TimeForge v2.4.5

Lubbock, TX – May 28, 2008 – Making a great work schedule week after week is often a painful managerial chore for businesses of all sizes. However, the increased store profits, lower turnover, and improved employee morale make employee scheduling software a worthwhile investment. Many operators in the restaurant, retail, and hospitality industries create labor schedules by hand using pen-and-paper methods that can consume up to seven hours a week in managerial time – an expense of more than $12,000 per year in manager time building and managing the labor schedule! Operators using spreadsheets still spend at least two hours a week scheduling labor.

Well-chosen software solutions can help operators control labor and increase profits, without incurring great expense. For example, TimeForge, a web-based labor scheduling product tightly controls employee labor costs and reduces turnover by providing a simple-to-use solution for scheduling employees. The TimeForge software program, available at http://www.TimeForge.com, ensures that managers spend more time “on the floor” and less time in the back office scheduling employees.

The most recent version, released on May 27, 2008 includes a number of improvements to the software and continues to build on TimeForge's success as a quick, simple, and affordable scheduling solution for businesses of all sizes. According to Michael, the proprietor of Tiara Cafe in California, “The TimeForge scheduling system has not only increased our efficiency tremendously; decreased the errors in what is normally an error prone environment; it has also saved us ten times what it costs us each month.”

TimeForge turns employee scheduling into an automated task that can be performed in a few minutes every week – improving store profits by thousands of dollars every year for the store. Some advantages of the new TimeForge include:

• TimeForge now includes the ability to track employee tips, which can be entered when an employee clocks out, or later by management!
• Schedules and templates can be organized into departments (similar to folders) to easily differentiate between “Front of House” and “Back of House” schedules.
• New attendance reports are available for supervisors and managers.
• Managers can easily see why an employee cannot be scheduled – regardless if the employee is already scheduled at another location or in a conflicting shift, or if the employee is unavailable.
• Locations / stores / units can be organized into a Corporate Hierarchy so that managers can monitor scheduling practices for groups of locations.
• Many other improvements!
  

Independent and chain operators alike can benefit from the many time saving and profit improving features of labor scheduling systems such as TimeForge. Get back on the floor today!

About TimeForge
TimeForge is the premier employee scheduling software, designed to provide fast ROI benefits to the business, and to meet the growing demands of the work force. TimeForge.com is affordable software that works with both independent and chain operations in retail, hospitality, and many other industries. For more information about TimeForge, and to sign up for a free trial, visit the website at http://www.TimeForge.com

Bracing for a Sales Slowdown? Ready to Increase Profits with Improved Cost Controls?

Save Thousands Through Better Scheduling of Labor – Reduce Turnover and Headaches

Lubbock, TX – April 20, 2008 – The slowing United States economy is having a negative impact on sales within the restaurant and retail industries and operators are seeking creative methods to improve profit margins at their companies. In the absence of growing sales, a common strategy is to focus on stronger inventory and labor controls to increase profits. It's a strategy that will not only pay during tough economic times, but will continue to reap returns when the good times return. Well-chosen technology can help operators manage both cost centers without incurring great expense or time. One such example is TimeForge, a labor scheduling product that tightly controls employee labor costs by providing a simple-to-use solution for scheduling employees.

The TimeForge software program, available at http://www.TimeForge.com, ensures that managers spend more time “on the floor” and less time in the back office scheduling employees. The most recent version, released on April 20th, 2008 includes a number of improvements to the software and continues to build on TimeForge's success as a quick, simple, and affordable scheduling solution for businesses of all sizes.

In many cases the new version of TimeForge can drastically increase operator efficiency and reduce the errors caused by ineffective scheduling techniques. Managers without labor scheduling tools, such as TimeForge, commonly spend more than $12,000 a year in management time (based on a national salary average of $62,500) building and managing the labor schedule! The latest version of TimeForge.com turns employee scheduling into an automated task that can be performed in a few minutes every week – improving store profits by thousands of dollars every year for the store.

Some advantages of the new TimeForge include:

• TimeForge can manage meal and break periods for the schedule, and now includes break worksheets!
• Costs for schedules now include overtime, including 1.5x, 2.0x, and California Overtime and exemptions!
• TimeForge can be integrated with a number of software packages, reducing operator data entry
• New multi-location reports
• Many other improvements!
  

Making a great schedule every week is often a painful managerial chore for businesses of all sizes. The increased store profits, lower turnover, and improved employee morale make employee scheduling software a worthwhile investment. Many hospitality and retail owners have discovered how properly managing labor saves time and money for the business with a free trail of TimeForge.

About TimeForge.com
TimeForge.com is the premier employee scheduling software, designed to provide fast ROI benefits to the business, and to meet the growing demands of the work force. TimeForge.com is affordable software that works with both independent and chain operations in retail, hospitality, and many other industries. For more information about TimeForge.com, and to sign up for a Free Trial, visit the website at http://www.TimeForge.com


How long does it take to make a labor schedule for your workforce? It should take less than 5 minutes! Did you know that TimeForge can streamline and minimize labor costs through effective employee scheduling at your motel, bank, school, restaurant, bar, club, or retail business.

