Login
Book a demo

Grosvenor Pubs & Inns – Case Study

by | Apr 8, 2025 | Customer Stories

Case Study – Operational Excellence

Grosvenor Pubs & Inns

Download PDF

Grosvenor Pubs Overview

In 2024, we partnered with Grosvenor Pubs and Inns, rolling out the S4labour system and Operational Excellence Programme across the business.

We spoke to Sam King, Business Director at the founder-led pub group, which consists of 11 individually designed sites, a year on to see what they have achieved.

Company Name: Grosvenor Pubs & Inns Business Type: Multi Site

Grosvenor Pubs & Inns logo

“We found, as a business, we were taking more money and our labour cost was actually staying the same”
Sam King

Business Director, Grosvenor Pubs & Inns

Challenge

What were your frustrations and challenges that led to the decision to work with S4labour? “We approached S4labour because we were frustrated with the amount of time and productivity we were getting out of the GMs and Head Chefs in their rota writing.”

“We were finding that a lot of team were on at points in the business where they weren’t needed for our guests.”

Opportunity

What opportunity did the Operational Excellence Programme offer the Grosvenor business? “S4 gave us that opportunity to really dig deep into the business at when is most productive and when is not. It just highlighted a focus onto some of the finer aspects of writing a rota and how we plan our week.”
the bar at grosvenor pub

The Process

Part of the programme involved consultants visiting each site in your business, how did this process help when it came to growing sales? “The goldilocks visits involved the S4 consultants visiting the individual sites to bespoke the system and establish the perfect rota for each individual rota build on that basis. We then worked out the rhythm and routine of the week of when we needed people in and when we didn’t.”

“With some incremental changes to each business, it meant that, as a whole, Grosvenor became more productive, more efficient and certainly on site it gave a lot of control and knowledge to the fingertips of our general managers.”

“We can start expanding out on bigger sales and it gave us a good platform and a confident platform to grow the business from.”

“Partnering up with S4 means you are getting almost like an extra business partner in delivering more sales”
Sam King

Business Director, Grosvenor Pubs & Inns

sauce being poured over steak

Team Response

How did the teams at Grosvenor engage with the S4 system and Operational Excellence Programme? “The programme with S4 from start to finish was incredibly useful. Anybody would be a bit apprehensive about changing such a huge system as the payroll system and the rota-writing system. But, the guys at S4, with their knowledge, and their passion for what they do, gave us a lot of confidence. And the change was right.”

“The team, from head chefs, general managers to the senior team are looking at the business in a very different way to what we were a year and a half ago. They’re looking at a more sales driven way rather than a cost cutting way.”

Results

How has this new approach supported the continuous growth of the Grosvenor business? “We found, as a business, we were taking more money and the cost, our labour cost, was actually staying the same. So, the 3% swing in labour cost was actually down to more sales rather than that horrible word of ‘cutting’ and ‘chopping’ hours.”

“I would recommend S4 and the S4 team to any business which is feeling that they’ve got more to get out of their properties, their business and their wage line.”

Book a demo
bedroom at Grosvenor

More Case Studies

The Beautiful Pubs Collective

by | Apr 15, 2024 | Customer Stories, Multi Site

Case Study

The Beautiful Pubs Collective 

Download PDF

Beautiful Pubs Overview

The Beautiful Pubs Collective partnered with S4labour towards the end of 2023. The Leicester-based business operates three sites: Knight & Garter, The Forge Inn and Rutland & Derby, all offering great food, drink and service.  

With over 90 team members and three very busy sites, Beautiful Pubs wanted a solution that could help them schedule their teams the most effectively to help save time and grow sales, without overspending on their labour budget.  

Company Name: The Beautiful Pubs Collective
Business Type: Multi Site
Date: April 2024

Beautiful Pubs

“With effective deployment, we are able to match sales demand hour-by-hour, which means we do not overspend.”

Rosalie Hagger

People and Experience Manager, The Beautiful Pubs Collective

Challenge

Before S4labour, the team at Beautiful Pubs were not using a workforce management system for their rotas, H.R. and payroll.  

