The term “restaurant technology” is thrown around a lot, and it’s understandable why restaurant owners and employees are skeptical when they hear it. Service fees, crashing apps, and missing integrations can create problems instead of solving them.
However, some restaurant technology is actually true to its potential – and the numbers back it up. One system is currently used in more than 50,000 restaurant locations and utilized by 1.5 million restaurant pros.
That tool is 7shifts – the all-in-one team management platform built exclusively for restaurants. Trusted by restaurants internationally, 7shifts is backed by industry giants like Danny Meyer and his investment firm Enlightened Hospitality Investments. 7shifts specializes in breaking down communication barriers between restaurant staff and employees to make scheduling easier, improve employee engagement, and save restaurants thousands in labor costs.
Helping Restaurants Save Time on Scheduling
7shifts is best known for its scheduling feature that saves hours of managers’ time each week. The automated restaurant scheduling system factors in what the restaurant’s projected demand will be for a shift, incorporates employee availability that workers submit themselves, and generates a schedule.
No more spreadsheets or whiteboards. No headaches. Just easy scheduling.
Managers love 7shifts because it streamlines the process for restaurant businesses of any size. Andolini’s, a nine-location group based in Oklahoma, uses 7shifts to schedule more than 300 employees a week. Since using 7shifts, labor cost percentage has steadily declined, while employee productivity has seen a notable uptick.
On a human level, 7shifts encourages restaurateurs to take a more empathetic approach to scheduling their employees, since the task is significantly less stressful than traditional methods.
Schedules are posted two weeks in advance of a shift to help employees plan out their personal lives – and if a conflict arises, owner Mike Bausch says that’s a chance to use the communication and scheduling tools in 7shifts to their fullest potential.
“10 years ago was like, ‘The schedule’s the schedule, if you can’t work it, find another job,’ and now, it’s, ‘Hey if something comes up, let us work with you…Let’s figure it out,’” Mike explains.
Measure and Improve Employee Engagement
Restaurants are facing an overdue paradigm shift when it comes to staff hiring, engagement, and retention – with countless restaurants struggling to stay fully-staffed. Aside from better pay, hours, and benefits, employees are seeking engagement, purpose, and a feeling of value from their place of work.
In fact, 56% of employees say that flexible scheduling would greatly affect their happiness at work.
Believe it or not, restaurant technology can help with that – and look no further than 7shifts.
7shifts offers employee engagement software, which benefits both employees and management. The tool breaks down key metrics about staff that managers can analyze and act on to keep staff morale, productivity, and recognition up.
With the Engage tool, frontline restaurant workers can provide immediate feedback to their managers to ensure their voices are heard – and in 2023, that happens more than 4,000,000 times a month. In turn, managers can quickly single out employees by their punctuality, collaboration, and other worthwhile characteristics – as well as work with any employees who may be struggling in their duties.
As a result, restaurants using 7shifts’ Engage tool have 13% better staff retention.
“With multiple locations and 100+ staff, it was previously impossible to monitor the sentiment of each team member and stay ahead of turnover. With the addition of 7shifts’ Engage, we have gained valuable insights into our operations we never had before. We can now identify and reward highly engaged members of our team while providing the proactive coaching others need to excel at their job.”
Leanna Rennie, Manager of Guest Service at Taste Restaurant Group.
Labor Compliance That Saves Thousands of Dollars
For restaurants, the bottom line is the bottom line. Often operating on thin profit margins, restaurants need to limit unnecessary spending – and one of the biggest culprits can be labor compliance fees.
To reduce these costs, 7shifts includes built-in labor compliance. Some of the features that make scheduling easier (and more affordable) include:
- Overtime alerts.
- Electronic schedule publishing.
- Split shift and “clopen” detection.
- Break notifications.
- Time punching restrictions.
- Maintaining compliance records.
Collectively, these features help restaurants schedule better – and potentially save thousands each year in the process.
Integrations For Any Restaurant
With so many terminals and tablets behind the scenes, it can be a nightmare if technology doesn’t talk to each other. That’s why integrations are key – and 7shifts has the ones that matter most.
7shifts’ integrations span from the front-of-house to the back-office, ensuring scheduling goes hand-in-hand with your preferred technology.
Point-of-sale software products like Cake, QuPos, Toast, and TouchBistro integrate with 7shifts to make scheduling, labor management, and tying sales data to labor hours a breeze. These integrations provide real-time visibility into sales and allow you to schedule based on data-backed forecast models.
On the other hand, 7shifts also integrates with payroll software like ADP and Paychex to send and record labor hours without changing systems. Timesheets sync instantly and can save managers hours of back-and-forth time each week.
Like What You See?
7shifts can save multi-location restaurant businesses thousands each year. Click here to start a free trial or request a demo and see how 7shifts can benefit your restaurant.
7shifts Staff, 7shifts Author
7shifts Staff
7shifts Author
7shifts team of writers and experts in the hospitality industry.