an early, a late, a short, a split. Give each a code with a start, a finish, the unpaid break and the paid hours, and write them in the shift key. Codes keep the weekly grid readable and mean that E always means the same thing to the kitchen, the bar and payroll.
Cover the busy services first
Fill the peak services before anything else: the Friday and Saturday nights, the Sunday lunch, the event. Put your strongest people where the pressure is and make sure every busy shift has a keyholder and a first aider. Then fill the quieter services with the remaining hours.
Check availability, holiday and rest breaks
Before you publish, check the holiday log for approved leave, the availability sheet for the students and the second-jobbers, and the rest rules: eleven hours between shifts, a day off a week, and a 20-minute break on any shift over six hours. Under-18s have tighter limits. Fixing this now is cheaper than a swap later.
Total the hours and check them against contracts
Total the paid hours per person for the week and carry them into the four-week summary. Anyone drifting over their contracted hours is a cost you have not budgeted; anyone drifting under is a grievance and, for irregular-hours staff, a smaller holiday accrual. Rebalance before the rota goes up, not after payroll.
Work out the holiday balances
For every approved request, write the entitlement remaining in the holiday log. Full-time staff on five days a week have 28 days; part-timers get 5.6 weeks of their own pattern; zero-hours staff accrue 12.07% of the hours they work. The free holiday entitlement calculator does the maths for any pattern and for starters part-way through the year.
Publish two weeks ahead and keep a dated copy
Put the rota up at least two weeks in advance and tell people it is there. Late rotas are the most common complaint in hospitality exit interviews. Photograph or save the published version so there is a dated record if hours are ever disputed, and log every change after publication with who agreed it.
Tips for success
Common mistakes to avoid
Frequently asked questions
How far in advance should a rota be published?
There is no single legal notice period in the UK, but two weeks is the standard hospitality practice and the reasonable-notice test tribunals apply. Publishing later than a week ahead is the most common cause of staff leaving.
What rest breaks must a rota allow?
Under the Working Time Regulations adults get a 20-minute break on any shift over six hours, eleven hours rest between shifts and one day off a week (or two in a fortnight). Workers aged 16 and 17 get a 30-minute break after four and a half hours and twelve hours between shifts.
How do I write a rota for zero-hours staff?
Offer shifts against the forecast and record what is worked, because worked hours drive both pay and holiday accrual at 12.07%. Keep the four-week summary so you can show a pattern of hours if a worker asks for a more predictable contract.
Is there a free staff rota template?
Yes. The free staff rota template on this site has a weekly grid, a shift key, a four-week hours summary and a holiday request log, and prints to A4.
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