Labor Management. NOW Simple.

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

Related articles or pages

• Off Topic: Inventory Managment for Restaurants
• Employee Labor Scheduling: Interview with TimeForge.com's Anthony Presley
• TimeForge Labor Management, a quick background ….
• Reduce Turnover with Shift Scheduling Software
• Increase Profits with Improved Cost Controls

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.

Related articles or pages

• Off Topic: Inventory Managment for Restaurants
• Accuvia , Labor Scheduling Systems
• TimeForge v1.9.2 , Scheduling is Simplified and Graphical!
• TimeForge Customer Feedback
• Texas Restaurant Association Show (Part 2) — 2008

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:

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

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.

Related articles or pages

• Simple Employee Scheduling – Version 1.8.5 (Part 3)
• Product Mix Relating to Inventory Costs
• Employee Labor Scheduling: Interview with TimeForge.com's Anthony Presley
• Workforce Labor Scheduling Updates (Part 2)
• Workforce Labor Scheduling Updates (Part 1)

In foodservice, your business is primarily controlled by two large expenses: labor costs and food costs. Unfortunately, both expenses are variable in this industry and can be challenging to control.

Accuvia, a comprehensive information and technology resource company for the hospitality, foodservice, and retail services, recently reviewed a number of labor management systems in their weekly Newsletter. TimeForge was one of the top labor management companies chosen to be reviewed by Accuvia.

Some of the other companies and products mentioned in the article include:

• Restaurant Manager POS by Action Systems, Inc. (ASI)
• POSitouch Labor Management by POSitouch
• RES 4.0 by MICROS Systems, Inc.
• HotSchedules.com by TDR3
• TMx Labor Management System by TimeManagement Corporation

The actual newsletter can be downloaded here.

Why are we posting direct links to some of our closest competitors? Because we believe our product is superior and we would like you to go check out the other packages to see how we stack up. You will quickly find out that TimeForge is faster, more affordable, and easier to use than any of our web-based competitors or point of sale applications.

When you’re done trying the competition, make sure to visit our Free Trial page, and sign up for our Free Trial.

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.

Related articles or pages

• Western Food Expo is a wrap!
• Product Mix Relating to Inventory Costs
• Off Topic: Inventory Managment for Restaurants
• Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show is Wrapped Up…
• Employee Labor Scheduling: Interview with TimeForge.com's Anthony Presley

Standard Operating Procedures, Employee Training, and Evaluations

Developing written Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) will address all front and back of the house operations. An effective SOP, coupled with a comprehensive employee training program, and an ongoing evaluation program, will show remarkable improvement in not only the environment within your restaurant, but also the profit that your business sees.

Properly trained employees not only contribute to a positive customer experience, they also contribute to cost control by adhering to portion/inventory control procedures, by following other cost containment procedures identified by management. While food costs may be one of the biggest expenses faced by restaurant owners and operators, they can be manageable with effective systems and procedures enforced in the restaurant.

Labor costs could be as much as 30% of your expenses; TimeForge can help streamline and minimize labor costs through effective employee scheduling.

Related articles or pages

• TimeForge v2.4.5
• Restaurant Expense Overview (Part 3 of 5)
• Off Topic: Inventory Managment for Restaurants
• Restaurant Expense Overview (Part 4 of 5)
• Product Mix Relating to Inventory Costs

Using Qualitative Controls

Although many issues can be measured using quantitative measures, some issues contributing to your P&L, such as employee turnover and customer satisfaction, need to be measured qualitatively. Qualitative controls can also be extended to purchasing by ordering specific brands based upon their quality and cost attributes and buying food, beverage, sanitation, and other products in the most appropriate weights or package sizes to optimize costs.

Stringent inventory control procedures also contribute to managing food costs. While a manual inventory control system is better than no inventory control system, computerized systems offer a method for easily managing the entire inventory control process, which includes receiving, storage, issuing, quality control, waste and theft-prevention measures. Beverage management, while a part of overall inventory control, requires additional oversight in order to regulate pours and to ensure that each drink served is priced correctly, according to liquor brand. By using qualitative measurements in specific aspects of your restaurant, such as inventory control, you can greatly minimize the excessive expenses that your business may be experiencing.

Labor costs could be as much as 30% of your expenses; TimeForge can help streamline and minimize labor costs through effective employee scheduling.

Related articles or pages

• Restaurant Expense Overview (Part 3 of 5)
• TimeForge v2.4.5
• TimeForge Newsletter , November Edition (Part 2)
• Product Mix Relating to Inventory Costs
• Off Topic: Inventory Managment for Restaurants

Factors Affecting Inventory Control

With today’s food costs running as high as 33% of gross sales in some markets, there is no margin for error when it comes to managing costs. An effective cost-control program must be multifaceted in order to close all of the profit-draining holes that exist both in the front and the back of the house. Any comprehensive cost control system must take into account several factors, including inventory and portion control, just-in-time ordering to avoid spoilage, vendor price comparison, accurate receiving procedures, waste, prep and pull procedures, compensation, and coupons control.

Of course, quantitative techniques, or “number crunching”, is a basic step in the process of reining in food costs and keeping them under control. The ability to create a budget and track all expenses against that budget provides an accurate snapshot of actual food costs and other overhead, but it does little to identify all of the factors that contribute directly or indirectly to those expenses. Likewise, knowing your average ticket and table turnover statistics provides a good foundation for sales and revenue forecasting. Use a budget in conjunction with measurements and ratios for an accurate idea of how to improve your restaurant’s profits.

Labor costs could be as much as 30% of your expenses; TimeForge can help streamline and minimize labor costs through effective employee scheduling.

Related articles or pages

• Restaurant Expense Overview (Part 4 of 5)
• Off Topic: Inventory Managment for Restaurants
• In Hard Times, Retail and Restaurant Companies Should Control Costs
• Hospitality Labor Management (Part 1 of 4)
• TimeForge v2.4.5