---
title: Time Management in Restaurants
date: 2021-11-17T15:10:00+01:00
author: Salama
canonical_url: "https://choco.com/us/stories/time-management-restaurants-work-survey"
section: Story
---
[ choco stories](https://choco.com/us/stories) 

# Time Management in Restaurants

## Discover how time management is essential for restaurant success

 11/17/2021 

 

 ![ - ](/assets/images/blog/_1xAUTO_crop_center-center_none/2136/Time-management-restaurants.jpg) 

 

 

 

A job position in restaurants implies focus, speed and organisation, and [good ](https://choco.com/us/stories/manage-restaurant-shifts)**[time management](https://choco.com/us/stories/manage-restaurant-shifts)** is essential to run things smoothly.

 [  ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://choco.com/us/stories/time-management-restaurants-work-survey.md&text=Time%20Management%20in%20Restaurants) [  ](https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://choco.com/us/stories/time-management-restaurants-work-survey.md&title=Time%20Management%20in%20Restaurants%20) [  ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://choco.com/us/stories/time-management-restaurants-work-survey.md) 

 

 There are different tasks that restaurant operators have to overlook, depending on their role.

A **restaurant manager schedule** often includes accounting, hiring, shift planning, stocking up the kitchen, working on the menu and service. People working in the **front of house** and **back of house** can deal with these duties too, on top of prepping, cooking, cleaning, and serving.

While it is no secret that **long shifts** are common in restaurants, we believe that getting time back from work can help sustain the fast-paced workflow that is typical in this industry.

According to our interviews with 140 industry operators, for 2 out of 3 people, the **ideal shift length** doesn’t coincide with the actual amount of time they spend working. What does this imply?

 

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    Saving Time, Money and Food in the BOH
    
     ](https://choco.com/us/stories/how-to-save-time-money-food-restaurant-tech)
 
 

 

 

 

 ## 73% of restaurant workers think their shift is too long

Not all people have the same workflow and this is why some might prefer working shorter or even longer shifts - surprisingly, among our group of chefs, managers, servers, prep cooks, and baristas, we also found out that a small percentage of people would even prefer doing longer shifts to have better **work-life balance** and feel more **productive**.

This can be understandable, especially when considering that getting more days off turned out to be the biggest incentive for people to be convinced to work longer shifts. Nevertheless, 74% thought a shift should last **no more than 8 hours**.

Before diving into our solution to improve time management and efficiency at work, let’s have a look at what people in the industry had to say about work-life in restaurants.

 

 

 

 ## What do people think about their time at work?

According to our survey, here is what restaurant operators think about their time at work:

- **7 hours and 40 minutes** is the ideal shift duration for productivity and work-life balance.
- **2 hours and 16 minutes** is the average extra work time.
- **11-12 hours-long shifts** are the norm for 44% of people.
- **10 hours and 5 minutes** is the average shift length in the back of house.
- 2 out of 3 people think their shift **shouldn’t last more than 8 hours**.
- 2 out of 3 people think their shift length is either **too short** or **too long** to allow better productivity and good work-life balance.

 

#### Related reading

- [ ![ - ](/assets/images/blog/_1xAUTO_crop_center-center_none/mme_shawn_cover.jpg)
    
    
    
    How Mme Shawn uses Roles & Permissions
    
     ](https://choco.com/us/stories/how-mme-shawn-uses-roles-and-permissions)
 
 

 

 

 

 ## What are the most time-consuming tasks?

The most time-consuming tasks in restaurants:

- Cooking
- Cleaning
- **Ordering products**
- Managing **inventory**

Moreover, 2 out of 3 people chose at least one operation among sourcing and ordering products, doing inventory, planning shifts, hiring, or accounting as the most time-consuming activities.

 

 

 

 "Our business was growing and it was important to streamline our ordering process, especially because we had different people taking care of it. Now it takes us 5 minutes, instead of 30"

 

 

 

 

 Alex (Executive Chef) from [Lucky Buns](https://www.luckybuns.com/), D.C. about the [Choco app](https://choco.com/restaurants)

 

 

 

   ![ - ](/assets/_1xAUTO_crop_center-center_none/time-management-choco.jpg)

  

 ## 3 Key-facts about time management in restaurants

According to our community:

- **Getting more time off** is the biggest incentive to work longer shifts
- **Procrastination** is a no-go for 1 out of 2 people.
- **Leisure time** with family time, friends and dating are left out because of work by 94 out of 140 people.

 

 

 

 ## What would you do if you could save up to 2 hours every week?

We asked restaurant workers about their mostly left out activities and undisclosed desires. Among our favourite answers, we’ve got:

- Gardening
- Getting more sleep
- Touching grass
- Making a good staff meal (and sitting at a table to eat it)
- Getting back into painting
- Making some extra special treats for customers
- Fishing

...how would you spend your free time? Let us know [here](https://www.instagram.com/p/CWvrc6bN7dJ/?utm_medium=copy_link).