Product Mix Relating to Inventory Costs

Not too long ago, I helped a user (Big Biscuit) with an inventory related question on the Foodservice Forums located at www.foodservicei.com

His questions (paraphrased) were:

• Let's say that 15 restaurants have an average food cost of 27.50%
• If one of the fifteen restaurants has a 29.50% food cost, could the reason for the higher food cost be because of their product mix? Or, is the only option product theft or shrinkage?
• Put another way: Could a higher than average food cost at one store be because they sell more individual menu items that have higher food costs?
  

What an interesting question! This question isn't specific to the hospitality / food-service industry, and could easily apply to a car dealership (average price of a vehicle), retail store, or plumbing repair shop. Without getting too deep into statistical analysis, the general answer to an anomaly in inventory is “it depends”, as the problem could be related to:

1. Vendor changes (perhaps one store gets smaller cuts of beef, so they have to use more beef to get the same amount of stew).
2. Personnel changes (a new cook may use more or less butter than her predecessor)
3. Shrink or Shrinkage (fraud, theft or loss of a product, accounting errors, or perishable inventory)
4. Different product mix (using or selling different quantities of inventory items)
   

To illustrate this particular problem, let's assume we have two stores:

Store A and Store B sell the same "stuff" (menu items), and each store has sales of $1,000 per day.

Store A is located in a place where only "locals" would know about it, and most of the locals order burgers, which run $5 gross, but have a food cost of $1 (20%). The patrons also occasionally purchase steaks, at a gross of $20, but with a higher food cost of $10 (50%).

In this case, Store A has a product mix of 20 steaks ($400 gross, $200 in food cost), and 120 burgers ($600 gross, $120 in food cost). Total food cost is $320, or 32% ($320 / $1000) food cost, and each of the 140 clients spent an average of $7.14

Now, let's say that Store B is located on the boardwalk, and sells more steaks than burgers. With 40 steaks ($800 in gross, and $400 in food cost), and 40 hamburgers ($200 gross, $40 in food cost), Store B's product mix has an average food cost of 44% ($400 + $40 / $1000), and each of the 80 patrons at this store spent an average of $12.50

In this case, Store B has a 12% higher food cost than Store A. Interestingly enough, Store B only served 80 patrons, compared to the 140 clients that Store A was able to serve - another excellent indicator for tracking shrinkage. What is the average of the two stores? 38% food cost and $9.82 per person on an average check. Both stores are 6% away from the "average".

As illustrated by the above example, varying product mix can certainly cause food costs to fluctuate, and one should be very careful when comparing averages against each other.

How do you compare product mix at your location?

How long does it take to make an employee schedule? It should take less than 5 minutes! Did you know that labor costs could be as much as 30% of your expenses? TimeForge can help streamline and minimize labor costs through effective employee scheduling at your restaurant, bar, or club.

Congratulations TimeForge!

It's been one day since the release of TimeForge Version 1.9, which introduced a number of new features such as easy-to-use calendar availability, improved multi-location (multiple unit) scheduling, and many other improvements. And we're excited to announce that more than 800 businesses have signed up for the most simple and powerful labor scheduling tool on the market: www.TimeForge.com

Although we are obviously excited by the number of TimeForge users, we are more excited about the time savings and cost savings that have been provided to our users. For example:

• On average, managers spend more than 2.64 hours making the schedule, every week with a spreadsheet program such as Excel, by hand, or with an inefficient scheduling system (like most Point of Sale systems).

• On average, managers spend 15 minutes making the schedule, every week using TimeForge.

• On average, managers in retail and hospitality businesses receive an annual salary and benefits package equivalent to more than $62,500. That's more than $31 per hour.

• TimeForge is directly saving our users more than $59,272 every month! That's more than $710,000 a year.

Of course, there are dozens of other benefits like reporting, employee notification, reduced employee turnover, less time fragmentation (employees calling your business), etc... which are more difficult to calculate in a direct dollar-to-dollar return on investment (ROI).

Is your business getting the most out of TimeForge?

How long does it take to make your labor schedule? It should take less than 5 minutes! Did you know that TimeForge can streamline and minimize labor costs through effective employee scheduling at your retail business, restaurant, bar, club, or hotel?

Restaurant Business Article on Workforce Problems

The Nation Restaurant Association is forecasting a shortage in workers over the next several years, as the growth of the hospitality sector surpasses the available labor force. Instead of hiring new laborers, many growing operators will need to maximize their existing workforce – and supplementing trained workers with advanced technology solutions is a wise decision. Shorter training times, tighter staffing, faster service times, improved accuracy, and more consistent product quality are just a few of the benefits of blending technology and employees.

Restaurant Business, one of the nations leading restaurant and food-service publications, recently featured an article on the topic of “High Tech Takes on Big Labor”, focusing on many relevant technology advancements including:

• Pay-at-the-table technology (Faster table turnover which means more sales with fewer employees)
• Wireless order taking (Directly enter orders into the POS system, servers can focus on guest satisfaction)
• Web-based employee scheduling (Build schedules faster and notify employees of upcoming work, reduces overhead drastically)
• Online ordering (labor is not needed to field phone calls, enter orders, or pay customers)
  

A number of technology vendors were highlighted in the article, including TimeForge.com

Some of the scheduling related vendors mentioned in the article include:

• ASI's Restaurant Manager Labor Scheduling Module that generates staffing rosters and then can be printed, posted to the website, emailed, or sent as text messages.
  