When it came to scheduling their teams, this meant that they were not always aware of their live spend, which sometimes led to unexpected labour costs.  

Their employees were signing in and out on paper documents, meaning their recorded hours were not always accurate. In turn, this impacted labour costs and payroll at the end of every month.  

Managers were being approached by staff members about absences, time off requests and holiday accrual in person, which was time-consuming and led to more admin.  

What were they looking for in a solution?

When moving to S4labour, Beautiful Pubs were looking for a solution that could help them to streamline all their operational processes.  

They wanted to be able to manage their labour in line with sales demand, to achieve excellent service and maximise sales across the business.

Results

Now using S4labour, everything they need to manage their teams to be their best, is in one easily accessible place.  

With effective deployment, the team at Beautiful Pubs are able to match sales demand hour-by-hour so they aren’t overspending on their labour.  

With S4 Manage, their manages have real-time in-hand control over the day-to-day running of each site. They can view and analyse site performance, and amend staff rotas as operational needs evolve, as well as record any absences with ease.  

Using S4 Insights has given them collective visibility of forecasts, budgets and sales across all three sites.  

Using the employee app, S4 Connect, has given their teams complete access to their rotas, including shift briefs, slack tasks and incentives for every day. Teams are able to see booked and accrued holiday, as well request future holidays and ‘not available’ shifts. Staff members also have access to all their personal information and documents, including contracts and RTW, all in one place.  

Book a demo

More Case Studies

Gardner garages

by | Mar 22, 2024 | Convenience Stores, Customer Stories, Multi Site

Case Study

How Gardner Garages manage labour cost using S4labour

Company Name: Gardner Garages
Business Type: Forecourt and convenience
Date: March 2024

About Gardner Garages

“The Gardner family have been fuelling the Gloucestershire motorist for over 50 years.”

Gardner Garages joined S4labour almost a year ago. The forecourt business own and operate 6 petrol stations (Texaco and BP fuel) and one town centre convenience store, all with Londis and Budgens fascia.

Emma the Managing Director of Gardner Garages Limited has ran the business for over 25 years. Emma oversees the operations of the company, ensuring that the businesses run efficiently and cost effectively while ensuring they get the most sales and profit from their sites as they can.

 

 

 

“We wanted something that made running the business proactive rather than reactive and can address any concerns with labour costs with Managers before they become an issue. Since we have started using S4labour we have far more day-to-day control over labour costs as we can see all seven sites on one dashboard and act accordingly.”

Emma Gardner

Managing Director , Gardner Garages

Escaping Spreadsheet Limitations

One of the major problems managers faced prior to using S4labour was that everything was done manually- rotas were produced on excel worksheets, printed out and displayed on the staff noticeboards. Payroll was manually processed using Sage, and was then imported into excel, which was then emailed across on payroll processing day. This made the process time consuming and often resulted in input errors.

Gardner Garages found communicating shifts confusing as they are subject to change, making it difficult to communicate over texts messages. Doing things manually and on spread sheets made it difficult to get real visibility over how much they were spending on labour. Since using S4labour the business can see fully costed rotas which includes holiday pay, NI etc and the system is the one version of the truth everyone can trust.

Empowering Engagement and Efficiency

With the introduction of S4labour, the team are more engaged with work as they can see their shifts on their phones at any time, there are no grey areas about start and finish times because time & attendance are automated. Employees can manage and requests on their phones when it is convenient, rather than during a shift. This makes tracking their actual hours worked a lot easier.

The holiday requests and management on the App has also been an extremely efficient and useful tool. This feature has helped with scheduling holidays and ensuring that the whole team can see holidays, which has resulted in a smoother operation of the business.

Most importantly this has helped the business avoid unexpected costs and ensures accurate payroll. Before S4labour Gardner Garages had never considered a system for payroll. An in-depth demonstration of the system helped them understand how it can the positive impact the overall working of the business.

Emma also commented “We talked to fellow retailers that had already implemented S4labour and who shared their positive experiences with us. The S4labour team were a great ambassador for the system and were excellent in supporting us in the early implementation stages”.

