Minimum Staffing Levels for a Cafe: How to Set Your Floor

Key takeaways

• Your minimum staffing level is your floor. It's the fewest people you'll put on the rota for a shift, no matter how slow it looks.

• The GB rules reviewed set no headcount. Stations, breaks, food hygiene, and lone working decide your number, and a sensible starting floor is two.

• Set the floor before the flex. Build a floor for each daypart, then add staff from sales data.

• Test the floor against cost. If a daypart can't carry it, change the hours or tasks first.

It's 2:30 p.m. on a Tuesday, and you've got one barista on. Five app orders sit in the queue. A milk delivery is knocking at the back door, and their 20-minute break is due right now.

So what's the fewest people you can safely put on the rota? None of the GB rules we reviewed set a minimum number of staff per shift for cafes. Your real minimum is the smallest crew that can run every open station and cover breaks. It also needs a trained food handler on site and a plan for lone working and cash.

Two people whenever you're open is a practical starting floor for single-site cafes. Your minimum staffing level is the fewest people you'll put on the rota for a shift or daypart, however slow sales look. Think of it as your floor, and anything you add on top for demand as your flex. Getting minimum staffing levels right for your cafe is a core part of hospitality workforce management, and it starts with the floor.

Is there a legal minimum staffing level for cafes?

Not in the GB rules we reviewed. Working time, child employment, Health and Safety Executive (HSE) lone working, and food hygiene rules don't set a minimum crew per shift. They do shape who needs to be on site, and when.

Breaks come first. The GOV.UK rest break rules say, "Workers have the right to one uninterrupted 20 minute rest break during their working day, if they work more than 6 hours a day." That break doesn't have to be paid, but someone still has to hold the bar while it happens.

Food hygiene matters too. The food handler training requirement asks that "food handlers are supervised and instructed and/or trained in food hygiene matters commensurate with their work activity." The law doesn't name a certificate or a headcount, but in practice you'll want someone competent on every shift.

This is general information, not legal advice. If you're unsure, check with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), HSE, your local council, or your environmental health team.

Floor vs. flex: the two numbers every cafe rota needs

Your floor is the fewest people who can run every open station, cover breaks, keep a trained food handler on, and close safely. Your flex is the extra staff you add when demand calls for it. The floor stays put on a slow Tuesday, and the flex moves with the queue.

Plenty of cafe staffing advice jumps straight to forecasting, which only answers the flex question. Set the floor first.

A one-person floor can break down fast. A solo barista can't take a 20-minute break without closing the bar. They can't sign for a delivery while someone waits at the till, either. If they call in sick, you've got nobody.

The five things that set your floor

Run each daypart through these five checks. The highest number wins.

• Count the stations you have open. Bar, till, and food each need hands, though one person may cover bar and till in a lull.

• Keep a trained food handler on shift. Someone on every shift should know your food safety procedures well enough to guide others.

• Plan who covers each break. If a break pulls your only barista off the bar, the floor is too low for that shift.

• Assess cash and lone working. A lone worker handling cash early or late in the day may face more risk.

• Check who can legally work that hour. Young workers and school-age children have hour limits that affect your open and close.

The HSE lone working guidance states, "Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, you must manage the risk to lone workers." HSE names a short list of high-risk work that needs at least one other person, such as diving. Cafe work isn't on that list.

The HSE lone worker violence risks page adds, "Lone working does not always mean a higher risk of violence, but it does make workers more vulnerable." HSE lists early morning or late evening work and carrying money among the key risks. If you run a one-person shift, your risk assessment should cover the 6 a.m. cash float and the 7 p.m. till count.

Young workers are those past school leaving age and under 18. The Acas young worker hours guidance says, "By law, young workers must not work more than: 8 hours a day; 40 hours a week." Their restricted period is usually 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., or 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. if their contract allows it. Limited catering exceptions exist, with conditions.

School-age children face tighter limits. The GOV.UK child employment restrictions say children aren't allowed to work "before 7am or after 7pm." They generally need a permit from the local council too, and local byelaws vary, so check with your council wherever you are in GB.

How to set minimum staffing by daypart

The answer to "how many staff does my cafe need?" changes by the hour, so build your cafe rota in dayparts. Here's an example for a single-site cafe open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., with setup from 6 a.m. and close-down until 8 p.m. It's an illustration, not a rule, and your stations, menu, and local rules will change it.

Example only: daypart floor for a single-site cafe

The floor stays at two all day, while the flex and who can fill each slot change. Your opener and closer each need a key holder. A school-age child can't count toward the 6 a.m. open or the 8 p.m. close. A young worker can't cover a 14-hour day under their 8-hour daily limit.

Once you've set a floor for each daypart, use it as the base when you build your staff rota. Then you're only deciding the flex each week.

