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:
A number of technology vendors were highlighted in the article, including TimeForge.com
Some of the scheduling related vendors mentioned in the article include:
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.
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:
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.
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.
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:
According to their data:
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.
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.
On September 6 – 9, we exhibited at the Florida Food & Lodging Show and occupied booth 1506 for three days. Held in sunny Orlando, the show provided access to about 500 exhibitors for approximately 10,000 restaurant, hotel, and club professionals. This year, the show was held in conjunction with Pizza Magazine’s (PMQ) Orlando Pizza Show.
Hopefully, the show was a great success for the many restaurateurs who were at the show, seeking the latest in equipment, operations techniques, food cost controls, employee scheduling software, building leasing, credit card processing, and everything else that owners, operators, and managers in the restaurant, bar, club, and foodservice industries need. We enjoyed meeting everyone who stopped at our booth!
TimeForge was presented to several thousand individuals interested in controlling labor costs, reducing turnover, and making their life easier by using scheduling and labor management systems.
We’d like to thank a few of the exhibiting companies who share a similar passion for the hospitality industry (ordered by physical proximity to our booth):
Additionally, we met with DinePoint, who had several representatives attending the show. Expect some news from TimeForge and DinePoint in the near future!
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.
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As many of you know, we exhibited at the Western Food Expo in California two weeks ago. We had a great time! Our booth was strategically positioned by a Digital Dining Point Of Sale (POS) distributor / reseller and Red Wing Shoes. During the three days in Los Angeles, we spoke to more than 500 restaurant owners, managers, employees, and share holders. A few hotel / motel operators, bar owners, and food inspectors were also interested in the benefits of labor scheduling software. The response for the software was overwhelming, and we appreciated the amazing amount of feedback that many of the customers, and potential customers, provided.
Additionally, we did get to spend some quality time with representatives from Digital Dining, Squirrel Systems, Radiant (Aloha POS), Waiter Pad POS, Micros, and Intura. All of these vendors are interested in integrating the TimeForge employee scheduling and labor management software with their own software packages. Look for integration of our advanced employee scheduling system with your favorite POS system, coming soon!
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.
It is official! TimeForge.com will be exhibiting at the Western Foodservice & Hospitality Expo in Los Angeles, CA on August 18 - 20, 2007. The trade show is being held at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and looks to be a very exciting show with a great mix of first-time and “experienced” exhibiting companies.
If you are at the show Western Foodservice show, make sure you take a look at Halo, a revolutionary web-based Point-Of-Sale system from Canada. Barb, one of their business representatives, showed us a very neat POS system at the Southwest Food Expo in Dallas.
We will be setting up shop in booth #2827, and we would love to see you there! Our booth is next to the regional Digital Dining partner, Hospitality Technology Systems. Stop by and see the latest TimeForge features, including shift-swapping and time & attendance tracking!
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.
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