Results

Since making S4labour a part of their business, Gardner Garages has more time to prioritise customer satisfaction, as they have more time to focus on activities that generate profit rather than doing administrative work. 

Emma further commented on how investing in S4labour has led to increased staff retention: “We have invested in our employees this year with the implementation of S4labour. The system has had a positive impact on our relationship with our employees as it has demonstrated greater engagement and efficiency for us all”.

Speak to us about cost management

More Case Studies

London Shuffle Club – Technology Partnering at its Best

by | Feb 1, 2024 | Customer Stories

Case Study

London Shuffle Club’s

Suite of Technology

Watch Now

London Shuffle Club Overview

Located in the heart of Shoreditch, London Shuffle Club is the home of the supercharged game of shuffleboard. A brilliant competitive socialising concept that serves a range of customers.

The only UK venue with both lane and table shuffle under one roof, meaning there’s a game for everyone.

“I think S4labour has totally revolutionised our path. It literally meant going from what is a basic system to a system. It does all our needs.”

Miguel Franco

Ops Director, London Shuffle Club

As a unique competitive socialising concept with multifaceted needs, London Shuffle Club needed to deploy the right technology infrastructure across all partners so they can easily replicate as they grow as they have big plans to grow across Greater London and other major cites within the UK.

Before S4labour and partnering technology:

“Before we used S4labour, we used a different system that was very basic. So we’ve to do the rostering and have a very, very painful and long payroll procedure.”

The Now, using integrated technology to the maximum:

“We use S4labour to manage all our interactions in terms of human resources.

So the onboarding, the deployment, the reporting, the performance management, and also to get data because of integration with Tevalis allows us to get good data per person in terms of how individuals may be performing in the business, it has brought significant efficiencies to our business.

Payroll has been reduced from a couple of days to a couple of hours and the reporting and the visual reporting of it, because you can see data hour by hour has allowed the managers to make better and more effective deployment decisions.

We wanted something that was the right fit for where the company is at our time as well as in the future, so that would allow us to grow organically. So having the correct employment data, simplifying payroll, simplifying time and attendance and the business reporting being very visual to allow our managers to make decisions was critical. S4labour did that really, really well as far labour has made us more effective, so it has saved us time and money but also made getting reliable data very, very fast in an automated way so we don’t have to use sign-in and out sheets.

I think S4labour has totally revolutionised our path. It literally meant going from what is a basic system to a system. It does all our needs.”

 

More Case Studies

Denver Bars

by | Dec 12, 2023 | Customer Stories, Multi Site

Case Study

How Denver Bars use S4labour & ICR Touch

Denver Bars Overview

Denver Bars are popular boozers on Brixton Hill where we pride ourselves on friendly service and a great atmosphere.

With DJs from Friday to Sunday and a 3am licence at the weekend.

Delicious homemade food is served fresh, seven days a week, and at sensible prices and our courtyard out front and NEW ONE out back are perfect for summer months.

“Having everything in one

user-friendly interface is really

helpful. Quick access to wage

percentage goes a long way to

saving us money long term“

Matt Ward

Owner, Denver Bars

A popular bar and restaurant, the White Horse in Brixton, is renowned for its delicious homemade food, great atmosphere and friendly service.

The White Horse is one of a number of hospitality venues owned and operated by Denver Bars, which all utilise ICR Touch software alongside S4labour integrations.

Owner, Matt Ward, has been championing the ICR Touch ecosystem since 2007 and has worked with Authorised Silver Partner, Gardiff EPoS, to integrate S4labour’s workforce management solution into multiple venues.

Seeking to streamline various HR responsibilities, Matt and the management teams needed an integrated system that would help them work smarter, not harder.

The brief – effortless staff management 

Prior to the integration, Matt had been fulfilling administrative duties manually, meaning he not only had hugely labour-intensive processes, but also had a significant lack of visibility over staff costs, budget, and regular engagement with his team. As well as being incredibly time-consuming, this manual process allowed far too much room for mistakes.

Therefore, the requirement from ICRTouch and S4labour was for a collaborative solution that could help Matt streamline operations and speed up tasks such as workforce planning, shift scheduling, employee data, payroll and time/attendance.

