Guides

Restaurant schedule template: how to lay out a weekly restaurant schedule

A restaurant schedule has more moving parts than most: stations, split shifts, doubles, and a Friday that looks nothing like a Tuesday. A clear layout fixes half the problems before they start.

Lay it out by station

Group rows by area so a manager can see coverage at a glance. A typical layout:

Inside each cell, write the time and the station: “4p–close, Bar”. If “close” varies, put an expected end time so hours add up.

Build from your covers, not your staff list

Start with how many people each station needs per meal period on each day. Lunch on a weekday might need two servers; Friday dinner might need six. Write that down once as your standard week and schedule against it.

Watch for clopens and doubles

A “clopen” is closing one night and opening the next morning. It wears people out, and some cities regulate it, so check local rules. Doubles (lunch and dinner in one day) are fine when someone wants them, but put them on the schedule as two shifts so the hours and the break between are visible.

Use an open shifts row

If you can’t fill a shift yet, don’t leave it off the schedule. Put it in an Open shifts row. Staff who want more hours can ask for it, and you won’t forget it exists.

Post early, and post changes

Servers and cooks often work a second job or go to school, so posting a week or more ahead helps everyone. When something changes after posting, update the schedule and tell the people affected, instead of relying on word of mouth in the kitchen.

Templates to start from

Our printable weekly schedule template has room for 12 people plus an open shifts row and prints on one landscape page. For the steps behind a good week, see how to make a work schedule.