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Schedule and roster restaurant staff smarter, control wage costs and support your compliance efforts — without enterprise complexity or manual spreadsheets.
Restaurant staff scheduling with live labour budgets
Australian award compliance built in
Integrates with Xero and MYOB
Restaurant scheduling is driven by covers, not by the calendar — and the split between front and back of house moves differently across a week.
Covers that swing across the week
FOH and BOH on different patterns
Split shifts between lunch and dinner
Restaurant Award penalties
High casual turnover
Food safety and RSA tracking
Scheduling a restaurant means balancing section skills, kitchen capacity, cost and compliance — usually the night before service.
Front and back of house built against the same forecast
RosterElf puts the decisions in front of the manager while the roster is a draft — when a section can still be re-cut for nothing.
Most restaurants know their labour percentage after the fortnight. The point of scheduling software is to know it before the roster is published.
Set the target as a percentage of forecast revenue and build to it. RosterElf shows the wage cost of the roster as you schedule, so an extra section on a quiet Tuesday is a decision rather than a discovery.
Forecast covers per service
Target labour % of revenue
Live wage cost as you build
Variance against last week
Split shifts are where the percentage goes
A lunch-then-dinner split with more than an hour between carries its own allowance under the Restaurant Award. RosterElf applies it while the roster is a draft rather than at reconciliation — see the restaurant award pay guide.
Accurate hours matter most when service ran long and half the team is casual.
Clock-ins the manager can trust without standing at the pass
Staff clock in on their own phone or a shared tablet, and worked hours are compared against the roster before they become timesheets.
Penalty rates, overtime and break rules vary by day, time, employment type and shift length — and one week’s roster touches most of them.
Restaurant Industry Award (MA000119) — pay rates by period
| Period | Full-time & part-time | Casual |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary hours (Mon–Fri) | 100% | 125% |
| Late night (Mon–Fri 10pm–midnight) | +$2.95/hr | +$2.95/hr |
| Early morning (Mon–Fri midnight–6am) | +$4.42/hr | +$4.42/hr |
| Saturday (all day) | 125% | 150% |
| Sunday (all day) | 150% | 150% |
| Public holiday | 225% | 250% |
Casual rates are set by the award directly, not by adding a loading to the permanent rate — which is why Sunday casual is 175% rather than 150% plus 25%. Rates change each 1 July; the full breakdown by classification, junior age and allowance is in the restaurant award pay guide. Always verify against Fair Work.
Approved hours should reach the pay run without being re-keyed, penalty rates and all.
Award interpretation already applied
RosterElf connects restaurant scheduling and time tracking to payroll, so approved hours flow cleanly to Xero or MYOB.
Australian restaurants using RosterElf report significant time savings on schedule creation. Based on customer feedback and ROI calculator data.
Scheduling is one job of several. RosterElf puts communication, HR and time tracking in the same place, so a restaurant team has one app rather than four.
The Embassy by Devlin’s onboarded 30 staff in about 45 minutes. RosterElf is built for Australian workplaces, with Fair Work compliance, modern awards and local payroll integrations as the starting point rather than an add-on.
Less time building and re-fixing the roster every week.
See live wage cost as you schedule — no guesswork until payday.
Restaurant Award rates and penalties built in.
Works for casual, part-time and full-time staff.
Intuitive for managers and staff, with minimal training.
Scales from one venue to a group of sites.
“Our managers wrapped their head around it in about 45 minutes.”
Teresa Klenk · Founder, The Embassy by Devlin's
Subiaco venue trained managers in 45 minutes
Read the The Embassy by Devlin's storyHear from hospitality businesses that simplified their scheduling with RosterElf
Andrew Nathan
November 13, 2025
"We are extremely happy with Roster Elf, it's a great improvement on the previous system we were using. Sean and all the staff have been fantastic, really know their stuff and make using RosterElf a pleasure."
Monica Van De Laak
October 16, 2025
"Sean was an amazing help, very patient and thorough."
Mary C.
October 13, 2025
"I can see my roster, enter availability, put leave in advance and clock on and off easily."
See how much time and money your business could save with RosterElf rostering software.
Based on 70% time reduction with automated rostering
No credit card required
Download free job description templates for your restaurants team
Stay compliant with Australian Modern Award pay rates
Accredited RosterElf-partner accountants and bookkeepers who work with restaurant businesses on payroll and award-compliant pay runs.
Christine Owng
Melbourne, VIC
Bookkeeping Partners is a Melbourne bookkeeping and payroll practice led by Christine Owng — an accredited RosterElf partner for shift-based businesses.
See how RosterElf helps other businesses like yours
Free scheduling tools, templates and guides for Australian restaurant operators
Build your first restaurant roster in minutes. No credit card required.
At RosterElf, support isn't a ticket system — it's part of the product. Our Australian-based team helps you set up correctly, understand award rules, and stay compliant as your business changes. No scripts. No offshore handoffs. Just real help when you need it.
Guided setup and onboarding
Award and payroll questions answered
Ongoing help as your team grows
One that schedules front and back of house against forecast covers rather than repeating last week, shows wage cost while the roster is still a draft, applies the Restaurant Industry Award automatically and exports to payroll without re-keying. RosterElf does all four, and integrates with Xero and MYOB.
Start from forecast covers. Schedule your strongest sections and stations into the peak first, then build support roles around them, and keep a casual pool for the nights that surprise you. Watch wage cost as a percentage of forecast revenue while you build rather than discovering it at payroll.
Set a target labour percentage of forecast revenue and build the roster to it. The cost of an extra section on a quiet service is visible before publishing, not at the end of the fortnight — and split shifts, which carry their own allowance, are flagged while they can still be changed.
