Running a restaurant is a delicate dance. Managers need to juggle customer satisfaction, culinary execution, and turning a healthy profit to stay afloat. Amid the chaos, daily administrative tasks can take up unnecessary time, causing additional stress and impacting staff morale—something you can’t afford to forget amid the hospitality industry’s ongoing labor struggles.
Luckily, restaurant automation can benefit more areas than ever these days, from payroll to staff communications—allowing for a more streamlined day-to-day experience. Check out these four administrative tasks to automate today for increased efficiency and happier employees.
1. Staff communication
Restaurant managers often feel like they’re fielding constant communications; yet there’s a good chance that at least some of those communications could be automated with a helpful script or template. Of course we can’t only operate with pre-written text, but to handle the daily barrage of emails or texts from staff, you might benefit from a template or two that helps minimize your reply time.
For example, you might create templates for responding to staff who are calling or writing in sick; one for responding to requests for vacation time; or one that you issue to vendors. This tactic not only saves you time and hassle, but also helps you deliver faster answers to your staff, too, strengthening your relationships.
2. Inventory management
Another common admin headache is inventory management. Many restaurants spend hours validating inventory each week, trying to untangle discrepancies and keep track of ever-changing item levels. Yet an inventory system that integrates with your POS can track stock levels, predict needs, and automate reordering for you. This automation saves you time and minimizes the risk of over or under-stocking.
Plus, automating inventory management also has the potential to save your restaurant money by reducing counting errors and optimizing stock levels. When you free up your staff to focus on the customer experience instead of constantly assessing or worrying about running out of essential items, everyone wins.
3. Scheduling
Drawing up a new schedule every few weeks can be a major time suck for restaurant managers. Navigating the various time-off requests and different scheduling needs of staff can begin to feel like a never-ending game of tetris; one where competing requests and interpersonal politics can also get involved.
Switching to automated shift scheduling software can help you make smarter staffing decisions, cut back on constant communication over scheduling needs, and even keep labor costs lower. Plus, this type of tool often comes with the ability for your staff to pick up or swap shifts among themselves, eliminating work for you and giving them more autonomy and control back.
4. Tip payouts
Ditch the cash register and the burdens of cash management by switching to a digital tipping system. This eliminates time spent counting cash and making trips to the bank for change. It also reduces time spent worrying over till discrepancies and allows for easier payroll processing.
Additionally, instant, digital tips are an essential benefit to offer your staff in today’s competitive labor market. Automating convenient, digital tip payouts to staff after each shift creates a positive payroll experience and can serve as an important incentive for staff members to come to work each day and pick up additional shifts.
Fati Mixha, owner of Fairview Farmers restaurant, summarized this perfectly when interviewed about implementing Branch’s digital tipping solution:
“Some restaurants go about cashless tipping by adding tips to their employees’ paychecks,” he said. “Those restaurants have high turnover. They can’t retain employees to the same level; their employees aren’t as happy. So that was out of the question for us.”
By switching to automated, daily tip payouts, Mixha and his team were able to keep employees happy and also eliminate the hassles of cash handling and till discrepancies that were taking up so much of his time.
Lean on automation to reduce administrative burdens + boost happiness
By implementing these four restaurant automation strategies, you can transform your business into a well-oiled machine. Reduced administrative burdens for you and your staff can free up time to focus on what matters most: creating a thriving restaurant with happy customers and staff. When your guests and employees are satisfied, your restaurant can compete—and thrive—in today’s competitive hospitality landscape.
Learn more instant, digital tip payouts with Branch here.
