Budgets and Publishing
Labour is the largest controllable cost for most hospitality operators. StaffBrik's budgeting tools give you visibility into planned wage spend as you build the rota, so you can make informed decisions before shifts are published and committed.
Setting Budget Targets
Budget targets are set per location, per week. Navigate to StaffBrik > Rotas > Budget Settings to configure:
Target Wage Percentage
Set a target for labour cost as a percentage of revenue. This is the most common budgeting approach in hospitality.
Example: A cafe with weekly revenue of £8,000 and a target wage percentage of 30% has a labour budget of £2,400 for the week.
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Weekly revenue (forecast) | £8,000 |
| Target wage % | 30% |
| Budget envelope | £2,400 |
Cash Amount
Alternatively, set a fixed cash amount as your weekly labour budget. This is useful when:
- Revenue is unpredictable and you want a hard ceiling.
- You are in a startup phase and need to control costs tightly.
- You prefer to work with absolute numbers rather than percentages.
Example: A new bakery sets a flat budget of £1,800 per week regardless of revenue.
Most established venues use a percentage-based target because it scales naturally with trading volumes. A quiet January week and a busy December week have different revenue - and should have different staff budgets. New operators or those in a turnaround phase may prefer a fixed cash amount until revenue patterns stabilise.
The Budget Envelope
The budget envelope is the resulting cash amount available for labour in a given week. It is calculated as:
- Percentage mode: Weekly revenue forecast multiplied by target wage percentage.
- Cash mode: The fixed amount you entered.
The envelope is what appears on the rota builder as your spending target. As you assign shifts, the "spend" figure increases and is compared against this envelope.
Budget Tracking on the Rota
The rota builder displays budget information in a summary bar at the top of the week view:
| Metric | What it shows | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Planned spend | Total cost of all shifts scheduled this week | £2,180 |
| Budget envelope | Your target maximum | £2,400 |
| Remaining | Envelope minus planned spend | £220 |
| Percentage used | How much of the envelope is consumed | 91% |
The status indicator changes colour based on how close you are to the budget:
- Green - under 80% of budget. Comfortable headroom.
- Amber - between 80% and 100%. Approaching the limit - consider whether every shift is necessary.
- Red - over 100%. You have exceeded your target.
Budget tracking is a planning tool, not a hard block. StaffBrik will not prevent you from scheduling shifts that push you over budget - it trusts you to make the right call. Sometimes a busy weekend justifies going over target. The point is that you make that decision consciously, not accidentally.
Budget Forecast by Day
Below the weekly summary, StaffBrik breaks down planned spend by day. This helps you spot imbalances - for instance, if Thursday's spend is disproportionately high because you over-staffed for a quiet lunch.
| Day | Shifts | Planned spend |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 4 | £310 |
| Tuesday | 4 | £310 |
| Wednesday | 5 | £380 |
| Thursday | 6 | £420 |
| Friday | 7 | £490 |
| Saturday | 8 | £560 |
| Sunday | 3 | £210 |
| Total | 37 | £2,680 |
In this example, Saturday accounts for 21% of the week's spend. If that aligns with Saturday being your busiest trading day, it makes sense. If not, you may want to redistribute.
Use the daily breakdown to match staffing to expected trade. A restaurant that does 40% of its weekly revenue on Friday and Saturday should expect to spend a proportionate amount on labour those days. Flat staffing across every day is a common source of waste.
Over-Budget Alerts
When your planned spend exceeds the budget envelope, StaffBrik provides clear alerts:
- The summary bar turns red and shows the overspend amount (e.g., "£280 over budget").
- A banner appears at the top of the rota builder with a breakdown of the overspend.
- If you attempt to publish an over-budget rota, you are shown a confirmation dialogue asking you to acknowledge the overspend.
You are not prevented from publishing - the alert is advisory. The goal is to ensure over-budget weeks are intentional, not accidental.
Publishing Rotas
Rotas follow a two-stage workflow: draft and published.
Draft Stage
When you first build a rota (or copy a previous week), all shifts start in draft status:
- Only Owners and Managers can see draft shifts.
- Employees see nothing - their rota appears blank until you publish.
- You can freely add, edit, move, and delete shifts without triggering notifications.
- The budget tracker is fully active during draft, so you can optimise before committing.
This is your planning phase. Take as long as you need.
Publishing
When the rota is ready, click Publish in the toolbar. This:
- Changes all draft shifts to published status.
- Makes the rota visible to employees via their Brikly app login.
- Sends a notification to each employee with their upcoming shifts.
- If the rota is over budget, shows a confirmation dialogue (you must acknowledge the overspend to proceed).
Once published, employees can see their shifts. Editing a published shift will send an update notification to the affected employee. While you can still make changes, frequent edits to published rotas erode staff trust - aim to get it right before you publish.
Best Practice: Weekly Publishing Rhythm
Most hospitality operators follow a consistent rhythm:
- Monday or Tuesday - copy last week's rota and adjust for the coming week.
- Wednesday - review budget, finalise adjustments, confirm with team leads.
- Thursday - publish the rota for the following week.
This gives staff at least three to four days' notice of their shifts - a reasonable expectation in hospitality, and well ahead of any contractual or legal notice requirements.
The earlier you publish, the fewer last-minute swap requests you will receive. Staff who know their shifts by Thursday can plan their personal lives around them, reducing no-shows and requests for changes.
Locking Rotas
After publishing, you can lock a rota to prevent further changes:
- A locked rota cannot be edited by Managers - only Owners can unlock it.
- Locking is typically done after the week has been worked, to preserve the schedule as a historical record.
- Locked rotas feed into reports with confidence that the data has not been retrospectively altered.
To lock a rota, open the week you want to lock and click Lock Rota in the toolbar. A confirmation dialogue will appear.
To unlock (Owner only), open the locked week and click Unlock Rota.
Locking is optional but recommended for any week that has been completed. It prevents accidental edits and ensures your labour cost reports remain accurate over time.
Multi-Location Budgets
Each location has its own independent budget:
- Set different target percentages or cash amounts per site (a high-volume restaurant may run at 28% labour, while a small cafe runs at 32%).
- Budget tracking on the rota builder applies to the currently selected location.
- The All Locations view shows a combined budget summary alongside individual site breakdowns.
Example: a two-site operation
| Location | Revenue forecast | Target % | Budget envelope |
|---|---|---|---|
| High Street Cafe | £6,000 | 32% | £1,920 |
| Station Road Restaurant | £14,000 | 28% | £3,920 |
| Combined | £20,000 | 29.2% | £5,840 |
Resist the temptation to set the same percentage across all sites. A grab-and-go cafe with a small team and fast service naturally has a different cost structure from a full-service restaurant with a brigade kitchen. Set targets that reflect each venue's operational reality.
Budget vs Actual Reporting
Budget tracking on the rota shows planned spend. To compare planned spend against what was actually paid (once the week is complete and payroll has been processed), use the Labour Reports section under StaffBrik > Reports.
This comparison helps you:
- Identify weeks where actual spend exceeded planned (e.g., due to overtime or late rota changes).
- Spot patterns of consistent under-staffing (where planned spend is routinely below budget but service quality suffers).
- Build more accurate budgets over time by understanding the gap between plan and reality.