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Driving employee engagement through intuitive scheduling: the rundown of Tech on Toast’s latest podcast with S4labour 

by | Sep 13, 2023 | Blogs, Hospitality

It’s no secret that Tech on Toast has introduced an increasingly popular podcast to the hospitality world, with companies sharing insights and showcasing their expertise on industry trends, innovations and challenges in the tech world. 

So, when our Chief Growth Officer, Richard Hartley, was offered the chance to film an episode with Chris at BrewDog Waterloo, they really got chatting. 

In this blog post, we’ll delve into the key takeaways from the episode and explore why it’s a must-listen for both industry professionals and enthusiasts alike. 

What’s the episode about? 

In the episode, Richard and Chris discuss current challenges when it comes to labour, and how S4labour’s people-centred approach to tech helps operators to engage and retain their team. By creating efficiencies and boosting productivity through effective scheduling, Richard explains how S4labour helps both multi-site and single site businesses to engage teams and drive growth. 

What are the key learnings? 

1. In hospitality, we have to be more reactive 

Operators have to react to whatever is thrown their way, be it the weather, train strikes, or whatever else. The further ahead you can plan your labour, the better it is.  

2. “The greatest difference you can make to productivity is with really effective shift planning” 

The reality of scheduling now is that there will be times in every shift when staff are not busy – these are the times that need to be filled with productive tasks. No one’s working a four-hour shift, especially in London, where most people have to travel in to work. It’s about working out how you can be effective by making sure people are busy when they’re not serving customers. 

3. “A busy team is a happy team” 

People want to know they’ve got tasks to do and that they are working towards the overall objective of the business – standing staring at an empty restaurant isn’t much fun. When people are engaged, they find ways to fill quiet times. 

S4labour launched a shift swapping product in 2019, which became a powerful engagement tool for employees. Gen Z continue to make us rethink ways of working, and one thing that we have noticed is that they don’t necessarily want to work 60-hour weeks. Younger generations prioritise a work-life balance much more than previous generations did, so they’re happy working a 20-hour week. 

Keeping employees happy, engaged and motivated is key to retention, which has become a big part of what we do. Operators using the system got really good at managing their labour costs, so now they have a focus on employee motivation, which comes down to capturing how they feel and feeding it back. 

4. S4labour looks after smaller businesses as well as the larger multiples  

At S4labour, we didn’t want to create something that was too complex, as some businesses might not need a big shift planning tool. For example, if they work in a small café with 2-3 members of staff. We wanted to find a way that we could right-size our offering for whoever we are talking to. 

5. Labour is the biggest variable cost and therefore it gets scrutiny  

Spending the right amount isn’t easy. Operators need to make sure wage rates are the right rates; that whatever they are spending every week is going to deliver the right amount of service for what walks through the door.  

That’s why S4labour designed a really simple deployment graph that talks about the stress and slack. It plots for every hour of the day and integrates with 298 separate EPOS organisations. 

“We give people better information to make better decisions” 

6. “We will continue to evolve in the people space.” 

The starting point for our tools is when an employee starts a job. From there, all HR – contract, to onboarding, right up to pensions at the end of payroll, are taken care of by S4labour. There’s such a big future within that spectrum, and we strive to keep adding that value where we can.  

Sound interesting? You can watch the full podcast below or get in touch with S4labour to find out exactly how S4labour can support you in being your best.  

Watch the podcast

August sales up 3.2% led by London

by | Sep 6, 2023 | Blogs, Sales Figures

This month, overall sales were up 3.2% compared to last year, led by a strong August for London, according to the latest S4labour sales data. 

The Capital saw a solid increase of 9.9% across the board, with food and drink sales up 12% and 8.7% respectively.   

Non-London saw a 4.7% increase in food, but drink sales dropped by 0.7% compared to last year.  

Chief Growth Officer at S4labour, Richard Hartley, said: “Despite a wet August, it is promising to see growth on last year and healthier numbers compared to last month, which saw only a slight increase of 1.4% in like-for-like sales. Outside of London, and particularly in more rural areas, it is likely that less people were going out to drink in pubs this month because of the bad weather. Nevertheless, the increase in food sales across the UK will go some way to offsetting inflation.”  

Women’s World Cup Final Boosts Pub Sales

by | Aug 24, 2023 | Sales Figures, Blogs

Although the Lionesses didn’t bring it home, they certainly brought in some sales, with figures telling a story of celebration.  

Despite the early start, last Sunday saw the Women’s World Cup final drive a 10% increase in drink sales when compared to same day the previous week, according to the latest sales data from S4labour.  

It is estimated around 2.6 million Brits headed to the pub to watch the game, splashing out on beverages to celebrate England being in a World Cup final for the first time since 1966.  

It’s brilliant to see that the Women’s team won hearts on the field, with a positive ripple effect on local businesses. Here’s to the unstoppable spirit of football and the communities that come together to celebrate it! 

London year-on-year sales ahead in July, non-London sees a decline

by | Aug 3, 2023 | Blogs, Sales Figures

In July, hospitality sales saw an overall year-on-year increase of 1.4%, the latest S4labour data reports.

Food sales were responsible for this slight growth, with an increase of 5.8%, whereas drink sales were down 2.0% compared to last year. 

London fared much better than the rest of the country, seeing sales 2.9% ahead of 2022, whilst non-London experienced a decline of 4.3%. 

Richard Hartley, Chief Growth Officer at S4labour, commented: “July has been a much slower month than we would have liked, as sales have likely suffered due to bad weather, with less people going out for drinks throughout the month. Though these numbers indicate growth, they still lag behind inflation levels. However, as we move into August, we are hopeful that the summer holidays, as well as the bank holiday, will help towards offsetting this.” 

June sales see a 7.8% increase led by London

by | Jul 5, 2023 | Blogs, Sales Figures

In June hospitality sales saw the highest year-on-year increase so far in 2023 with a 7.8% uplift, according to the latest S4labour data.  

This spike is largely due to London sales, which were 15.7% ahead of 2022 levels, whilst non-London saw an uplift of 6.0%.  

Food and drink were split fairly evenly outside of London, with 6.2% and 5.9% year-on-year growth respectively. The capital was driven by a 16.2% increase in drink sales, with food sales growth sitting just below that at 14.9%.  This comes after temperatures were consistently high throughout June, reaching 32 degrees in some parts of England. It’s likely many spent a great deal of time outdoors, enjoying food and drinks in pubs and restaurants.  

Chief Growth Officer at S4labour, Richard Hartley, commented: “In line with rising temperatures, this is what we would expect to see as this June was the hottest to date. This quarter has seen solid growth on 2022 sales, with April at 3.3% and May at 2.7%. As we move into the second half of the year, good weather and holidays should continue to work towards offsetting inflation and rising interest rates.”