• CrunchTime!'s Labor and Workforce Management tool which is a web-based solution that interfaces with various POS and HR systems.

• HotSchedules web-based product which offers enhanced reports, rule-based auto-scheduling and POS integration.

• Deterministic's Labor System is a web-based labor forecasting and management program.

• MacromatiX's Scheduling and Labor Management product is a web-based QSR and fast-casual scheduling program which alerts managers when labor is “over” or “under”.

• MICROS Systems has a new mylabor product (part of the mymicros.net suite), offering a web-based labor management tool.

• TimeForge.com is a web-based scheduling system designed to keep management on the floor, and reduce turnover by keeping employees “in-the-loop”. The software builds a complete schedule in just a few seconds, and can be manually adjusted to meet specific needs of the business. Employees receive daily reminders about schedule changes, through the website, email, and text messages – and workers can trade shifts online, read messages from management, and request time off (or change their availability).

Standard Disclaimer: Why do we showcase other companies and products that perform similar functionality to TimeForge.com? Because we believe TimeForge.com is a superior scheduling product. Check them out yourself! Go review their products, ask for their free schedule entry services and free trials.

Come back when you're ready to make scheduling simple!

How long does it take to make your employee schedules? It should take less than 5 minutes! Did you know that TimeForge can streamline and minimize labor expenses through effective employee labor management at your business, bar, club, or restaurant.

Improper Labor Staffing

Nation's Restaurant News recently posted a blog worth at least $20 in immediate lost sales, and perhaps several hundred in lost future sales. The picture is reposted here for reference:

We have no idea what occurred to keep the employee away from their customers for 30 minutes. However, based on our experience one of two things happened – and both scenarios can be prevented with a good labor management system such as TimeForge.com

Possible Scenario One: Managers were too busy with other details of the operation and could not oversee the staff and customer interactions. Management could be mopping the floor, paying bills, training new staff, making the schedule, or any number of other tasks. Regardless of the job they were performing, the managers were preoccupied and could not properly manage their store to ensure that customers were being served promptly.

Solution: Regardless of which task occupied the manager's time, they were not available to manage the store floor. If the store was using TimeForge.com to build their schedule, and manage their labor, management would spend 4 more hours on the floor, not in the back-office making a schedule. A good workforce management solution could give the management team another four (or more!) hours per week “on-the-floor”.


Possible Scenario Two: The manager responsible for the schedule was inexperienced or unable to schedule the workforce correctly. Too many employees may have been scheduled earlier in the day, and too many of those were sent home. Or, perhaps too few were scheduled all day, and those that were scheduled could not keep up with the increased customer demand.

Solution: Inexperienced and experienced managers both benefit from TimeForge.com's graphical scheduling capabilities, more than 20 labor reports, and many schedule visualization tools. Users of TimeForge.com can quickly see employees that are scheduled or not scheduled, which staff members are “on call” or “extras”, and when employees are available to work.

Regardless of what happened at this restaurant, poor staffing and labor management led to lost sales, and a bad reputation.

Are you ready to go home early? It should take less than 5 minutes to make the employee labor schedule for your business! Did you know that TimeForge can streamline and minimize labor expenses through effective employee labor management at your business, bar, club, or restaurant?

Simple, Fast Employee Scheduling

Choosing a simple and easy-to-use labor scheduling program takes time. Someone with buying authority and an operations background in your organization must:

• Research the available programs
• Contact each vendor
• Track down customer references (customer testimonials are available on our website)
• Narrow the list of vendors
• Evaluate each program (every TimeForge.com user receives a free trial)
• Purchase or finance the software (TimeForge.com is affordable, and payment is automatically drafted every month)
• Install and configure the software (no software to install with TimeForge.com)
• Train all employees (TimeForge.com training is free)
• Hope that the software works as promised (no contracts are required with TimeForge.com, and you get a free evaluation / trial of the software)
• Pay ongoing maintenance and support fees (no ongoing maintenance or annual support fees with TimeForge.com)
  

Our team has done the research for you!

In addition to our own TimeForge.com employee scheduling product, ScheduleSimple.com provides a list of many of the software products available for labor scheduling and workforce management in small, medium, and enterprise level organizations. The new scheduling site covers software for the retail, restaurant, food-service, motel, hotel, hospitality, and grocery industries.

How long does it take to make an employee schedule? It should take less than 5 minutes! Did you know that labor costs could be as much as 30% of your expenses? TimeForge can help streamline and minimize labor costs through effective employee scheduling at your restaurant, bar, or club.

Graphical Availability and Requests for Employee Scheduling

As announced last week, the next version of TimeForge will include a brand new graphical availability and request tool. We expect to release the tool with version 1.9, after Thanksgiving, and like all of our updates, it will be available to all of our customers at no additional charge.

With the new tool, managers can easily see when employees are available, differentiate between one-time requests and ongoing availability, and can quickly click-and-drag to make new requests. Behind the scene, our proprietary (and powerful) request software continues to allow your management team to make both simple and complex requests with a single mouse-click.

