Labor Scheduling-Managing Controllable Costs
As far as expenses go there are very few items that a restaurant owner can control on a daily basis. Rent, utilities and the basic cost of doing business are almost fixed unless you turn off the lights and water. Many restaurant owners look at their daily operational cost of doing business as a given, without much if any control on their part
Through the evolution of the cash register industry Point of Sale (POS) systems became the dominant solution for stopping theft, capturing data and then reporting on this information to give restaurant owners the information needed to increase sales and profits. The unfortunate thing for many restaurant owners is the fact that their POS system falls woefully short of their true potential.
The 2 biggest areas that are under a restaurant owner’s control are food cost and labor. Point of sale systems that do not address these 2 aspects of control and reporting are short-changing the restaurant owner and should be exposed for their short-comings.
A true POS solution for a restaurant MUST include control and reporting for all aspects of the operation and not be limited to just cash and price control. Most POS solutions today do not address all the needs of a restaurant operation. Par PixelPoint does.
The number 1 controllable area of a restaurant profit and loss statement is labor. Controlling this volatile aspect of a restaurant business goes way beyond simply tracking clock in/outs at the point of sale. A true POS system will monitor all aspects of labor to include:
- Employees clocking in early or long after their shift is complete.
- Employees reaching overtime.
- Labor costs that are not in line with operational goals.
- Projecting labor costs compared to projected sales BEFORE the schedule is posted.
- Employee requests for time off, vacations and availability for work.
- Employee performance and training ratings.
Every business and I mean every business does a labor schedule of some sort. How they do it varies greatly on their circumstances, their training and the requirements of the owner. The smallest of businesses will do a schedule even if it is nothing more than one owner talking to the other to make sure that the store has basic coverage during business hours. On the other end of the spectrum are restaurants that use sophisticated labor scheduling programs that have huge monthly costs associated with their use. The managers are required to use these programs and must put a great deal of effort into them in order for the company to justify their monthly cost.
Since every restaurant will utilized a labor schedule of some sort we are then a perfect fit for their operation.
