Applebee's Franchisee Generates New Efficiencies & Cuts Costs with Labor Mgmt Tool
AmRest Holdings' Applebee's franchise division has selected HotSchedules' web-based scheduling and restaurant labor management solution. AmRest is the largest independent restaurant operator in Central and Eastern Europe, and its stateside operations include 104 Applebee's locations across eight states.
Before selecting HotSchedules, AmRest struggled with archaic labor scheduling practices that required hours of managers' time each week to create schedules just to have them marked up and complicated with shift changes and requests. Currently in the implementation phase, AmRest expects to have all locations fully rolled out by the end of September and is already seeing results in its first installed locations.
Creating efficiency
With HotSchedules' user-friendly, online scheduling solution, AmRest managers have significantly reduced the time it takes to develop staff schedules and manage shift changes and requests. With advanced forecasting tools, HotSchedules also helps managers easily and more accurately project its targeted labor budget to be consistently aware of the most appropriate staffing level for each shift, and also to avoid overtime before it happens, typically resulting in significant labor cost savings.
AmRest employees can log onto HotSchedules online from a computer or their mobile phone (including the HotSchedules iSchedule app for the iPhone) or dial a 24-hour bilingual toll-free automated line to access their schedules, see shifts available for pick-up, check on manager approval of shift changes, request time off and more. They can also opt to have alerts sent via email or to their mobile phones via text message.
"HotSchedules will be an invaluable tool for our employee scheduling and will also improve our entire labor management process in order to save costs and communicate more effectively," says Mike Hudspeth, regional vice president of AmRest's Applebee's division. "Additionally, employee satisfaction and retention are key initiatives for us, and HotSchedules is highly relevant for the Gen X and Y employees that comprise a large portion of our staff, helping position us as an attractive employer for this group."
AmRest's Applebee's division is also using the HotSchedules Digital Logbook, which replaces its old paper-based logbooks that lacked the consistency and detailed communication it needed. "The Digital Logbook is very helpful for each store's managers to effectively share information and stay on the same page about every employee and every shift," noted Hudspeth. "Once we are fully rolled out, our area directors will use the Digital Logbook to monitor the communication process with their stores, which will be a valuable capability at the corporate level."
Before selecting HotSchedules, AmRest struggled with archaic labor scheduling practices that required hours of managers' time each week to create schedules just to have them marked up and complicated with shift changes and requests. Currently in the implementation phase, AmRest expects to have all locations fully rolled out by the end of September and is already seeing results in its first installed locations.
Creating efficiency
With HotSchedules' user-friendly, online scheduling solution, AmRest managers have significantly reduced the time it takes to develop staff schedules and manage shift changes and requests. With advanced forecasting tools, HotSchedules also helps managers easily and more accurately project its targeted labor budget to be consistently aware of the most appropriate staffing level for each shift, and also to avoid overtime before it happens, typically resulting in significant labor cost savings.
AmRest employees can log onto HotSchedules online from a computer or their mobile phone (including the HotSchedules iSchedule app for the iPhone) or dial a 24-hour bilingual toll-free automated line to access their schedules, see shifts available for pick-up, check on manager approval of shift changes, request time off and more. They can also opt to have alerts sent via email or to their mobile phones via text message.
"HotSchedules will be an invaluable tool for our employee scheduling and will also improve our entire labor management process in order to save costs and communicate more effectively," says Mike Hudspeth, regional vice president of AmRest's Applebee's division. "Additionally, employee satisfaction and retention are key initiatives for us, and HotSchedules is highly relevant for the Gen X and Y employees that comprise a large portion of our staff, helping position us as an attractive employer for this group."
AmRest's Applebee's division is also using the HotSchedules Digital Logbook, which replaces its old paper-based logbooks that lacked the consistency and detailed communication it needed. "The Digital Logbook is very helpful for each store's managers to effectively share information and stay on the same page about every employee and every shift," noted Hudspeth. "Once we are fully rolled out, our area directors will use the Digital Logbook to monitor the communication process with their stores, which will be a valuable capability at the corporate level."