The TimeForge development team was gracious enough to provide us with two preliminary screen shots. Obviously, these are not the final, polished product that will be released next week .... but they should give you an idea of how simple the new employee request and availability tool will be.





As always, feedback from our users is greatly appreciated!

Are you ready to go home early? It should take less than 5 minutes to make the employee labor schedule for your business! Did you know that TimeForge can streamline and minimize labor expenses through effective employee labor management at your business, bar, club, or restaurant?

What's New in Employee Scheduling? (Part 2)

Our team is proud to announce the latest version of simple employee scheduling ... TimeForge version 1.8.6! This version includes a number of minor bug-fixes, as well as some major new features – all designed to save you time!

Some of the new features include:

• Split Shifts. TimeForge's AutoScheduler will try to not assign employees to split shifts. Employees who close your business will not be scheduled to open the next morning, if at all possible. This makes employees and managers happy!

• Reports. The main report which runs when you click on “Print” from the schedule page now prints only scheduled employees (not all employees). This makes the printout more concise, and easier to read! There's also a new report, which can be found on the Reports page, and is called “Costs by Position”. This report gives managers a quick, graphical summary of where labor dollars are being spent on the schedule.

• Day Parts and Availability. You asked for it, and you got it! One of the most requested features from TimeForge users is to be able to use the request and availability editors with your own “time of day”. For example, your “Morning” shift may run from 6am – 11am, and your “Afternoon” shift may go from 11am – 4pm, and now you can setup requests and availability using “Morning” or “Afternoon” times.
  
  Login to TimeForge, and click on “Schedules”, and then choose “Day Parts”. Enter your shifts (such as open, morning, afternoon, evening, or close), and select a start time, end time, and a description. Day part periods cannot overlap. Once you have entered all of your time periods, you can save the Day Parts.
  
  Once Day Parts are in TimeForge, you can create and edit requests and availability using them. You, and your employees, will have the option of entering a time range, or you can pick a Day Part instead.

Look out for Version 1.9 and Version 2.0! Employee Scheduling will be faster and easier! Spend time doing what you want to do...

How long does it take to make your employee schedules? It should take less than 5 minutes! Did you know that TimeForge can streamline and minimize labor expenses through effective employee labor management at your business, bar, club, or restaurant.

What's New in TimeForge? (Part 1)

Our team is proud to announce the latest version of simple employee scheduling ... TimeForge version 1.8.6! This version includes a number of minor bug-fixes, as well as some major new features – all designed to save you time!

Some of the new features include:

• Employee Messaging. Managers and supervisors can send messages to employees using TimeForge! To send a message, click on the “Schedules” tab, and then click on “Messages”. You can choose to send messages to everyone who works a certain position (e.g. all Cooks), select employees (e.g., Sarah and Joe), everyone who is scheduled to work (e.g. Everyone on next weeks schedule), or everyone who is not scheduled to work. Messages are sent via email to each employee, and employees can retrieve the messages at any time by logging into TimeForge.com You can also send schedules directly from the positions, employees, and schedules pages!

• Security. If you were not already aware, TimeForge is now secure. When you connect to TimeForge, you will notice that your location bar / url turns to “https”, which means that your connection is secure! TimeForge is using 128-bit SSL technology, the same kind your bank uses!

• Templates. Templates received a major upgrade on Monday night and can now be used on an existing schedule. You will see a link to “Use” and “Make” templates on the schedule page (if you have templates). Also, positions are grouped together when editing a template to make editing more simple.

Version 1.9 and 2.0 are coming soon!

How long does it take to make your employee schedules? It should take less than 5 minutes! Did you know that TimeForge can streamline and minimize labor expenses through effective employee labor management at your business, bar, club, or restaurant.

Employee Labor Scheduling from RunningRestaurants.com

As we discussed before, RunningRestaurants.com recently featured TimeForge.com in their People & Staffing section. However, RunningRestaurants.com is a member-only site and is brought to you by the minds behind RestaurantReport.com and Sante ... so you know it's worthwhile!

However, because the article is part of a member-only website, it will only be removed from the general public in a few weeks, and you'll need to be a member to purchase it. We do suggest becoming a member, but in the meantime, the article is re-published below for your convenience:

Employee Labor Scheduling: Interview with TimeForge.com's Anthony Presley

TimeForge offers a web-based employee scheduling system for restaurants. We spoke with Anthony Presley, the Founder of TimeForge about his business and some of the potential ways it benefits restaurant operators today.

RR: Paper schedules have worked for a long, long time -- why web based labor scheduling?

AP: Because paper schedules are difficult and time consuming. Building a paper schedule requires that the manager building the schedule consider many different factors including employee abilities / skills, anticipated sales, individual work habits, food preparation, employee availability, individual work requests, certifications required for handling alcohol, and overall labor costs. If any one of those factors is incorrect, the establishment can lose sales, personnel, or be fined. It's a tedious and time-consuming task that few operators enjoy doing.

Web based labor scheduling allows managers to input many of the scheduling factors into an easy to manipulate format, and the software remembers - forever - everything that the managers (or employees) input. If "John" asked for Monday off, and the manager agreed, then John is not available to be scheduled on Monday.

RR: What do employees think of the system?

