Labor Control is where your crew, your schedule, your hours, and your tips all come together into one labor cost. Set it up once and every hour you log flows into your weekly labor percent, prime cost, and revenue per labor hour across Profit and Revenue Recovery. Here is the order it goes in.

1. Set up your positions and staff

Start with the roles you schedule and pay, like bartender, server, and line cook, then add the people who fill them. Positions carry the default pay setup and tip rules; staff inherit them and can be tuned per person. This is the foundation the rest of the section reads from. See Add Positions and Staff.

2. Build the schedule

Lay out the week on a staff-by-day grid. Bar Cop costs it live against a labor budget it builds from your forecast, and warns you about overtime, double-books, and days off before you post. See Build the Schedule.

3. Log the hours actually worked

After the shifts happen, record the real hours, by hand, filled from the posted schedule, or imported off your timeclock export. Logged hours are what drive your cost everywhere, so this is the number that matters. See Log Hours.

4. Track the tips

Record each person's cash and card tips or split a shared pool, and Bar Cop handles the tip-outs off the rules you set on each position. Tips feed the tip-credit check and your Form 8027 worksheet. See Track Tips.

5. Close the period and hand off payroll

Each week rolls into a payroll-ready summary with hours, overtime, and gross pay. Close and lock it, then export a workbook or import file for whoever runs your payroll. See Run Payroll.

Why it all connects: everything you log here is one number, your labor cost, and it shows up in your weekly labor percent, prime cost, and revenue per labor hour. Log honestly and those numbers stay honest.

Bar Cop is a tool, not a payroll provider, tax preparer, or legal advisor. How you classify staff, handle overtime and tip credit, and run payroll is your call and your payroll provider's.