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December brings an 11.1% boost to sales
December 2023 vs. December 2022
Recent data released from S4labour shows an 11.1% increase in overall sales in December, compared to the same month in 2022.
In London, sales were up 14.2%, whilst areas outside of London saw 10.5% growth year-on-year. Dry-led sites were the driving force behind the overall increase, with sales up 13.9% compared to a more modest uplift of 7.3% in wet-led sites.
Richard Hartley, Chief Growth Officer at S4labour, commented: “In part, this increase is due to the train strikes that took place at the end of 2022, which impacted December sales and left a lower base point. Nonetheless, this consistent growth across the country reflects our industry’s dedication to customer satisfaction, even in challenging market conditions. Christmas has brought a much-welcomed boost to sales, which is a positive start to offsetting costs as operators continue to battle inflation, as well as the upcoming wage increases in April.
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Denver Bars
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“
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.
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Available Position: Associate Account Manager
The Opportunity
We are looking for someone who would like a career in one of the fastest growing software companies in the hospitality sector. If you have great people and customer service skills, with a desire to succeed, then we want to hear from you!
In association with a comprehensive training programme, we will enable you to be at the forefront with our customers from day one. From the get-go, as the successful candidate, you will get hands on. You’ll contribute to our customer success team, supporting our customers with value adding advice on how they can make even better business decisions and get the most out of working in partnership with S4labour.
We have a proven track record of taking on Associate level/Graduate Account Managers and developing them into fully fledged Account Managers. Our team structure includes Senior Account Managers so your opportunity to develop your skills and career provides a clear career path within our business. Our customer success team currently consists of a team of 5 and we have an opening for someone to join our growing business to bring ideas, passion and drive as well as having a clear understanding of what great customer service looks like to come on our journey with us.
What you’ll do
You will be joining us at a very exciting time as we prepare to launch several innovative new products to the market and accelerate our growth. You will be working alongside our Chief Customer Officer and 2 Account Managers and 2 Senior Account Managers to ensure our customers’ accounts are maintained to the highest standards. This is a varied role, and we expect you to learn a great deal in your first 12 months.
What you’ll bring
We’re an inclusive and friendly business—everyone mucks in with a positive and enthusiastic attitude! We are therefore looking for dynamic, business minded and hard-working individuals. You will be a confident self-starter, proactive in your approach, who thrives working on your own initiative and as part of a high-performing team.
A few other key essentials:
- Ideally of graduate calibre or equivalent relevant experience
- Excellent interpersonal/communication and customer service skills
- Ability to build and maintain relationships
- Strong numeracy skills
- Excellent organisational and planning skills
- A proactive attitude and ability to work on your own initiative
- Good understanding of Microsoft Office or similar
- Ability to thrive under pressure
- Full clean driving licence
- Experience in the pub/restaurant/hospitality sector would prove useful but is not essential
What we can offer you:
One-to-one mentoring in account management and personal development leading to:
• A broad range of essential and transferable business skills
• An exceptional understanding of the hospitality industry
• The opportunity to advance your career at a pace much faster than in a large corporate
• Flexibility, variety and excitement; giving you considerable responsibility
S4labour is committed to building a brilliant team that is inclusive in its culture, and values diversity. We strive for equality of opportunity in all that we do and actively encourage applicants from all groups and backgrounds to apply for this role.
To apply please send a CV and, if you’re keen, a brief note telling us why you would be a great part of the S4labour Team to ali@s4labour.co.uk / chriswelham@s4labour.co.uk
Available Position: Implementation Partner
Job purpose
You will join a team dedicated to welcoming new clients to our platform.
You will be working directly with new clients to keep them engaged and excited to make use of our software.
You will be taking charge of organising and delivering training on how to best use our platform and taking the responsibility of ensuring all our clients enjoy the smoothest onboarding experience possible.
Role description
- Manage the successful onboarding of multiple new clients starting their journey with S4labour, while adhering to key operational deadlines.
- Proactively collaborate with clients and other stakeholders to capture the required data to deliver an effective, efficient, and timely implementation of S4labour products
- Confidently deliver training to clients operating within a wide range of businesses on how to best utilise our software. Equally confident and engaging in remote or face-to-face delivery.