AP: Employees LOVE the system. We recently began entering data for a client in Connecticut, and as part of our data entry, we setup all of his employees to be able to login into TimeForge. Our setup process can take between 2 and 4 days, and by the time the owner was using TimeForge, his employees had already submitted more than 40 requests for time off, had been receiving daily email and text message alerts about their schedules, and told him that it was "Very Cool!"

RR: The notification aspect of your system seems like a neat feature -- talk about this a bit.

AP: Notifications keep employees "in the loop" anytime a schedule is created, a request is approved or denied, or a shift swap is approved by management. More specifically, with TimeForge, employees can input their email address and/or their cell phone numbers to allow TimeForge to contact them. Of course, employees can check the status of upcoming schedules, shift swaps, or request / availability changes at any time by logging into the website.

When schedules are published or modified by management, employees are sent an email with the updated schedule. Employees receive schedule emails on a "rolling" basis - meaning that they receive an email every day, which includes that day's schedule, and the next several days (up to 30) worth of schedules. Additionally, employees can receive text messages before their shift. These messages go straight to their cell phone, and can be setup by the employee to ring up to 24 hours in advance of the beginning of the shift.

The notifications keep employees informed, which makes them happy, which reduces turnover. A win-win for the business!

RR: So, have you seen the system positively effect employee turnover?

AP: Yes, yes we have. Many of our users have seen a 5% - 8% reduction in turnover after using our system. Why? Because requests are tracked, employee schedule preferences are tracked and both requests and preferences appear on the schedules every time. Employees are notified when they need to work. Schedules can be printed, emailed, and sent via text message. Employees stay happy, because they always know what is going on, and don't have to wait for management to post the schedule on Sunday night to see who works on Monday morning.

RR: If a restaurant operator says "tell me in 15 seconds why your product is a good idea", how do you respond?

AP: We have a simple pitch...it is designed to be simple, because our software is simple. The response is always: "Can you make a schedule in 30 seconds? Our software can, which means you can be doing something else with your time." I don't know many operators, even with only a few employees, who can build a schedule in 30 seconds.

Once the restaurant operators digests the fact that TimeForge can, in fact, build a complete schedule in 30 seconds...then we start talking about employee notifications, shift swapping, overlapping schedule capabilities (kitchen, dining room, patio, catering, etc.), multiple locations, strength/skill level ranking, multiple position tracking, reduction in turnover, etc.

RR: How much time does a typical owner/manger have to spend with the scheduling system on a weekly basis? And how have you seen that differ from what they experience with their existing scheduling system?

AP: Most of our users are able to pick up the basics of the system within minutes. We have several tutorials, as well as more than 100 FAQ questions and embedded help screens to assist our users.

However, once fully proficient with the software, the typical managerial user can expect to spend about 3 - 5 minutes per day with the software. This time is used to print out the daily schedule, review any employee requests that are outstanding, and approve or deny employee shift swaps. Additionally, when it is time to make the schedule, managers can expect to spend another 5 - 10 minutes creating the schedule for a medium-sized restaurant. When they are happy with the schedule, they just click "Post", and all of the employees on the schedule can see the schedule. That's it!

Comparatively, scheduling with excel (or by hand) or a POS system requires that the manager first locate the request book, the availability sheets, the notes that were taken outside of either of those documents, a separate sheet for each individual's labor costs, and they will need to keep track of several other factors in their head (such as employee skill sets, and min/max hours per employee). Once they're done (a process which could take between 2 and 6 hours per week), they need to make sure the employees are notified. This probably means going into their email system, copying the schedule, and emailing it to their employees. A lot more work, a lot more than can go wrong.

TimeForge.com

How long does it take to make your employee schedules? It should take less than 5 minutes! Did you know that TimeForge can streamline and minimize labor expenses through effective employee labor management at your business, bar, club, or restaurant.

Supercharged Scheduling from Nations Restaurant News

Nation's Restaurant News published an article entitled "Supercharged Scheduling" on Oct 8, 2007. If, like us, you receive the e-mail newsletter, you probably received the story in a "Tech Trends from NRN-Online" email last week.

The teaser introduction starts: "Why does one restaurant hum along, making schedules with little more than pencil and paper or a spreadsheet, while others see reason to spend tens of thousands of dollars on sophisticated labor optimization technology? Selecting what's right for a particular operation means making a clear-eyed assessment of the complexity of labor demands and the goals of the business."

At TimeForge, we believe that every restaurant, bar, club, hotel, motel, or catering business should be using an employee scheduling program. However, we do take issue with the idea that it takes "thousands of dollars" worth of investment to get sophisticated employee scheduling software. In fact, you can get started with TimeForge for $1.50 per month!

The article goes on to discuss four different products, including some "best of breed" and "all in one solutions". These included:

• Radiant Software's MenuLink featuring their installation at Fazoli's
  
• Time Management's TMx featuring their integration with Squirrel POS for Logan's Roadhouse
• Deterministics scheduling package, featuring T.G.I. Friday's
• TDR3's HotSchedules software, featuring Kona Grill

Standard Disclaimer: Why do we showcase other companies and products that perform similar functionality to TimeForge.com? Because we believe TimeForge.com is a superior scheduling product. Check them out yourself! Go review their products, ask for their free schedule entry services and free trials.

