Random duty cycle (RDC) errors in quasi-phase-matching (QPM) gratings lead to a pedestal in the spatial-frequency spectrum that increases the conversion efficiency for nominally phase-mismatched processes. Here, we determine the statistical properties of the Fourier spectrum of the QPM grating in the presence of RDC errors. We illustrate these properties with examples corresponding to periodic gratings with parameters typical for continuous-wave interactions, and chirped gratings with parameters typical for devices involving broad optical bandwidths. We show how several applications are sensitive to RDC errors by calculating the conversion efficiency of relevant nonlinear-optical processes. Last, we propose a method to efficiently incorporate RDC errors into coupled-wave models of nonlinear-optical interactions while still retaining only a small number of QPM grating orders.