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!

Related articles or pages

• National Restaurant Association Show, 2010
• Workforce Labor Scheduling Updates (Part 1)
• Labor Management Software Update Simplifies Employee Scheduling
• Generation Y Part One: Marketing
• Easily Manage Labor with Innovative Staffing Reports

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.

Related articles or pages

• NRA Show 2010
• Labor Management Software Update Simplifies Employee Scheduling
• Going Green is Good for Profits
• Calculate the Cost of Turnover
• Workforce Labor Scheduling Updates (Part 1)

We’re back from the Southwest Food Expo, which was held in Dallas, TX at the Dallas Convention Center.

Last year, the show was one of the largest restaurant and food service shows in the UNited States.   In fact, we exhibited during the 2008 show, and spoke to hundreds of independent and chain restaurants, as well as a few retailers, and a number of culinary students and schools.   The response to TimeForge was great!

However, this year the show was much smaller — only about 400 exhibitors, and the show seemed to be slow, similar to what we experienced at the National Restaurant Association (NRA) show, and at the National Association for Food Equipment Manufacturers (NAFEM) trade shows in 2009.   The exhibitors we spoke to said it was slower as well.

If you are in the Dallas, Houston, or Austin areas and you need a Point of Sale system, a full service labor management system (employee scheduling and/or attendance management), or just help with your computer systems and networks, please make sure to check out our partners!

TimeForge employee scheduling software is used by owners and operators of foodservice and hospitality related businesses around the world.   TimeForge will reduce turnover, improve retention, and increase profits at your business!

Related articles or pages

• What's Coming Soon?
• Supercharged Scheduling from Nations Restaurant News
• Simple Employee Scheduling – Version 1.8.5 (Part 3)
• Simple Employee Scheduling – Version 1.8.5 (Part 2)
• Simple Employee Scheduling – Version 1.8.5 (Part 1)

Whew!   We are done with our whirlwind through the NRA 2009 tradeshow in Chicago, IL – what a great two days.

We are a technology company with a focus on operations and human resources for restaurants, retailers, and other businesses that hire part-time employees – we spent a lot of time examining the tradeshow and looking for improvements in technology for operations or human resources.

Some of the very neat technology at the show included:

• Dinerware POS is a phenomenal Point of Sale system, and one of our valued partners.   Several sales staff and other partners were on site to show off their latest version.
• Silverware POS recently debuted and released a best-of-breed restaurant POS product, Avrio, which was onsite at the show.   What a wonderful group of individuals, and a great product!
• MonkeyMedia Software displayed their rocking catering software outside of the Technology Pavilion.   They caused a bit of a comotion by handing out bananas!
• QuandraNet is similiar to OpenTable, but with a very, very smart table management software program that increases table turns in addition to handling reservations.
• Corvirtus was showing off their products that take the guesswork out of hiring. Very neat algorithms, and years of research create a great hiring tool.   Wonderful stuff.

Overall, the show attendance seemed to be down compared to last year, which seems to be the general consensus.

TimeForge employee scheduling and workforce management software is used by managers, owners, and operators of retail stores, restaurants, bars, grills, clubs, and other service-oriented businesses to increase profits, reduce turnover, and improve retention.

Related articles or pages

• Labor Scheduling Software Article at Nation's Restaurant News
• Support for Salaried Employees from within Dinerware
• Easily Manage Labor with Innovative Staffing Reports
• Dinerware and TimeForge Labor Management Improvements
• Congratulations TimeForge!

We’re very excited to be attending the National Restaurant Association’s annual tradeshow again this year!

This is the fourth (fifth?) year we have attended the Chicago restaurant show — and every year we find new and exciting technologies, techniques, and products to help restaurant owners and operators.

We are looking forward to see what is in store this year even though the trade show industry has seen some drastic reduction in attendance (the National Association of Food & Equipment Manufacturer show was drastically smaller this year) with the current economic climate.

A number of the team members from TimeForge will be in attendance — and we will be using the TimeForge blog and twitter to update our readers and customers.   If you’d like to sit down with us, for a demo of TimeForge, dinner, a drink, or just some decent conversation – please contact us!

Related articles or pages

• TimeForge Updates for December
• TimeForge Labor Management, a quick background ….
• TimeForge Improvements
• TimeForge for Liquor Stores
• TimeForge Dashboard

The restaurant industry in the United States has seen some up and down months over the last year according to the National Restaurant Association.

Halo, an online provider of restaurant and retail Point of Sale software, recently released their “Halo Zata Restaurant Index” for March.   The Zata Restaurant index tracks gross sales that are made by Halo’s US based customers, and this months numbers show that there may be a light and the end of the economic tunnel.

The month of March saw a sales increase of 0.7% – which may be a sign of an upcoming improvement to the United States restaurant industry.

Read more about Halo POS at their website, and keep track of their blog to see updates on the Halo Zata Restaurant Index.

Related articles or pages

• National Restaurant Association 2009
• Western Foodservice & Hospitality Expo
• Western Food Expo is a wrap!
• Time and Attendance Tracking Overview
• Texas Restaurant Association Show (Part 2) — 2008