Come back when you're ready to make scheduling simple!

If you were at FS-TEC this year, you probably saw all four products on the show floor.

Our favorite quote is one we hear from TimeForge users all the time: "It really improved managers' quality of life and made it easier to write schedules, and [helped] shifts go smoother."

How long does it take to make your employee schedules? It should take less than 5 minutes! Did you know that TimeForge can streamline and minimize labor expenses through effective employee labor management at your business, bar, club, or restaurant.

Age and Brand Analysis of POS Systems in Foodservice

Entitled A Look Into the Leading Chains of the Casual, Fast Casual, Quick Serve, and Family Restaurant Segments, Chain Store Guide (CSGIS) recently published an whitepaper describing Point of Sale (POS) systems currently being used by various national restaurant chains.

There is some interesting information in the whitepaper, which is an examination of the data that Chain Store Guide has been collecting for years, and makes available in some of their products. The paper looks at the average age of POS hardware and POS software in use at the top five restaurants for several segments of the hospitality industry, including:

• Fast Casual (Panera Bread, Chipotle Mexican Grill, P.F. Chang's China Bistro, Boston Market, Captain D's, etc...)
• Casual (Applebee's, Chili's, Outback, Olive Garden, T.G.I Friday's)
• Quick Serve (McDonald's, KFC, Burger King, Subway, Pizza Hut)
• Family Restaurant (Denny's, Cracker Barrel, Golden Corral, Bob Evans, Waffle House)
  

According to their data:

• The top 5 fast casual chains have Point of Sale hardware that is almost 7 years old, and Point of Sale software that is just over 5 years old (on average).
• The top 5 casual chains have Point of Sale hardware that is about 6 years old, and Point of Sale software that is right at 9 years old (on average).
• The top 5 quick service chains have Point of Sale hardware that is right at 4 years old, and Point of Sale software that is just over 3 years old (on average).
• The top 5 family chains have Point of Sale hardware that is just over 7 years old, and Point of Sale software that is more than 9 years old (on average).
  

You can read the full Chain Store Guide report here.

How long does it take you to make an employee work schedule? It should take less than 5 minutes! Did you know that TimeForge can streamline and minimize labor costs through effective employee labor management at your business, bar, club, grocery, convenience store, or restaurant.

Employee Labor Scheduling: Interview with TimeForge.com's Anthony Presley

Our employee scheduling product, TimeForge, has been featured on RunningRestaurants.com, a members-only sister site of RestaurantReport.com In the interview, I discussed some of the special features in TimeForge, such as the AutoScheduler, employee schedule alerts, employee requests, and setting up availability.

Thanks very much to Jaime Oikle and his staff for featuring our software!

Some of the topics that we covered included:

• Labor scheduling has been done on paper for years ... why should a restaurant look at moving to web based employee scheduling?
• Do employees like to use labor scheduling systems like TimeForge?
• What are employee notifications, and do employee alerts help keep staff happy, and reduce turnover?
• Does a web based employee scheduling software positively effect employee turnover?
• In 15 seconds (or less), tell restaurant operators and managers why they should use TimeForge for their scheduling needs.
• How long does it take to learn a powerful labor scheduling system like TimeForge, and how much time do owners/managers spend with your system on a weekly basis to manage the schedules?
  

Feel free to let us know if you think we forgot something important!

You can read the complete article on RunningRestaurants.com

How long does it take to make your employee schedules? It should take less than 5 minutes! Did you know that TimeForge can streamline and minimize labor costs through effective employee labor management at your business, bar, club, grocery, convenience store, or restaurant.

Off Topic: Inventory Managment for Restaurants

One of the newsletters that we receive at TimeForge is the excellent (weekly) Restaurant Report Newsletter. Two weeks ago, this question was posed in the newsletter:

"Inventory Control Programs - What would you recommend as the best inventory control programs that is easy to read, follow and upkeep with information. As well we are looking into a new computer system and program for the front of the house....what would you recommend. We are in Canada and service and maintenance of course is very important."

Several years ago, we did a study of food-service industry inventory programs, and looked at the adoption and usage of inventory procedures in the marketplace. During this study, we also spoke with many of the "obvious" players in the industry - so we sent the poster a response to her question, which was published in this week's Restaurant Report:

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As I'm sure you are aware, there are dozens of inventory systems on the market today, and even more if you consider systems which are part of the "back-office" software suites.

The interesting thing about inventory systems is that....few people use them. We did a study about 2 years ago of all of the major players, and how many people used their products. Less than 20% of the market uses inventory control (with a computer). That being said, there are some amazing programs out there that will help reduce food costs and/or track inventory.

Some of the main vendors include:

Eatec, MenuLink (part of Radiant), and Compeat are all "high end" systems. Expect to spend between $10k and $40k for your store to get started with one of their packages. Really designed for very large chains. These guys own about 3 - 4% of the hospitality inventory market.

iPro is (was) a one-man show, and is the "bargain bin" version of inventory software. I would stay away from this product, even if it's only $99. They own about 1% of the market (mostly eBay purchases).

