How top multi-unit brands are growing with tech

Leading multi-unit restaurant brands are using technology to scale. Discover how a few are using 7shifts to manage scheduling and communication.

Having more than one restaurant location to manage is a good problem to have. It means that guests love what you're offering enough to support your growth. You get to serve more people your brand of hospitality, and provide jobs and careers.

But there are challenges that come with that growth. A consistent guest experience. Managing dozens (if not hundreds) of team members. And that's the tip of the iceberg.

It's hard, but it's possible—with the right tools. Modern restaurant technology can cut the guesswork and make growth the only option.

Real, market-leading brands are growing fast with technology like 7shifts. Here's how:

Easy to use scheduling that save managers time and money

Before she was Pita Way's director of operations, Holly Megges was a store manager at one of Pita Way's 13 locations. During those days, she would make her store's schedule on an iPad—a step above the pen and paper many still use. But, when she began to oversee every location, bigger scheduling questions bubbled up.

"I began to ask myself, "Are [store managers] scheduling effectively? Are [store managers] even concerned about what their labor is? And [7shifts] became a way to watch everybody and see what they were doing and if they needed help," says Megges.

Pita Way turned to 7shifts platform to manage their team of 100+ employees.

And it proved essential in the early stages of the pandemic. Many locations shut down, and staff shuffled around, 7shifts allowed Megges to see who was available and get insight into their labor situation.

"I wouldn't even know where to start. I have a hundred employees. I can't just call every general manager and be like, Hey, you got anybody for me?" says Megges.

Each location reduced labor cost from an average of 32% in Jan 2020 to 23% as of April 2021, due in part to more efficient schedules.

When store-level operations are simplified, as are the entire brand's. Corporate leaders can focus on new locations and growth, while franchise operators and individual managers keep the business running smoothly on the ground.

Powerful forecasting tools to help hit labor targets

Beyond saving time, scheduling software helps multi-unit operators save money, too. When integrated with point-of-sale systems, it can make schedules smarter. This empowers restaurants to leverage sales projections and never be over- or under-staffed.

The team at Toronto's Fresh restaurants uses forecasted sales and labor hours to cut labor costs by 12%.

7shifts forecasts sales at Fresh to 95% accuracy, which allows managers to schedule more efficiently. The platform's Labor Budget tool shows them if they're over- or under target while they make the schedule.

"One major benefit of 7shifts is that our managers no longer have to manually calculate projections. Our managers are very busy running our restaurants, and it's great that they no longer have to pull a year's worth of sales data and then calculate it themselves. Projections are extremely important, but are also historically time-consuming. 7shifts does these calculations for them, and we're still surprised at how accurate they are—oftentimes within $15!," says Tory Halpin at Fresh.

The Human Bean uses predictive analytics to great effect, too. It helped them stay consistent on their labor targets through the early stages of the pandemic:

"With 7shifts, our managers have improved the way they schedule since it predicts sales for the schedule they are making," said a Director of Operations with a large franchisee of The Human Bean.

"It makes switching shifts, getting shifts covered, entering in requests off, and availability with the baristas so much easier on the baristas and the managers."

Clear communication for better multi-unit restaurant management

The team at Fresh used to have a Facebook group for their team to do shift swapping—with no manager involvement. Not only is this a liability, it leaves managers unable to manage.

Now, the team of more than 400 stays connected on 7shifts mobile app. Mobile tools empower restaurant employees with a centralized place to swap shifts (with manager approval) and submit availability.

The communication tools include team chat and announcements, where leaders can send one way blasts to their entire team—with read receipts.

"So whether it's a goofy, 'Hey, everyone's done great this week,' or it's legally necessary material that I need to get out, I have a way to do that instantly," says Mike Bausch, owner at Andolini's.

The Pita Way team use announcements to maintain a great guest experience with photo and video announcements. For example, if a dish on the menu is being portioned inconsistently, the team sends out an announcement with a photo to all staff. This makes sure the Pita Way experience is the same at every location.