How The Sandpiper Reinvented Training With 7shifts—And Brought 4 Tools Into 1

 

The Sandpiper has been an Idaho staple for 50 years. What started as a family business now runs two locations: one in Idaho Falls, one in Pocatello, about 45 minutes apart—where families, parties, and business meetings all come through the doors. When the original owners retired at the start of 2025, a new owner bought the restaurant and began making a few operational changes.

 

 

Cinda Ness came on as part of those changes as an HR Director. “It’s a brand-new role, no job description,” she says, and it’s still taking shape. Day to day, she runs payroll, handles employee relations, and writes company policy… everything from PTO to how a floor manager should run a shift.

Cinda and the team rely on 7shifts to keep both locations running for scheduling, payroll, communication, and, most recently, training. We talked with her about how the platform helps her manage two restaurants at once, and why 7shifts Training, in particular, has become a standout.

Before 7shifts: Scattered systems and manual training

Before 7shifts, employee information lived across separate systems. Things got missed. A document would be filed in one place, a paycheck record in another, and finding important information meant hunting through multiple platforms.

Cinda says, “Data wouldn’t transfer between all of them… There was data all over the place, and it made my productivity very, very poor because I had to look through three or four different software just to find everything on one employee.”

And then training was its own manual grind. Cinda explains that a lot of important information just lived in a Word doc. “When we did training before, it was quite extensive… You couldn’t load it in software. You’d have to type everything manually.”

It also pulled staff away from the floor. While documentation existed, everything happened in person, which meant scheduling extra meetings and, sometimes, extra labor costs. “We had people stay late because dishes weren’t done,” Cinda says.

Finding a solution: 

The restaurant discovered 7shifts through Shift4, the company behind their SkyTab POS system. Cinda’s husband actually works for Shift4, and when the restaurant set up its new terminal software, he recommended 7shifts as the tools integrate together.

The Sandpiper adopted 7shifts in stages, starting with scheduling, payroll, and communication. And when 7shifts launched Training, Cinda decided to give it a try.

After 7shifts: Digital training that builds itself

While 7shifts Employee Training was the last tool the restaurant adopted, it became the one Cinda talks about most. 

At first, Cinda was skeptical about 7shifts’ feature to build a course with AI based on an existing document. But when she uploaded their brand foundations course for new hires, she was struck by how quickly it worked: “I’m done in 10 minutes. All I have to do is assign people. Wow.”

 

Once a course is built, she can assign it, grade it, and see completion status all in one place. The results held up when she reviewed them. “Everything was right on the actual reading portion and the quiz portion… I got a couple back just recently––you can see what they did wrong and whatnot.” 

Overdue training notifications also help ensure nothing slips. “The ease of use doesn’t allow you to forget what you need to do,” she says. “It’ll pop up with warnings: someone’s overdue… It makes it so much easier when I have notifications, too, because when you have your plate full, you get a notification.”

Digital courses also changed where training happens. Staff now complete modules on their own, instead of in extra meetings, which keeps managers on the floor. “It’s cut back on their time spent in meetings and being more on the floor to see the issues, and to maybe bring out some policies that might help make the shifts run smoother,” Cinda says. 

 

 

She adds that the manager in Pocatello is a fan. Recently, when a team member fell behind on a course, Cinda asked her to have them finish it on a computer in the office that night. It took the employee about 30 minutes during their shift without an extra meeting required. “Now they don’t have to corral people just to get it done.”

“I would recommend the training module to other operators. The ease of use is simple. It’s a huge time saver.”

Bringing together the rest of the toolkit

Now, The Sandpiper can manage their employees all in one place, from staffing to payroll. Here’s how 7shifts delivers day-to-day in other areas:

Scheduling with ease and confidence: Building a weekly schedule dropped from about three hours to roughly one. “By now, with all the history and data and labor being on 7shifts, it’s pretty much just quick drop and go, and it’s done,” Cinda says. The built-in warnings help her stay ahead of compliance, too. “I love the warnings that come through. It makes it so easy. No longer do I have to worry about compliance concerns, especially when it comes to minor labor laws.”

 

 

Payroll time savings every cycle: Every payroll cycle, Cinda checks the 7shifts numbers against the terminal reporting to confirm everything lines up: “We make sure all the numbers match, which has never been a problem.” After a quick review of time off and any adjustments, the owner does a final review and hits submit. The result: payroll dropped from five to six hours to a maximum of two per week. She says, “Two hours is really good for me. I love it.”

 

 

Robust POS integration for real-time insights: The Sandpiper runs on SkyTab, and it feeds time punches and sales data straight into 7shifts. That’s what powers the labor and payroll reporting the team relies on—and the real-time labor view that lets management adjust before costs climb. “We get the reporting that we need for payroll, for tips, for labor, and then when we’re seeing that labor cost on 7shifts, we’re able to go adjust. Management is able to manage labor better and make some cutbacks,” Cinda says.

 

 

Multi-location communication and visibility: Running two locations 45 minutes apart is no easy feat. “It’s that communication platform with chat… that makes it so much easier rather than having to pick up a phone or drive in person,” Cinda says. “We can see both restaurants at the same time—the labor, the reporting. Everything just syncs together.” 

That shared view turns into action: The team compares sales and labor across locations and adjusts on the spot: “We can say, ‘Okay, Pocatello had this many sales… Idaho Falls has this much in sales and labor… We’re going to make a policy change on this, so we can cut back.’ All of it being together in the one place is just so much easier for reporting, so much smoother to communicate… It makes the whole process just so much more streamlined.”

Employee control over schedules: For staff, the standout is schedule visibility and being able to manage their own shifts. Cinda highlights the Shift Pool feature, where employees can put their shifts up for grabs on their own. “That’s really easy,” she says, “It takes time out of all of us having to do it all manually. That’s their favorite—that they can ask for shifts, they can offer up shifts. They love that.”

 

 

Smooth onboarding and customer support: Getting set up on the platform was also refreshingly low-effort. “I found it really easy. It was complete and understandable, just a few button clicks and you’re done,” Cinda says. “It wasn’t like you had to write on 10 pieces of paper. It was well organized. All the documents were there. I don’t have to worry about what we’re missing.” 

Customer support has been just as smooth. On the rare occasion the team needs it, 7shifts is quick to respond: “It’s really smooth. It’s fairly quick. I haven’t really had any issues,” Cinda recounts. “They keep up on the requests fairly promptly, so I appreciate it.”

The final word

For Cinda, the value comes back to time—and where her team gets to spend it:

“7shifts has made a huge impact for our restaurants at The Sandpiper. It helps keep both of our locations tied together in communication. It has reduced significant time in payroll, scheduling, and labor costs. And after initiating the training module, that has also saved so much more time—where we can have our managers on the floor evaluating what’s going wrong and spending more time with the employees, which is very valuable.”