How tech is helping restaurants stay in control

In the fiercely competitive UK restaurant industry, hospitality businesses are turning to digital tools to give them an edge. Here’s how one family-owned restaurant group uses software to save money and manage their business better.  

The UK restaurant industry is a competitive place - with over 123,000 restaurants, cafés, bakeries, pubs and food stands in the country, that’s one for every 138 adults. 

Amidst all that noise, 5 restaurants close every day in the UK. So it’s no surprise that restaurants are looking to digital tools to gain a competitive edge – and relying on the data they get to make better decisions around costs. 

With its contemporary style meets heartfelt hospitality, Urban Guild has been winning the hearts of guests since 2005. But to truly thrive in the industry, the group of family-owned local venues turned to tech for a boost. 

Staying on top of shifts  

With multiple venues across the UK South Coast - Urban Guild manages a lot of staff and shifts. But getting the numbers just right can be tricky. Rostering on too few staff could jeopardise its quality of service and customer relationships – but rostering on too many proves expensive. 

And then there’s the matter of keeping staff happy, so that they deliver better service - and are less likely to leave and kick-start costly hiring and retaining processes. 

By rolling out Planday’s scheduling software, Urban Guild can always make sure that the right employees are in the right place at the right time - even across multiple venues. 

"Planday has revolutionised how we manage our staff. It’s streamlined our employee scheduling, reduced labour costs, and enhanced our overall productivity." says Mark Crib, the owner of Urban Guild. 

Hugging it out  

In fact, Urban Guild is so committed to keeping staff and guests happy, they’ve appointed a ‘Head of Hugs.’ The title goes to Simon Eaton, who says he’s noticed a big boost in employee satisfaction and engagement since adopting Planday. 

He says staff like being able to instantly access shift plans on their phones - and maintain flexibility in their lives by being able to quickly request shift swaps with the shift-swapping tool. With this feature, managers instantly get a notification and can move fast to approve even last-minute requests. 

"I find the communication in Planday great. If I need to tell all the staff something, I can just send a team-wide message. Everyone has access to the system, so they can always log in and stay updated.” 

Error-free payroll  

By removing the human error in payroll with technology, the entire process becomes less time-consuming and more streamlined for Urban Guild. 

For a multi-venue group, Planday’s automatic time-tracking system has ensured that every single employee’s hours are accurately recorded across the whole company - eliminating potential time theft, or just honest mistakes.  

With this level of precision, there’s no concern about costly mistakes or disputes with staff that could risk detracting from Urban Guild’s positive team culture. 

Smarter decisions with data  

All of which means that Urban Guild has been able to make more cost-effective decisions after gaining valuable insights into its workforce performance and labour costs – all thanks to the tool’s advanced analytics and reporting features. 

With the new data-driven insights, Urban Guild can now make truly informed decisions to optimise their operations and identify growth opportunities. 

Get your new competitive edge  

In today’s digitised world, all successful businesses are leveraging technology to run their businesses more efficiently, and to get data that helps them make better decisions. Hospitality is no exception. 

Get in touch today to see how Planday can give you that competitive edge. (We might also offer you a free hug.)