Scheduling and cash counts for restaurants with 2–5 locations
A US full-service restaurant averages 20.2 employees per location (5,348,875 ÷ 264,208, BLS QCEW 2024), so a 3-location group at that average has about 61 people to schedule. Assistlify lets a 2–5 location restaurant group build each week's front- and back-of-house schedule with staff assigned to one or more locations, approve time off from staff phones with a check that flags overlapping shifts, track clock-in with breaks and record a cash-drawer count per site. It does not handle tip pooling, tip credits, POS sales data or sick-call replacement yet.
Restaurant staffing in numbers
BLS counted 11,040,380 employees in restaurants and other eating places (NAICS 722500) in May 2025. The hourly roles a multi-site group schedules:
| Occupation (722500, May 2025) | Employed | Median hourly wage |
|---|---|---|
| Fast food and counter workers | 3,197,640 | $14.67 |
| Waiters and waitresses | 1,833,310 | $16.87 |
| Cooks, restaurant | 1,168,190 | $17.85 |
| Food service supervisors | 930,110 | $19.79 |
| Dishwashers | 347,230 | $16.58 |
| Bartenders | 336,570 | $17.02 |
BLS QCEW counted 264,208 private full-service restaurant locations (NAICS 722511) with 5,348,875 employees in 2024. 5,348,875 ÷ 264,208 = 20.2 employees per location. Example: at the national average, 3 locations × 20.2 = 61 employees.
Four restaurant-specific problems
1. Tipped wages change the overtime math
DOL Fact Sheet #15 sets a federal cash wage of at least $2.13 an hour for tipped employees and a maximum tip credit of $5.12 against the $7.25 federal minimum wage. When a tip credit is taken, overtime is calculated on the full minimum wage, not the $2.13 cash wage. If both sites are one employer, a server working shifts at both needs both sites' hours in one workweek total: DOL Fact Sheet #23 bars averaging hours across weeks.
2. Dual jobs
Fact Sheet #15 says an employee in two occupations, one tipped and one not, is a tipped employee for the tipped job's hours, and no tip credit applies to the other job's hours. The schedule and the time records need to show which role each shift was.
3. Register shortages and walkouts
Fact Sheet #15 lists deductions for walkouts, breakage or register shortages as illegal where the employer takes a tip credit; Fact Sheet #16 lists a minimum wage cashier reimbursing a drawer shortage as illegal. Count the drawer and record the variance per site instead.
Example: $200 float, $1,141.00 counted, $945.50 expected cash sales. Expected = $200 + $945.50 = $1,145.50, so the drawer is $4.50 short. The cash drawer count calculator runs this per denomination.
4. Sick calls on a Friday
A cook who calls out at 3 p.m. leaves a gap that someone fills by phone. Assistlify shows who is scheduled at each site and who has approved time off, but it does not contact replacements for you.
What Assistlify covers for restaurants
| Job | What Assistlify does |
|---|---|
| Weekly schedule | Build it by hand or generate it from staff availability and approved time off, then publish it to the team |
| Staff at more than one location | Assign each person to one or more locations |
| Time off | Staff request it from their phone; approval flags shifts that overlap the request |
| Hours | Clock in and out with breaks; export attendance as CSV |
| Cash and stock | Cash-drawer counts and stock counts recorded per location |
| Getting staff on | Invite by link or QR code; runs in the browser on iPhone, Android and desktop, and can be added to the home screen |
| Price and setup | One flat monthly price per business, not per location or per user; we load your current schedule and staff for you |
Assistlify is in early access. You can try every feature above in the preview workspace before handing over any staff data.
What it does not cover for restaurants yet
- Tip pooling, tip-credit tracking and tip reporting.
- Labor forecasting from covers or sales.
- Shift swaps between employees, and automatic sick-call cover or replacement finding.
- SMS or push notifications.
- Payroll, GPS location checks, and monthly auto-scheduling.
- POS integrations: sales from Square, Toast, Clover or any other register system do not flow in.
- Full data export (the attendance CSV export is the export that exists today).
If you need tip pooling and POS-linked scheduling in one tool, a restaurant-specific system is the better fit today. For staff who work at more than one site, see multi-location scheduling or compare with Homebase.
This is general information, not legal advice. Check your state labor department for current rules.
Questions
Does Assistlify handle tip pooling?
No. Tip pools and tip credits are not in Assistlify; DOL Fact Sheet #15 sets the federal rules.
Will it find a replacement when a cook calls in sick?
No. Automatic sick-call cover and shift swaps are not available; you reassign the shift yourself.
Is overtime for tipped staff based on $2.13?
No. DOL Fact Sheet #15 says that when a tip credit is taken, overtime is calculated on the full minimum wage, currently $7.25 federally.
Does pricing go up with each restaurant?
No. Assistlify is one flat monthly price per business, not per location or per user.
Sources
- BLS OEWS, Restaurants and Other Eating Places (722500), May 2025 (checked 2026-11-12)
- BLS QCEW 2024 annual averages, NAICS 722511 Full-service restaurants (checked 2026-11-12)
- US DOL Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the FLSA (checked 2026-11-12)
- US DOL Fact Sheet #16: Deductions From Wages (revised July 2009) (checked 2026-11-12)
- US DOL Fact Sheet #23: Overtime Pay Requirements of the FLSA (revised October 2019) (checked 2026-11-12)