Labor Management. NOW Simple.

The TimeForge crew travelled to Chicago to attend the 91^st National Restaurant Association trade show, which offered more exhibits and information than we could have possibly hoped to absorb during our four day trip. Every year, Chicago hosts over 75,000 food professionals who gather to share and learn about trends and innovations in the service industries. We went to spread the word about our employee scheduling software, tell people how much time and money it can save them, learn about cool new things that affect restaurants, and well – mostly we went to eat! With revolutionary new marketing practices, award-winning equipment, exciting advances in “Green” technologies, and tables overflowing with culinary delights, the 2010 NRA show continued its annual tradition of overwhelming our taste buds and tickling our gadget-crazed fancies.

This show had an eight and a half percent increase in the number of exhibitors compared to last year, so 2010′s show was even more packed with information than usual. The sharing of information did not fall on deaf ears, as there was also a more than eleven percent increase in the number of attendees – which came from over 120 countries!

Perhaps most importantly, the food was awesome! One of our favorite products that was introduced at this year’s show is Chipstix, which are potato chips on a stick… a simple, yet truly revolutionary concept! We hope the chipstix trend spreads like wildfire! The Chork, a disposable chopstick-fork hybrid, is another of our favorite new products! A fork on one end and chopsticks on the other, the Chork looks like it could actually prevent chopstick-challenged folks from looking silly while eating Asian fare.   Our technology itch was scratched by the YWaiter iPhone application, a mobile app which acts as your waiter at participating restaurants. With YWaiter, customers can place drink orders and check out at their own convenience! If this trend catches on, it could revolutionize the entire service industry!

Perhaps our favorite part at this year’s show was the very spontaneous NRA flash mob dance, which really exemplified the humor and camaraderie found in few other industries. Overall, we were entirely pleased with our trip to Chicago and look forward to next year’s show! We hope to see you at the 2011 NRA show!

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On May 22-25, TimeForge will be exhibiting at the 2010 National Restaurant Association restaurant, Hotel and Motel Show at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois, where we will be showing our latest generation of labor management software for retail, restaurants and hospitality businesses.

The latest version of our TimeForge labor management product encompasses the entirety of labor management, including staff scheduling, attendance tracking, payroll exports, and many aspects of human resources. If you’re going to be at the show, please stop by and pay us a visit to find out how easy it is to save your business time and money!

TimeForge will be occupying booth 5256 at the 2010 National Restaurant Association show, in between FishBowl, Inc. and Eco-Oil Saver.

NRA 2010 is the largest food service and hospitality event in the Western hemisphere. Last year, more that 2,000 exhibitors from 108 countries participated in this global marketplace for the restaurant and hospitality industry.

Highlights of the event include 60+ education sessions, culinary and designer exhibitions and many opportunities for networking. Restaurant owners, operators, chefs, managers, buyers, servers, bartenders, architects, designers, decorators, caterers, and special event professionals will be there exchanging information and ideas.

Use a labor management system to make your life easy and improve profitability at your business! TimeForge can quickly and easily manage staff schedules, employee time off, and time and attendance tracking timecards, employee attendance, and export payroll for accurate processing.   Sign up for a trial today to use TimeForge.

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Because TimeForge tracks Time and Attendance (employee time cards, sick days, vacation time, and PTO requests), we try to keep current on the many issues surrounding employee work scheduling and payroll in the restaurant and retail industries.

The debate on mandatory paid sick days  resurfaced in Connecticut at the  end of March as legislators debated House Bill 6187 which would mandate six paid sick days per year to businesses with 50 or more employees.   Proponents of the bill are trying to drum up support for this bill as a health policy issue because sick food service and hospitality can spread illness to the public.   Sick employees can make the public sick, creating a public health concern.

The Connecticut Restaurant Association, as well as other organizations,  is tracking the issue. Whatever the eventual outcome of the bill, you can count on TimeForge to minimize the burden of accurately tracking  paid sick days and other requests for time off.

How complicated is the employee schedule at your restaurant?   Are you making the best possible labor schedule, or are you wasting precious labor?   How much turnover is created because of bad (or late) employee work schedules? Did you know that TimeForge can improve retention, reduce turnover, and increase profits at your restaurant? Sign up today for a free trial!

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• TimeForge Improvements

We are pleased to announce TimeForge version 1.9 , the easy-to-use employee scheduling program for food-service (restaurant, bar, club), hospitality (hotel, motel), and retail companies.

Thank you to our users who provide priceless feedback about the software can make their lives easier!

This version provides significant enhancements to all TimeForge users, and includes several dozen new and improved features. Some of our time-saving improvements include:

• Availability and requests both received drastic improvements for both managers and employees. You can now view weekly availability on a continual basis on a calendar. Availability is color-coded based on when employees “want to work”, are “available to work”, “do not want to work”, and are “unavailable to work”. Requests awaiting manager approval are also displayed for employees. This is what the improved requests look like:

• In addition to the calendar view of requests, TimeForge users can quickly make new requests, or change availability by using “drag and drop” techniques. Each day of the week is split into hourly segments, and you can now click and drag to create schedules in a single click. Of course, our flexible scheduling system still allows users to build both simple and complex requests!

Of course, we look forward to your ongoing comments about changes to the TimeForge scheduling system.

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 retail business, bar, club, or restaurant.

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