What Is Turnover Costing Your Restaurant?

Free Turnover Cost and Retention Calculator for Restaurant Operators

Restaurant Turnover Cost Calculator

Replacing one hourly restaurant employee costs about $3,200 for a part-time crew member earning $15.25 an hour, based on research that puts turnover costs at about 16% of a year's pay for jobs paying under $30,000. Restaurants and hotels lose about two-thirds of their workforce every year, so a 40-person location can spend more than $80,000 a year on turnover. This calculator shows your own number, then shows what stronger supervision and recognition would need to accomplish to improve retention and pay for themselves.

By Gregory Kern, founder of Select-Your-Gift and author of Frontline Employee Retention. Updated Sept. 2026.

Two ways to improve employee retention

Much of what makes an hourly employee stay or leave happens during an ordinary shift: how the work is run, how a new hire is treated in the first few weeks, and whether good work gets noticed. Two things shape that more than anything else.

Step 1 in the calculator

Stronger daily supervision

Book-2-on-table-smaller Your shift leaders shape every workday. Supervisor's Guide to Keeping Good Employees gives them practical daily habits and a way through hard conversations, written for leaders of hourly teams. $14.99, with free companion Practice Cards. See the book

Step 2 in the calculator

Recognition on the spot

Spot Award Cards let supervisors thank people the moment good work happens.

Award Packets mark early milestones when turnover runs highest. Each is redeemable for a gift of choice the employee picks.

This calculator puts a dollar figure on both (stronger supervision and early recognition). It shows what each would need to accomplish to pay for itself, and you decide whether that's realistic for your crew.

How it works

Enter your locations, employees, and departures to see what turnover costs you.
See what stronger daily supervision would need to accomplish.
Add a recognition program, look at recognition alone, or start with supervision alone.

It takes about two minutes. Nothing you enter is saved unless you ask us to email your results.

Your team

Number of locations Average employees per location Departures per location in the last 12 months Everyone who left, for any reason

Your annual turnover rate

Estimated cost of each departure

Estimated annual cost of turnover

Restaurants and hotels nationally: about 66% a year, and about 51% counting only employees who quit (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025).

Refine with your own pay and costs

Average hourly pay, frontline staff What you pay per hour, not including tips Hours a new hire works per week Average hourly pay, supervisors and trainers Payroll taxes and benefits (% of pay) 11% covers required payroll taxes. If you offer health insurance or paid time off, enter about 30%.

How to estimate the cost of each departure

Research-based16% of a year's pay for one position, from a review of 30 case studies by the Center for American Progress ItemizedBuild the cost from your own hiring, training, overtime, and learning-curve numbers

See how each departure's cost adds up

Total per departure

Step 1: Stronger daily supervision

Supervisor's Guide to Keeping Good Employees teaches shift leaders the daily habits and hard conversations that shape how an hourly workday goes. The book is $14.99 a copy. The larger investment is your supervisors' time.

Supervisors and shift leaders per location Hours each supervisor spends learning and practicing Reading, discussion, and practice Your estimate: people better supervision might help you keep in a year

Step 2: Choose your approach

Add recognition to the supervision habitsSee what the two cost and could save together Recognition alone, without the bookSee what a recognition program needs to accomplish on its own Supervision habits alone for nowStart with the Supervisor's Guide and consider recognition later

Choose a recognition package

Essentials"Thank You" spot cards and a 90-day award packet StandardAdds "Great Job" spot cards, cards for trainers whose new hires reach 90 days, and 6-month and 1-year award packets

Your estimate: people recognition might help you keep in a year

Adjust your program

Spot recognition cards

Printed cards a supervisor hands out on the spot for good work. Each one is redeemable for a gift of choice.

"Thank You" cards per location per month $22 gift of choice each "Great Job" cards per location per month $30 gift of choice each (Standard)

Service milestone awards

An award packet pairs a certificate with a gift of choice: $30 at 90 days, $40 at 6 months, and $60 at 1 year. Trainer cards are $40. Essentials includes the 90-day award; Standard includes all three.

Employees reaching each milestone per location each year. We estimate these from your turnover rate. Leave a box blank to use our estimate, or enter your own number.

Reach 90 days Reach 6 months Reach 1 year

See what the program costs

Total per year

Email me my results

We'll send you a summary of your results, with a link that reopens this calculator with your numbers.

First name Email Company (optional)

We'll email your results, and we may follow up about them. You can unsubscribe anytime.

How these numbers are calculated

Turnover rate is employees who left in the last 12 months divided by your average number of employees. If you manage more than one location, enter per-location averages; totals for all your locations are those figures multiplied by the number of locations. The national figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for accommodation and food services in 2025: an average monthly separation rate of 5.5%, or about 66% over a year. It is updated each March.

Default pay rates are May 2025 national medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for food and beverage serving workers and for supervisors of food preparation and serving workers. Replace them with your own. The 11% payroll default reflects legally required employer costs (Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, and workers' compensation) for service workers in the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employer Costs for Employee Compensation survey, June 2026. Including all benefits, the figure is about 30%.