ChefTec is "the" independent inventory product in the US, and is based out of Colorado. Getting support isn't always easy, but they are very knowledgeable about their product. About 20 employees (as of 2 years ago), and their product starts around $1k. About 2-3% of the market (on the high end).

Cost Guard is an excellent product, which was recently upgraded and a lot of new documentation was written for the product. The owner lives in New York, and runs a tight ship...but there are only about 4 employees at last count. Probably have about 1.3% of the total market. Given the opportunity, I would recommend Cost Guard over ChefTec.

Optimum Control is a Canadian company, and as of 2 years ago, had about 6 or 8 employees. They claimed to have 3,000 installed restaurants, or about .3% of the market. Pricing is around $1k.

If I was you, I would recommend that you give Optimum Control and Cost Guard a try, and see which one works better for you. I believe both of the products have online or downloadable demos.

Regarding the front-of-house...are you interested in a POS system, a reservation system, a scheduling solution, a marketing solution, a video surveillance system, bar and liquor control, or something else? There are all-in-one solutions (I don't recommend them), and there are individual pieces to the puzzle.

Of course, if you need a labor management tool - please take a look at our software.

Hope that helps - good luck!

Anthony Presley
Founder
TimeForge.com: Restaurant Employee Scheduling Software
P: 866.684.7191

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After writing this, I was contacted by Kenny at Cost Genie, and am currently reviewing their product. So far, it looks like something you might want to review as well.

How long does it take to make your employee schedules? It should take less than 5 minutes! Did you know that TimeForge can streamline and minimize labor costs through effective employee labor management at your business, bar, club, grocery, convenience store, or restaurant.

Tech Tags: restaurant cost+genie cheftec inventory eatec menulink back+office cost+guard newsletter TimeForge labor+scheduling employee+scheduling foodservice hospitality

Labor Scheduling Software Article at Nation's Restaurant News

As recently reported on Nation's Restaurant News, "(Sep. 27) Get in, set up an effective staff schedule and move on to the next task: that's what most restaurateurs want out of their scheduling software. But knowing that doesn't necessarily make their search for the right software any easier, as the schedulers available today run the gamut from elementary point-of-sale-system modules to high-end workforce management applications.

The trick, some operators indicate, is to find the right system or service for your operation without buying features that will go unused."

NRN reviewed two products in their article:

• ScheduleAnywhere
• ScheduleWriter
  

Standard Disclaimer: Why do we showcase other companies and products that perform similar functionality to TimeForge.com? Because we believe TimeForge.com is a superior scheduling product. Check them out yourself! Go review their products, ask for their schedule entry services and free trials.

Come back when you're ready to make scheduling simple!

TimeForge.com has all of the features of both of the reviewed products, with an easier to use interface, an integrated AutoScheduler, and better pricing! But then, I suppose we are biased.

You can read the full article at Nation's Restaurant News. They require registration, but the registration is free.

How long does it take to make your labor schedules? It should take less than 5 minutes! Did you know that TimeForge can streamline and minimize labor costs through effective employee scheduling at your restaurant, bar, club, or business.

Tech Tags: TimeForge employee+schedules restaurant labor+scheduling review SoftCafe ScheduleAnywhere

Spend Less Time Scheduling Labor - More Time Managing Your Business

Managers Save Hours Making Employee Schedules, Reduce Turnover

Lubbock, TX – October 22, 2007 - Labor is one of two large cost centers in the food-service business, and can account for more than thirty-percent (30%) of the expenses in a well managed restaurant or club. Managers spend hours every week deciding how to schedule their labor force – time that could be spent with guests or managing other aspects of the business. Poorly scheduling the work force can result in severe negative consequences for the business including higher turnover, reduction in morale, and increased payroll expenses. In development for almost three years, the latest version of TimeForge.com provides a quick, simple, and affordable solution for managers to schedule their work force.

According to a recent study performed by TimeForge.com, managers in the restaurant, bar, and club industry spend between one and eight hours every week building their labor schedule. Scheduling employees is a complicated and thankless task, requiring that managers juggle availability sheets, request and manager log books, and sticky notes in addition to memorizing overtime regulations, labor laws, and the staffing needs of the business. With an average salary and benefits package of more than $62,500 per year, managers can cost a restaurant more than $1,000 a month to maintain a basic labor schedule. The latest version of TimeForge.com turns employee scheduling into an automated task that can be performed in a few minutes - saving thousands of dollars every year for the store.

TimeForge.com is an easy-to-use web application that can be accessed remotely by both employees and managers. The software currently assists more than 600 businesses schedule their employees, including many hospitality and food-service establishments such as restaurants, bars, hotels, clubs. However, other companies such as retail centers, health clinics, movie theaters, and realty companies are taking advantage of the easy-to-use and affordable scheduling software. “... I know that it is geared towards restaurants, but we are a real estate company and we love it because it is inexpensive and it is so easy to use." said Nicole, Managing Administrator for Exit Premier Realty.

The labor scheduling software comes with a number of features designed to make managing a schedule simple:

• Managers can display schedules in list, grid, or graphical formats.
• AutoScheduler™ system builds a complete schedule in seconds.
• Requests and employee availability are stored indefinitely, and automatically appear on the schedule.
• Employees are automatically notified by email and text messages of any posted schedule changes.
• Managers can compare theoretical schedules and actual payroll costs to calculate performance.
• Employees can swap shifts with other qualified employees.
• And much more!
  