- Operate as a subject matter expert in our product portfolio and provide guidance to users on how best to use our system. Creatively overcome and solve client challenges by applying S4labour product knowledge.
- Provide occasional cover on our support desk, giving guidance and resolution on basic client issues (tickets and calls) in a friendly and professional manner whilst following standard support desk procedures
Key skills and personal qualities
- Confident self-starter with a can-do attitude and a proactive approach
- Great interpersonal and communication skills alongside an ability to build and maintain strong professional relationships
- Excellent organisational, planning and prioritisation skills
- Hardworking and resourceful with good problem-solving abilities
- Friendly, helpful team-player with a desire to deliver excellent customer service
- Happy working autonomously, as well as in collaboration with a wider team
- An excellent command of English, both written and verbal
- Happy working in a varied role in a fast-paced environment
- High attention to detail and a drive for continuous improvement
- Experience in the pub/restaurant/hospitality sector would prove useful but is not essential
*qualifying period and other criteria apply
S4labour is committed to building a brilliant team that is inclusive in its culture, and values diversity. We strive for equality of opportunity in all that we do and actively encourage applicants from all groups and backgrounds to apply for this role.
To apply please send a CV and, if you’re keen, a brief note telling us why you would be a great part of the S4labour Team to ali@s4labour.co.uk / chris@s4labour.co.uk
Dry-led sites up 9.1% in November, wet-led down 3.3%
The latest data from S4labour reveals that sales were up 3.8% in November, compared to the same month last year. London saw growth of 5.9% year-on-year, whilst the rest of the UK witnessed a slightly more modest increase of 3.2%.
This overall growth was driven by dry-led sites, with sales surging by 9.1%, compared to a 3.3% decline in wet-led sites.
S4labour’s Chief Growth Officer, Richard Hartley, commented: “Despite challenging consumer prices, this upward trend is a positive start to the Christmas period. Hopefully, we should see spending considerably up through to the new year, which will help towards offsetting the new wage costs coming into play in April.”
NLW increases 9.8%, but true cost is 11.5%
According to data from S4labour, the 9.8% increase to NLW announced yesterday by the Chancellor will mean an increase of 11.5% to costs for operators when considering the weighted impact of age distribution in the industry.
The new wage of £11.44 will apply to employees over 23s, who make up 70% of the hospitality workforce, as well as the 9% of workers who are 21 to 22 years old.
The statistics also reveal that 14% of industry workers fall into the 18 to 20 bracket, with their new wage rising by 14.8% to £8.60. Under 18s, who make up 7% of the industry’s workforce, will see a 21.2% increase in pay.
Assuming all workers are paid at minimum wage, these increases will bring hourly labour costs up 11.5% for operators.
Alastair Scott, CEO of S4labour, commented: “The headline rate at 9.8% was going to be tough enough to manage, without factoring in the high proportion of young people working in our industry. This makes it an even bigger challenge, just when we thought we might be able to get back onto an even keel.”
Malvern Inns – HLS case study
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”
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.
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Autumn 2023: What do the Chancellor’s announcements mean for hospitality?
Autumn Statement 2023
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has today released his Autumn Statement, bringing forward measures on NLW, alcohol duty, business rates and NI that will have an impact on the industry and its workers.
The National Living Wage will see an increase of 9.8% to £11.44 an hour, averaging an additional £1800 a year per full-time employee. This new rate now also applies to employees who are 21 and 22 years old – previously, it was only for workers over the age of 23. Though beneficial for the staff, this rise means a typical pub will see labour ratio hike around 3 percentage points. In addition to this increase, employee NI will drop from 12% to 10%, though employer contributions to NI have not been cut.
The extension of business rates relief is good news, and will help around 230,000 smaller retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in 2024-25. It also seems the Chancellor has listened to calls for alcohol duty to be frozen, meaning there is one less cost for operators to worry about until August next year.
Chief Growth Officer at S4labour, Richard Hartley, commented: “We have spoken to operators who are currently struggling with labour ratios of 34%+, so this further increase in spend will be challenging, and we anticipate this will put pressure on consumer prices. As wages continue to rise, managing the cost is going to be the single-most important factor in the future success of our industry.”
