Amidst persistent labour shortages and a rising minimum wage, UK hospitality businesses are turning to technology to transform these challenges into opportunities.
With smaller and costlier workforces, businesses are embracing solutions that streamline operations and control costs with zero compromise on quality.
Innovative order & pay solutions such as handheld terminals or QR-based order & pay, can alleviate the need for larger teams while boosting revenue and customer satisfaction. Even modest changes like integrated payments, printers, and kitchen display screens can significantly streamline services, reduce workloads, and help maintain a stress-free team.
With the bonus of simplifying rota management, accurate wage reporting through labour management software is another prominent tool for keeping costs down, with comprehensive, automated sales analysis helping to forecast your revenue and efficiently plan for labour.
Labour & Rota Management Software
Labour and rota management software is a game-changer for businesses seeking to optimise labour costs.
Intelligent clocking-in features and a real-time overview of time and attendance ensure the accuracy of labour costs with reliable data.
With user-friendly tools like drag-and-drop shift planning, rota duplication, and a clear view of individual wages, the time spent on labour admin is significantly reduced and can be re-focused elsewhere.
Staff management software enables businesses to efficiently plan rotas that align with sales data by leveraging forecasting tools for revenue projections. Accurate wage reporting and sales forecasting empower informed, cost-effective decisions, as shown by MAX HR customers who have reduced labour costs by up to 9%.
Self-service Order & Pay Solutions
Implementing self-service tools, such as QR-based mobile order & pay or customer-facing kiosks, is a powerful strategy for reducing labour costs while improving revenue and customer experiences.
By automating repetitive processes like taking payments, inputting orders, delivering tickets to the kitchen, and printing bills, self-service solutions free up time for exceptional service and quality. With QR-based order and pay solution, Peazi, Liverpool-based Ormskirk Food & Drink Market has impressive average labour costs of 18%, where the industry average is up to 40% of revenue.
On top of removing the need for additional staff, mobile order and pay solutions drive a significant rise in order value through custom digital menus that can strategically upsell specific items. A solution like Peazi also has the power to significantly bolster staff tips, helping to improve staff retention and team motivation.
For quick-service diners, self-service kiosks may be better suited and can play a crucial role in reducing human processes. In the same way as QR-based solutions, their custom menus drive higher spend per head while ensuring order accuracy and significantly reduced wait times.
“We have been able to streamline our workforce by identifying peak times and sales patterns. We have also been able to control our spending by looking at sales during key times and identifying areas to tighten stock holding.
Being able to order from your seat and have everything brought to you means our guests experience less stress on their visit and order multiple times which increases spend per head. We have seen a corresponding increase in revenue and profitability since introducing GS Systems and Peazi into our operation”
Handheld Terminals and Pay-at-table Technology
Handheld order and pay terminals with pay-at-table technology are a versatile solution for optimising labour costs, boosting spend per head, and improving customer experience.
If QR-based mobile order & pay isn’t the right fit for your business, these mobile terminals offer a simple approach to minimising workloads. With an all-in-one device, your team can input orders, print bills, and process payments while on the move, eliminating steps from the ordering process for quick and accurate service.
As orders are sent in seconds to your countertop printers or kitchen screens, time spent moving between tills and tables can be converted into additional orders. Plus, having a complete menu in the palm of your hand leaves you better equipped for effective upselling.
By simplifying and streamlining workloads, businesses can make significant changes to their regular shift patterns and keep labour costs controlled, all while increasing the number of orders taken in a service period.
Forecasting and Trends with Sales Analysis & Reporting Software
Sales analytics and reporting software provide a multitude of uses in optimising labour costs.
Leveraging sales-forecasting tools enables efficient rota planning, ensuring costs align with anticipated demand. Effective analytics software can accurately identify peak and off-peak days and hours for specific areas of your business (such as the bar or kitchen), allowing for precise adjustments to avoid unnecessary labour expenses.
With multi-site analysis, you can ensure that labour costs are tailored accurately to each venue. Plus, with a cloud-based solution accessible from any device, immediate cost-saving decisions can be made using real-time data.
With a comprehensive solution like MAX Suite, all your labour cost data can be accessed alongside your custom sales reports, allowing for true cohesion between your outgoings on staffing and revenue from sales. With features such as server performance analysis, you could also create some light-hearted incentives to boost productivity and staff morale.
To help kickstart your journey to improved labour management, we’ve compiled a list of essential technologies for optimising staffing costs and streamlining workloads. If you’d like a no-obligation consultation or free demo of any of our solutions, drop our team a message using the form below.
Contact our team to discover how our tech solutions can help you manage costs in 2024 & beyond.
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