Australia Public Holiday Surcharge Pricing Checklist (2026): Penalty-Rate Math Without Guest Confusion

Public-holiday service can boost sales and still cut margin. The reason is simple: labor minutes and pay conditions change faster than menu boards.

This checklist helps you price holiday trading without confusing guests or staff.

Quick Summary

• Use day-specific labor assumptions for holiday and weekend periods.
• Keep internal calculations ex-GST, then publish compliant customer totals.
• Apply surcharge logic consistently across POS, menu board, and delivery channels.
• Run a 14-day post-event margin review.

Why This Matters in 2026

ABS (December quarter 2025, released 28 January 2026) reports:

• CPI annual movement: 3.8%
• Meals out and takeaway foods: 3.5% annual movement

Fair Work’s current national minimum wage benchmark is AUD 24.95/hour (from 1 July 2025).

For holiday trading, those baseline numbers are rarely enough by themselves. Penalty-rate periods and slower throughput often raise labor cost per dish materially.

Core Formula

loadedHolidayLabourPerDish = (loadedHourlyRateHoliday / 60) x labourMinutesPerDish

requiredExGstPrice = (foodCost + loadedHolidayLabourPerDish + packaging + channelVariableCost)
                     / (1 - targetMargin)

displayedPrice = requiredExGstPrice x 1.10

Worked Example (Holiday Brunch SKU)

Assumptions:

• Food cost: AUD 6.40
• Holiday loaded labor per dish: AUD 4.10
• Packaging and variable costs: AUD 0.70
• Target margin: 30%

requiredExGstPrice = (6.40 + 4.10 + 0.70) / 0.70
                   = 11.20 / 0.70
                   = AUD 16.00

displayedPrice (incl GST) = 16.00 x 1.10 = AUD 17.60

If your current displayed price is below this floor, holiday trade may increase volume while reducing contribution.

Public Holiday Pricing Checklist

1. Re-time labor minutes for top 10 holiday SKUs.
2. Update loaded hourly labor assumptions for holiday trading windows.
3. Recalculate ex-GST floor per item.
4. Convert to GST-inclusive displayed prices.
5. Check surcharge wording and visibility on menu/POS.
6. Verify delivery-channel price consistency.
7. Review 14-day contribution by SKU after the event.

Guest Communication Script (Short)

“Holiday trading has different operating costs. We keep pricing transparent and review it regularly so quality and service stay consistent.”

Common Mistakes

1. Applying surcharge logic without updating labor minutes.
2. Running margin checks on GST-inclusive numbers only.
3. POS and menu board showing different surcharge outcomes.
4. Not reviewing post-event item contribution.

Related Guides

• Australia Restaurant Surcharge Guide
• Australia Menu Pricing Guide
• Australia Restaurant Labour Cost Calculator
• Australia Menu Price Review Checklist
• Prime Cost Guide

KitchenCost helps you update recipe cost, labor assumptions, and menu floors quickly before holiday periods.

Try KitchenCost.

Sources (checked on 2026-02-14)

• ABS - CPI rose 3.8% in the year to December 2025
• Fair Work - Annual Wage Review 2024-25
• ACCC - Price displays and surcharges
• ATO - How GST works
• Reddit: r/australia - eating out price pressure discussion