Do the break maths before you publish

A two-person floor turns into a one-person floor the minute a break starts. On a 7-hour shift, each adult gets 20 uninterrupted minutes. Your solo barista covers bar, till, and the back door while their colleague sits down.

Young workers need more cover. The young workers' rest breaks page says they're usually entitled to "a 30 minute rest break if they work more than 4.5 hours." If you put a 17-year-old on a 5-hour shift, plan for 30 minutes without them.

You've got two clean fixes:

• Overlap a short mid shift. Bring in a third person for three or four hours across the break window.

• Put breaks in the lull. Slot breaks into the 10 a.m. or 2 p.m. dip, when one person can hold the bar.

It also helps to plan breaks around coverage before the rota goes out. In Deputy Rota software, you can plan breaks for every team member and see the day's coverage in one view.

Add flex staff from demand, not habit

With the floor set, flex is where labour forecasting comes in. Pull 4 to 8 weeks of till data and break it into 15- or 30-minute slots. Then look for the slots where drink volume passes what one barista can handle.

That's where your second bar person goes. Stagger their start so they're tying an apron before the 7:45 a.m. app order wave hits. To find your throughput, time a few rushes and count drinks per barista per hour.

Finding flex staff at short notice isn't always easy. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) tracks jobs by industry. Its ONS vacancies and jobs bulletin, released 20 October, 2026, lists "Accommodation & food service activities" at 2,616 thousand workforce jobs in June 2026. That's about 2.6 million jobs across hotels, restaurants, and cafes, so you're competing with a large sector for the same hourly staff.

You can also use labour demand forecasting tools to help estimate busy slots from your sales history. Deputy AI can generate an AI-assisted draft rota from forecast demand for manager review. You still decide who works.

Check your floor against labour cost

A floor costs money every hour you're open, so price it. The National Living Wage rates page notes, "The National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates increased on 1 April 2026." The rate for workers aged 21 and over is now £12.71 an hour.

At that rate, a floor of 2 people for 12 open hours costs about £305 a day. That's before employer National Insurance, pension contributions, and holiday pay.

Next, test each daypart with sales per labour hour (SPLH), which is sales divided by labour hours worked. Say your 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. stretch brings in £240 with 2 people on. That's 6 labour hours and £40 in SPLH.

Those 6 hours cost about £76 in wages, so your labour cost percentage for that stretch is roughly 32% before on-costs. Compare that with your target. If the floor costs more than a daypart earns, change the hours or the tasks before you cut below two.

You could close an hour earlier on slow days or give the afternoon crew prep for tomorrow's rush. Bigger savings can sit above the floor, in flex hours nobody needed.

According to the Risteriet Coffee story, the Copenhagen coffee business reported almost 10% lower planned costs and hours delivered using Deputy. Results vary by team size, rota, and setup.

Keep the floor when someone calls in sick

Your floor has to hold up against a 5:40 a.m. text that says, "Sick, sorry." Build a call-out plan before you need it.

• Keep a short call list. List who's trained for each station and open to short-notice shifts.

• Cross-train for two stations. Use a barista training timeline so more people can run both bar and till.

• Post the open shift fast. Share the gap with qualified staff instead of ringing down a list.

On the day, you need to see who's on site. Deputy Time and Attendance lets you see who's clocked in, so you know right away if the floor drops to one. For more day-to-day ideas, see our tips on running your coffee shop.

Set the floor first, then let demand do the rest

Minimum staffing levels for a cafe come down to two numbers. The floor covers every station, break, and trained food handler, and the flex follows your sales.

1. Set a floor for each daypart using the five checks.

2. Add flex from four to eight weeks of till data.

3. Price the floor and test it with sales per labour hour.

You know your cafe, your team, and your local rules best, so the final call stays with you. Deputy provides configurable rules and alerts that surface potential issues for manager review. Deputy is designed to support compliance workflows but does not provide legal advice or guarantee compliance. Customers remain responsible for configuring the platform appropriately and complying with applicable laws and regulations.

Ready to build a rota around your floor? Try Deputy for free.

Frequently asked questions

Can a cafe legally have one employee working alone?

It can be, based on the GB guidance reviewed. Cafe work isn't on HSE's short list of jobs that need a second person, but HSE says employers must manage lone worker risks. Weigh break cover, cash, early or late hours, and food hygiene supervision, and check with HSE if you're unsure.

Do trainees count toward the minimum staffing level?

Only once they can run a station on their own. A trainee who still needs help on bar can pull your trained barista off the queue. Count trainees as flex until they can cover a station solo.

Should every site in a group have the same floor?

No, set a floor for each site. A cafe by a railway station and a quiet neighbourhood shop have different rushes, stations, and local rules. Use the same five checks everywhere so the method stays consistent.

How often should I review my minimum staffing levels?

Review them each quarter and whenever something big changes. New hours, a new station, or a new National Living Wage rate each April can all move your floor. Pull fresh till data at the same time to keep your flex current.