Your Costs Are Moving

On October 7, Toast launched a set of AI agents. The scheduling agent builds a staff schedule in seconds, using availability, expected sales, and overtime risk. Toast says beta restaurants averaged 41% fewer overtime hours per employee. It costs $60 a month plus $9 per employee.

That number comes from Toast, not an outside audit. So run your own math. A 25-person bistro pays $285 a month. At 100 overtime hours a month and $30 an hour, a 41% cut saves $1,230. At 10 hours, the tool loses money.

Regular gas averaged $4.35 a gallon on October 5, up $1.23 from a year ago, the EIA reports. Diesel sits at $6.20, up $2.49. Both eased a bit from the week before. Neither is close to last year.

Suppliers aren't waiting. ACHR News lists 11 HVAC manufacturers with October price changes. Aeris Metals linesets rise 12.9% on average. Panasonic follows October 19 with up to 4%. One van burning 15 gallons a day over 250 days uses 3,750 gallons. That's about $4,600 more per van per year.

On October 1, New York announced its minimum wage stays at $17 in NYC, Long Island, and Westchester, and $16 upstate, through 2027. State law pauses the inflation raise when jobs shrink. Statewide jobs fell from over 10 million in January to 9.96 million in July.

But the number isn't settled. Governor Hochul wants a change that would lift wages March 1 to $17.60 downstate and $16.55 upstate. The Legislature doesn't return until January.