The solution – intelligent back office integration

Already familiar with ICR Touch products such as TouchPoint tills, PocketTouch hand-held ordering and ByTable order-to-table solutions, the White Horse, and other Denver Bars venues, upgraded their TouchOffice Web account to TouchOffice Web+ to enable S4labour integration. The intuitive human resource management system provides a clear overview of staff operations and a range of tools to help facilitate easy workforce management. The integration with ICRTouch software, TouchOffice Web+, facilitates the sharing of sales data to S4labour, meaning data-driven forecasting and resource allocation can be done easily.

The result – streamline HR and operations

The introduction of S4labour has significantly increased the efficiency of Denver Bars’ workforce management, resulting in more engagement and clearer communication with all of the teams.

Owner, Matt, now has access to a robust management tool which, thanks to the seamless integration of S4labour and TouchOffice Web+, means no more manual administrative duties on spreadsheets and other outdated systems. Clearly displayed rotas, easy holiday management, simple exportable payroll information and end-of-week reports are combined within the S4labour dashboard.

The solutions intuitively communicate with one another and update all information in real-time. The snapshot and labour percentage views in S4labour allow for quick oversight with the integration in place.

Having access to both systems ultimately streamlines the organisation of employees by providing a clear bird’s eye view of behind the scenes administrative tasks.

More Case Studies

Malvern Inns – HLS case study

by | Nov 27, 2023 | Customer Stories, Partnerships, Stay / Sleep

Case Study

How Malvern Inns use both S4labour & High Level Software

Malvern Inns Overview

Serving up brilliant hospitality since 2010.

Stylish locations with dedicated teams offering delicious food, a great selection of drinks and special stays. 

Party and event management services offered throughout Yorkshire under the banner of Malvern Events. 

“The deployment graph in S4labour is really useful. We get our scheduling just right by matching our shifts to sales per hour. The visual representation of our expected revenue across the day guides the managers in determining the optimal levels of labour. We reduce our slack (excess staff members) which means we save money”
Matt Avery

Ops Director , Malvern Inns

Tell us about Malvern Inns as a business.

Malvern Inns has two venues based in Yorkshire, The Castle and The Square & Compass as well as event management services. We have been operating since 2010, The Castle has 12 ensuite rooms and offers a great village pub environment.

 

Tell us how S4labour works in Malvern Inns.

Malvern Inns has had S4labour for a very long time and is a key tool in our business. Without S4labour everything would be extremely manual, and we wouldn’t have visibility over our costs and budgets. In addition, S4labour helps us engage with the teams. By being clear and transparent with our team about what we require from them in the business they can have a productive shift.

 

Which features of S4labour do you find the most useful?

The deployment graph in S4labour is really useful. We get our scheduling just right by matching our shifts to sales per hour. The visual representation of our expected revenue across the day guides the managers in determining the optimal levels of labour. We reduce our slack (excess staff members) which means we save money.

 

S4labour integrates with many companies in the hospitality industry please explain the benefit of that.

A lot of systems are required to make a hospitality business successful, from Epos, scheduling systems and room reservation systems. Having S4labour integrate with them all is really useful because it means the systems talk to one another and saves us time from having to do manual tasks and means we spend more time with the customer.

 

Tell us how High Level Software works in The Castle

The intuitiveness of the system is a game-changer for us. Its user-friendliness ensures that our team can navigate it with ease, leading to fewer mistakes and a significant reduction in the time spent on training new staff.

 

How do your customers find using HLS?

The system’s user interface is incredibly user-friendly, lots of positive feedback from top to bottom. Making a new reservation or editing an existing one is a breeze. Even our housekeeping team, who rely on it to manage room requirements daily, find it easy to use.

 

Have you encountered any challenges or limitations while using HLS If so, how has the platform addressed or resolved those issues to meet your needs?

As with any new system implementation, there were some teething issues as our team was becoming familiar with the new Property Management System. However, what truly stood out was the excellent support and training provided by the HLS team.

 

 

More Case Studies