Overtime in Food Service: Calculation, Rules and Best Practices

Operations · November 5, 2025 · By Alex Dondelinger · 5 min read

Overtime in Food Service: Calculation, Rules and Best Practices

In a restaurant, hours vary with footfall, bookings and the season. It is therefore common for teams to go beyond the legal working time. Overtime refers to any hour worked beyond…

Understanding Overtime in Food Service

In a restaurant, hours vary with footfall, bookings and the season. It is therefore common for teams to go beyond the legal working time. Overtime refers to any hour worked beyond 35 hours per week for a full-time employee. It makes it possible to meet activity peaks while giving staff higher pay.

In food service, flexibility is essential, but it must remain governed by the French Labor Code (Code du travail) and the HCR collective agreement (Hôtels-Cafés-Restaurants). The latter sets the premium rates and the limits not to be exceeded.

Overtime Rules in Food Service

35h: Legal working time
46h: Average maximum over 12 weeks
+25%: Premium from the 36th to the 43rd hour
+50%: Premium from the 44th hour
220 h: Annual overtime cap

⚖️ Overtime must be authorized by the employer under the HCR Agreement.

Limits and Compensation to Respect

The annual cap on overtime is set at 220 hours. Beyond that, the employer must grant an equivalent compensatory rest or conclude a specific agreement.

Respecting these limits is essential: going over them can lead to a reclassification of the contract or penalties from the labor inspectorate.

In addition, overtime must always be authorized by the employer. An employee cannot impose it on their own, even in an emergency or a one-off overload.

Premium Calculation and a Concrete Example

Take a cook who works 43 hours in a week, with a gross hourly rate of €15.

The 8 overtime hours (from the 36th to the 43rd) are paid with a 25% premium.

So, 8 × €15 × 1.25 = €150.

Their weekly gross pay therefore goes from €525 (35 × €15) to €675, an increase of €150 thanks to overtime.

This calculation shows the value of tracking working time precisely: without the right tools, management quickly becomes complex.

Tools and Methods for Tracking Hours in a Restaurant

Establishments often use scheduling or time-clock software to avoid errors and ensure full transparency with teams. These tools make it possible to:

see where hours are exceeded;
calculate premiums automatically;
export data to payroll;
anticipate HR needs based on attendance forecasts.

Solutions like Fullsoon go even further: they cross-reference POS software data, the weather and local events to forecast activity peaks and adjust staffing. This anticipation limits unnecessary overtime while maintaining service quality.

Tracking Overtime Precisely

For a restaurateur, tracking the team's overtime is essential both for legal compliance and for controlling labor costs. Here are the key actions to put in place:

Set up a time-tracking tool or system: this could be time management software, a POS software module or a digital schedule. It lets you see hours worked and overruns in real time, and act before it becomes a problem.

Define alert thresholds: for example, as soon as an employee approaches the 35th or 36th hour, or when an employee's overtime exceeds a certain percentage of their normal hours. This lets you decide on corrective actions before the higher premiums kick in.

Run weekly and monthly reviews: a weekly report to spot quick overruns, and a monthly review to check the trend: which positions generate overtime? Which period of the week or month causes peaks? This helps you plan ahead.

Analyze the real cost of overtime: pay premiums, social contributions, team fatigue, turnover risk… This lets you compare that cost with the cost of hiring a half-time employee or a temp worker.

Comply with legal obligations: in the HCR collective agreement sector (Hôtels-Cafés-Restaurants): any hour beyond 35h/week for a full-time employee is potentially an "overtime hour". The payslip must show the hours with a premium and the rate applied.

By combining these actions, the establishment can not only limit overtime-related costs but also anticipate when switching to another employment arrangement becomes profitable.

The Best Tools for Tracking Overtime in Food Service

Tool	Key features	Main strength
Combo (formerly Snapshift)	Staff scheduling, digital time clock, automatic overtime calculation, real-time alerts	Tailored to the HCR sector, full visibility and an intuitive interface
Planday	Tracking of hours worked, manager approval, payroll integration	Ideal for chains and multi-site groups
Factorial	Time management, automatic premiums, payroll export	Complete, easy-to-use HR tool
Skello	Smart scheduling, overtime alerts, multi-establishment reporting	HCR benchmark, saves time on payroll
Deputy	Footfall forecasting, mobile time management, automatic overtime calculation	Visual interface, perfect for international chains
Fullsoon	AI activity forecasting, anticipated HR needs, direct integration with HR tools	Anticipates peaks to avoid unnecessary overtime

These solutions let you track hours in real time, avoid costly overruns and anticipate staffing needs through data.

A restaurant manager and two colleagues reviewing a work-hours schedule on a computer screen in the kitchen

When Should You Change Your HR Strategy?

0 to 5H Overtime / Week

Normal monitoring, no particular action. Keep optimizing the schedule.

5 to 10H Overtime / Week

Analyze activity peaks. Consider a half-time employee or an extra on high-traffic days.

10 to 15H Overtime / Week

Premium costs become significant. Compare the cost with a temporary hire or a temp worker.

15H and More / Week

The employee regularly exceeds 43h: hiring a full-timer or reorganizing teams becomes more profitable.

These benchmarks help balance HR costs between flexibility, performance and compliance with labor law.

In short, in food service, overtime is often unavoidable, but how it is managed directly affects an establishment's profitability and social climate. Knowing the legal rules (35 hours, premiums of 25% then 50%, a 220-hour cap) helps avoid costly overruns and payroll errors.

Regular time tracking, through specialized tools, helps keep a clear view of the workload. When overtime becomes recurring, this data guides the decision: bring in reinforcements, adjust schedules or rethink internal organization.

To go further, a predictive solution like Fullsoon lets you anticipate activity peaks and plan staffing before overtime piles up. By combining forecasting and HR management, the restaurateur controls the payroll, improves margins and boosts team satisfaction.

Article | Fullsoon Blog

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