What is covers in restaurant?

There are a few opinions on how the term came to be. Some say it references the number of covers or cloches used to cover food as it is transported to the table. That is a fun theory, but since the actual covers are reused throughout service it is not how the name came to be. It comes from the French word couvert, and is derived from a phrase that translates to “anything that is required to cover the table for a meal”. The other notion is that the word cover refers to a cloth used to protect an individual setting on a table from dust.

Cover counts are the basis for everything from ordering, production planning, scheduling, forecasting, and budgeting, to a long list of financial measurements and analytics. Let’s dive into the cover counts starting from the most basic to the more advanced uses of this number.

At the line level, the number of covers entered in the POS is a very important tool for the kitchen and is used as a check and balance. A quick count of the number of main courses on a bill could reveal that there were not enough meals ordered when compared to the cover count. This prevented the server from showing up at the table short of meals.

The single best measurement of labour, productivity, and output is covers/hour worked. The key to effectively using this measurement is determining the cover/hour standard or benchmark to measure performance.

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When forecasted covers and covers/hour worked are utilized, scheduling becomes much more strategic and is the starting point for labor controls. It helps ensure that there is adequate staff to service the number of guests and prevents overscheduling.

Combining the projected covers with the % of item sales history provides the team with insight into the amount of food and beverage items to order and prepare for in a given period.

The average check is a very important calculation that provides insight into sales performance and is crucial for budgeting revenue. It is calculated by dividing the total food and beverage revenue by the number of covers for a given period. It is worth looking at average food checks and average beverage checks separately.

The most effective way to budget is to tie everything back to the single cover. This will allow the manager to calculate the gross margin per cover and will be able to determine the number of covers needed to be profitable.

There are varied opinions on covers and how they are calculated in Food & Beverage operations, especially in operations that also service conventions and banquets. The issue isn’t the fact that one cover is one customer. The problem starts when covers are used to measure areas such as productivity.

The best example is a coffee break. It may take one server three hours to set up and service a coffee break for 100 people. That would be 33.3 covers/hour worked. Whereas a plated four-course dinner would require four servers at four hours each, for a total of 6.25 covers/hour worked. Keep in mind that the 100 covers for the coffee break also impact the covers/hour worked for the kitchen where they may not have any work to do for the function.

The solution is up to each operation. Having a different calculation and productivity measurement for each meal type works very well. It takes more effort but is helpful with budgeting and will allow you to dial in the payroll planning. Or simply assign a different value to each type of event. For example, one customer for a coffee may only be .2 of a cover. No matter what option, make sure that the calculation works and it is accurate.

A cover count or cover in a restaurant is defined as the number of people or guests served during a particular period of time. Covers can fluctuate depending on the day of the week and the time of year.

The term "cover" is used in the hospitality industry to refer to a customer who eats at the establishment or a meal served. The difference between a cover and a table is that a cover only represents one of the meals served at that table.

It is distinct from a dish in that it incorporates the additional components that a customer may order, such as beverages, starters, or desserts. Many restaurant owners can make more accurate sales projections if they base their calculations on the usual amount of covers rather than the anticipated number of tables.

Covers are also useful to an establishment because they can help to predict and control sales volume, which is especially important in a restaurant setting.

A cover is a specific number of guests that pay admission to a dining establishment. In some establishments, the customer pays only the price of each entrée, and everything else (drinks, appetizers, desserts) is complimentary.

Thus, the cover would be calculated by multiplying the portion size of each item ordered by its price for each person at the table and adding them together.

A restaurant's covers help the operating restaurant manager predict sales and provide useful information about the business's success.

As for a single-table dining establishment, a cover indicates how many people are eating at that restaurant. It is a good idea to base your decision on whether to open or close a new location on how well your current covers are doing compared with what would be expected in that particular community.

It is important to determine how many people are likely to eat at your restaurant and how much they will spend.

As part of a sales projection, you first need to know the average number of guests that eat at your establishment on any given night. The average is important because it allows you to compare the projected sales with actuals. The initial sales estimate is usually calculated by dividing the number of covers by the number of tables present.

The next step is determining how many people you need to staff your restaurant. This involves using the average number of guests per table.

The average "cover" numbers can then be multiplied by the number of tables to estimate how many people will be employed at your establishment during peak hours, e.g., dinner. The staffing level is a very important factor in whether or not the business will be successful.

Most restaurants use a "ticketing system" to streamline taking orders and bringing food out. A waiter or waitress fills out a ticket for each guest, which will be delivered to the kitchen once completed.

To ensure that tickets are filled out correctly, servers normally receive a small amount of training about key information needed for each table. The number of covers is thus a definite measure of how well your servers provide quality service.

The final step is determining how many covers you want to see. Covers are a good indicator that the business is doing well and that the staff is properly trained. A relatively high level of coverage will help convince you that your restaurant will be successful.

As a side note, "cover" also has other uses in business, and it is not quite accurate to think of "cover" as only food items.

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