GlossaryRestaurant Operations
Covers
Also called: number of covers, guest count
What is Covers?
A cover is one guest served. Restaurants count covers per shift, day and month, and use the figure as the denominator for average spend, labour productivity and forecasting.
Why Covers matters
Covers separate two very different reasons for a revenue change: fewer guests, or the same guests spending less. The fix is completely different in each case.
Covers formula
Average cover = Total sales ÷ Number of covers
Covers per labour hour is the standard productivity measure.
How Covers works in practice
Record covers per shift alongside sales, so average cover and labour cost per cover can be tracked. Reservation and queue systems capture the count automatically; paper systems rarely do.
Frequently asked questions
No. One table of four is four covers.