By default, the cost of each departure uses research from the Center for American Progress, which reviewed 30 case studies and found that replacing an employee in a job paying less than $30,000 a year costs about 16% of that employee's annual pay. The calculator applies that figure to your pay rate and weekly hours. For a more detailed estimate, choose the itemized method under "Refine with your own pay and costs." Its defaults are deliberately conservative: they count the pay and supervisor time spent separating, hiring, and training, the overtime premium for covering open shifts, and a new hire's learning curve valued at their pay, and leave out lost sales, service mistakes, and the strain on the rest of the crew.

Milestone counts assume your headcount stays about the same, so you hire about as many people as leave. Because most restaurant turnover happens in the first weeks, these estimates usually count more awards than you would actually give, which makes the program cost look higher, not lower.

The supervision and recognition estimates are yours, not predictions. No study has measured the effect of a specific book or program on your turnover, so the calculator shows what each would need to accomplish to pay for itself and lets you judge whether that is realistic. The Gallup figure comes from its meta-analysis of employee engagement and business outcomes, which compared top- and bottom-quartile teams. Supervisor time is valued at the supervisor pay rate above and counted as a first-year cost.

Gift-of-choice prices include shipping of the gift the employee selects. Each Gift of choice Award packet includes a certificate that can be customized with your company name and logo, the milestone, and employee name for a small additional charge. Shipping of spot cards and award packets to your locations is billed separately.

What to do next

Talk it through

Walk through your numbers with us and get recognition options tailored to your needs and locations. Email jkern@select-your-gift.com
or Call 630-581-0096
Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 5 Central.

Start with your supervisors

Supervisor's Guide to Keeping Good Employees gives shift leaders the daily habits and hard conversations that shape whether good people stay. Bulk copies are available for multiple locations. See the book

Explore recognition

See how spot award cards and milestone award packets work, and how gift of choice lets each employee pick a reward that means something to them. See recognition options

Frequently asked questions

These are estimates to help you plan, not financial advice.

How much does it cost to replace a restaurant employee?

Research from the Center for American Progress puts the cost at about 16% of a year's pay for jobs paying under $30,000. For a part-time crew member earning $15.25 an hour, that's about $3,200. The calculator applies this to your own pay rate and hours or lets you build the cost item by item.

What is a normal turnover rate for restaurants?

Restaurants and hotels lost about 66% of their workforce in 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and about 51% counting only employees who quit. That's down from about 85% in 2021. BLS groups restaurants with hotels, and its figures include seasonal and short-term employees.

How do I calculate my turnover rate?

Divide the number of employees who left in the last 12 months by your average number of employees. A location averaging 40 employees that lost 30 people has a 75% turnover rate.

What's the difference between turnover and retention?

Turnover counts the people who leave. Retention measures the people who stay. They aren't simply opposites: a location with 75% turnover hasn't necessarily lost three-quarters of its original crew, because some positions turn over several times in a year while a steady core stays. Improving retention means keeping more of the people you hire, especially in their first months.

Why is this cost lower than some figures I've seen?

Some widely quoted figures come from older studies, focus on hotels, or are based on salaried roles. This calculator uses research on lower-wage jobs and counts only costs you can measure: hiring, training, overtime, and a new hire's learning curve. It leaves out lost sales and strain on the crew, so your true cost is likely higher.

How can restaurants improve employee retention?

Most of the opportunity lies in the first weeks and months, when new hires are most likely to leave. Two practical steps make the biggest difference: shift leaders who run the workday well and handle problems early, and recognition that notices good work when it happens and marks early milestones. This calculator shows what each would need to accomplish to pay for itself.

Does recognition actually reduce turnover?

Research consistently links engagement to lower turnover. Gallup found the most engaged teams in high-turnover organizations have about 21% less turnover than the least engaged, and recognition is one of the factors Gallup measures. No one can promise a specific result for your restaurant, so the calculator shows what recognition would need to accomplish to pay for itself and lets you judge whether that's realistic.

Why start with supervisors?

Shift leaders shape how an hourly employee's workday goes more than anyone else. Stronger daily habits cost little: at our defaults, books and training time come to about $764 per location, which pays for itself if it helps keep one person a year.

What do the recognition packages include?

Essentials includes "Thank You" spot cards and a 90-day award packet. Standard adds "Great Job" cards, cards for trainers whose new hires reach 90 days, and 6-month and 1-year award packets. Each card and packet is redeemable for a gift of choice. Certificates can be customized with your company name and logo, the milestone, and the employee's name for a small additional charge.

Can I use this for more than one location?

Yes. Enter your per-location averages and the number of locations. Results show per location and for all your locations together.

Is my information saved?

No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser, and nothing you enter is saved unless you ask us to email your results.

Where do these numbers come from?

Turnover benchmarks come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, wages from its Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, and payroll costs from its Employer Costs for Employee Compensation survey. Replacement costs come from the Center for American Progress. We update the figures each year as new data is released.