Other users, such as Sherry, a manager at Music Man's BBQ, enjoy easy employee scheduling with the TimeForge.com AutoScheduler™ system. According to Sherry, “It's cut my time to make a schedule in half!” The AutoScheduler™ system considers millions of employee combinations based on factors such as availability, labor costs, employee strengths, and overtime regulations. The best schedule available for the business is calculated in seconds, and management can modify it where necessary.

If you manage employees, online labor scheduling software is a worthwhile investment. Properly managing labor saves time and money for the business, and improves the job satisfaction of both employees and managers. For more information about TimeForge.com, and to sign up for a Free Trial, visit the website at http://www.TimeForge.com


About TimeForge.com
TimeForge.com is the premier employee scheduling software, designed to provide fast ROI benefits to the business, and to meet the growing demands of the work force. TimeForge.com is affordable software that works for both independent and chain operations.

How long does it take to make your employee schedules? It should take less than 5 minutes! Did you know that TimeForge can streamline and minimize labor costs through effective employee scheduling at your restaurant, bar, club, or business.

Tech Tags: TimeForge employee+scheduling labor+management+software online restaurant+management

NAFEM / FS-TEC highlights 2008

We recently visited the NAFEM and FS-TEC trade shows at the George World Congress Center in Atlanta, GA - we were able to attend the show on the second and third days. What an amazing experience!

Two of the GWCC halls were packed with non-stop food-service innovations and people who wanted to get their hands on all of the new innovations! Everything from kitchen appliances and walk-in freezers to wireless temperature monitoring devices and energy saving kitchen dish washers.

Although there was a lot of software being showcased in the FS-TEC tradeshow, our experience was that the show was very slow for both attendees and exhibitors. On the second day of the show, there were only a handful of attendees walking through FS-TEC, and on day three we found it hard to find attendees other than ourselves. A number of employee / labor management and scheduling companies were exhibiting at the show, including:

• HotSchedules (also known as EMN8, Inc)
• Deterministics Management Technology, Inc.
• e-Restaurant (from Altametrics)
• When To Waiter (by WhenToManage)
• RedPrairie / BlueCube
• Time Management Corporation
  

Standard Disclaimer: Why do we showcase other companies and products that perform similar functionality to TimeForge.com? Because we believe TimeForge.com is a superior scheduling product. Check them out yourself! Go review their products, ask for their schedule entry and free trial. Come back when you're ready to make scheduling simple!

As we wandered the much larger NAFEM show, we began to notice that much of the new technology was not at FS-TEC. It was at NAFEM. We found new products in many different booths that do all kinds of things, like:

• Stoves that monitor their own energy usage
• Dishwashers that reduce waste water when washing dishes
• All-in-one food cooking centers that use less energy to cook food
• Microwaves that can cook food in metal containers
• Walk-in rotisseries that turn off when food is cooked thoroughly
• Electronic controls to automatically turn equipment off and on
• HACCP automation technologies
• Wireless temperature monitoring systems for monitoring refrigerators, freezers, and holding areas
  

The coolest technology at the show? One of the most interesting pieces of technology being sold at the NAFEM show was the JeneSys product line from LynxSpring, a Kansas based company. The JeneSys is an Internet enabled facility monitoring and control management platform – a neat mini-computer that can monitor and control lighting, walk-ins, HVAC, security systems, and much more. The system is relatively affordable, and the graphical interface for monitoring the system is very intuitive.

The neatest booth at the show? The neatest booth had to be the Hobart booth, which was enormous. Hobart had several sample kitchens laid out in their booth, which was easily 250 feet long and 100 feet wide. I don't know how much the booth cost, but it wasn't less than $250,000. Impressive!

How long does it take to make your labor schedules? It should take less than 5 minutes! Did you know that TimeForge can streamline and minimize labor costs through effective employee scheduling at your restaurant, bar, club, or business.

Tech Tags: TimeForge NAFEM FS-TEC technology HACCP wireless

Why Schedule Labor Properly? - Part Two

In a recent entry, we discussed where improper labor scheduling led to very poor customer experience at a local Taco Bell store. In addition to upsetting their guests, the labor shortage caused several other problems within their store – many of which will have long-term negative consequences for the restaurant.

What did the labor shortage cost them?

1. Guests were unhappy. This includes myself and the man in front of me, at a minimum. The guests inside were not very happy either. Will they come back? There is no way to know, but Taco Bell has two direct competitor's (Mexican QSR food) less than two blocks away.
2. Employee Satisfaction. There is no doubt that the employees were upset because of the increased workload, pressure, and the guest dissatisfaction. The labor shortage was likely a management decision, which has directly affected the employee morale.
3. Increased Turnover. Most QSR employees have prospective jobs within a few yards, and this fast-food concept is no different. While sitting in the drive-thru, I could spot at least six other businesses that would readily hire any of the Taco Bell employees.
4. Reduction in sales. One customer every six minutes? Assuming that this restaurant concept averages $1.00 in net profit per customer, they are making only $10 per hour in profit. How did we calculat