7 Restaurant Management Tools for Maximum Productivity

The role of a restaurant manager is always in motion. There’s always something else to get done, a new fire to put out, new fixes to make. All of that on top of the everyday tasks from scheduling to payroll to reporting can catch up to you. But there are a number of different tools to help you manage your restaurant—from single shifts and tasks to top-level overviews that show you the health of your business. These tools can help you and start spending more of your time doing what you love and growing your business for the future. Here are seven restaurant management tools to make you more productive:

Restaurant Task Management Software ✅

The best way to keep your restaurant running smoothly is by making checklists for all of those little things. From cleaning flat tops to refilling sanitizers, day-to-day can’t get lost in the shuffle. Paper checklists work for one-offs. But they have to be printed off every day. And the laminate and dry-erase method just get messy. That’s where task management software comes in. It’s a great way to streamline your tasks, with separate checklists for roles and shifts. It allows you to track performance over time. Not sure if something got done earlier in the week? Task management software can maintain historical data of tasks completed.

Today, thousands of restaurant pros use 7tasks to keep their restaurant safe. For example, a Sanitization checklist may include:

• Sanitize food prep surfaces ✅
• Doors and light switches ✅
• POS and phones ✅

Manager Log Books 📝

No more information getting lost in the text and email shuffle, no more sticky notes all over your POS. Even if it’s just a shared cloud document (like Google Docs), a centralized place for your managers to exchange information is vital. It cuts down on the confusion, allows managers to prepare on their own time, and holds your team accountable for the wins and losses. Here are just a few items that a manager logbook may contain:

• Customer complaints that need to be addressed
• Sales and Labor Reports
• Employee notes
• Top moving items or ones that need a push

With 7shifts Manager Log Book, you’ll also be able to:

• Keep a pulse on your team’s engagement
• Monitor shift feedback scores & identify ways to improve operations
• Easily publish daily summaries to your team
• Stay on top of operations with the Manager Log Book, your central place to track & store the goings-on in your restaurant

Restaurant Employee Scheduling Software 🗓

Say goodbye to making spreadsheets every single week, or month, and constantly changing them. No more paper schedules up on the board with scribbles that get sent around through text messages. Not only are pen-and-paper or spreadsheet schedules costly when it comes to your time—they are useless when it comes to data. There is a better way—employee scheduling software. With cloud-based scheduling tools, you can make schedules simply, edit them as you need, and track your labor overtime to make smarter decisions. Scheduling software also saves your managers time and lets them spend more time helping your business grow.

Restaurant Employee Communications Tools 📲

When it comes to keeping your team in-sync, texting and phone calls get the job done. But the constantly moving and shifting nature of the restaurant industry deserves a dedicated and agile tool. Having a secure, business-centric communication tool has the benefits of:

• Instant schedule sharing
• Team-wide announcements with read receipts
• Streamlined communication that doesn’t get lost in the shuffle with group messaging based on shifts, location, or department
• A more engaged, connected team
• Direct alerts for missing punches
• An easier way to request time off, for any reason

Time Clocking ⏱

To think we ever used actual paper cards and physical punches. Time clocking software is a must-have tool for your restaurant. It helps streamline the process for employees to clock in and out for shifts and their breaks. It also allows easier sync with your payroll to cut down on time calculating hours worked. Restaurant time clocking software can also help prevent early clock-ins (saving you on labor). Compliance? Not a problem with enforced break times and shift lengths. Time clocking software can also help with overtime calculations and keep secure records of all employees and their hours worked, in case something ever comes up down the line.

Payroll Automation 💵

Using payroll software is a great alternative to hiring a payroll specialist or agency to manage your restaurant’s payroll. And forget or doing it the old-school pen-and-paper way. The benefits of using payroll software are substantial and become even more powerful with integrations. Sync it with your time clock and scheduling software to automate wage calculations, overtime pay, tax and benefit withholdings, and even employee payment. Payroll software is incredibly for record keeping, too.

Labor Management Reporting 📊

Employee scheduling software has the benefit of streamlining your schedule and saving you time. But its most powerful benefit is through labor management reporting. When synced with your sales data, labor management reporting tools can give you top-level insights across your business. Here are just a few of the types of reports you can pull:

• Compare your sales with your labor costs to control labor costs
• Worked hours and wages to see where your labor dollars are going
• Track time & attendance to find your most reliable employees
• Variance reports that compare actual vs. projected labor hours

Other Restaurant Technology Resources

• Top Restaurant Management Apps for Owners and Operators
• 10 Top Restaurant Technologies To Evolve Your Business
• How Top Multi-Unit Restaurants are Using Tech to Grow

You can find all of these tools (and more) as a part of 7shifts labor management platform. Join more than 17,000 restaurants around the world that are using 7shifts to simplify scheduling and make their business better.