August 30, 2017

Case Study Chinese Buffet

Today’s post is a case study of a Chinese buffet restaurant chain that increased profitability with TimeWorksTouch schedule enforcement. The eight location restaurant chain’s margins were shrinking due to rising food costs, so the owner was searching for ways to bolster the bottom line. Competition was tight in the working class community and an attempt to raise menu prices resulted in fewer diners.

He decided to figure out how to limit the cost of labor. All of his employees were hourly except eight full-time head cooks and four managers, each of whom managed two restaurants. Several prep cooks and servers also split hours between locations.

He knew he was paying a lot in overtime and wanted an employee timekeeping system for restaurants that could automatically track and prevent overtime shifts.  During busy times, the managers were juggling so many balls that checking which associates had moved into overtime hours was impossible. Few employees wanted to work overtime anyway, so he knew that proactive overtime management would be welcomed by the workforce.

Solution – Workforce Management Suite

Workforce Management Suite consists of TimeWorksPlus, TimeSimplicity, TimeWorks Mobile, and TimeWorksTouch. Each component integrates seamlessly for comprehensive restaurant Workforce Management.

Schedule Enforcement

Each supervisor was able to enter all their employee and shift information in less time that it had previously taken to establish just one monthly schedule in Excel. The schedule enforcement tool prevents out-of-schedule punches and sends notifications before a worker hits the customized threshold. When a warning goes off on a manager’s phone, the manager is able to send the staff member home before overtime kicks in. Accurate break tracking has also delivered a savings in labor costs.

Timekeeping Accuracy for Mobile Staff members

The mobile functionality has quickly proven to be an invaluable feature for managers and associates that split hours between locations. No more retroactively guessing punch times after the fact.

Workforce Management Suite delivered an affordable solution that quickly paid for itself in a few weeks and continues to limit the cost of labor with every single shift.

If you would like more info, please contact us at 503.968.5409.