Managing staff costs is a critical challenge for any bar or restaurant, especially when overseeing multiple locations. Balancing labour expenses with revenue can make or break your bottom line, and with rising costs across the industry, keeping a tight grip on staff costs is more important than ever. Fortunately, technology is making this easier. With tools like Hopsy’s Staff Costs Dashboard, managers overseeing multiple locations can now centralise their staffing data and make more informed, strategic decisions. Here’s a deeper look into how you can manage staff costs effectively using features like these, and the impact they can have on your business operations.
Running multiple bars or restaurants means juggling a lot of variables when it comes to labour. From varying staffing needs based on venue size and customer volume, to fluctuations in sales and seasonality, the task of controlling costs without under-staffing can be daunting. Traditionally, many businesses have relied on individual managers to handle staffing schedules and budgets, often leading to inconsistent cost controls. However, with tools like Hopsy’s Staff Costs Dashboard, businesses can now gain a comprehensive overview of their staffing expenses across all sites in real time.
By centralising staff cost management, venue owners and managers can take control over labour expenses, helping to align staff scheduling with sales projections and making sure they aren’t over- or under-staffed. This not only reduces waste but also helps improve the overall efficiency of operations.
The most effective way to manage labour expenses is through clear and actionable data. Hopsy’s Staff Costs Dashboard provides a simple, yet powerful way to do just that. If you’re a company user in Hopsy, accessing the Staff Costs Dashboard is easy. You’ll find it in your Dashboards menu, where all the key metrics from both the Rota and Clock-in pages of each venue are brought together into a single, user-friendly table. These metrics are critical for understanding how your forecasted costs align with actual expenses:
One of the strengths of using a centralised dashboard is the ability to forecast staffing costs based on sales projections. With Hopsy, for example, managers can easily see how many hours have been scheduled, the total cost of those hours, and how that compares to expected revenue. This gives you a real-time view of staffing efficiency and lets you make necessary adjustments before costs spiral out of control.
Additionally, locking in sales forecasts across venues ensures that once a forecast has been set, it remains unchanged unless approved. This feature reduces the likelihood of last-minute changes that could throw off labour cost management and provides better accountability for managers.
Another crucial aspect of managing staff costs is understanding the actual labour expenses as they occur. Real-time tracking, like the one offered in Hopsy’s dashboard, provides an accurate picture of what you’re spending on staffing by comparing the scheduled hours with clock-in data. This immediate insight into labour costs can help you make quick decisions to optimise staff deployment. For instance, if actual hours worked are exceeding scheduled hours, you can investigate whether additional staff is truly necessary, or if shifts could be managed more efficiently.
With a multi-venue business, trends in staffing costs across different sites can tell a much bigger story. Are certain locations consistently over-staffed compared to others? Is one venue better at aligning its staff costs with sales? The ability to spot these patterns enables you to replicate successful staffing strategies across all your venues.
The headline stats in Hopsy’s dashboard make this easy by summarising key data like total forecasted and actual wage spend, and comparing staff costs as a percentage of sales. This bird's eye view gives decision-makers a quick snapshot of how well labour costs are being managed, while also allowing for deeper dives into individual venue performance.
Managing staff costs is about more than just cutting hours; it’s about smart scheduling that aligns with business needs. Tools like Hopsy’s Staff Costs Dashboard allow you to move from reactive to proactive management, using forecasts and real-time data to anticipate staffing needs and control labour costs effectively.
By consistently monitoring and comparing data across all your locations, you can identify opportunities to streamline operations, whether that’s adjusting schedules to match quieter periods or adding staff during busy times to avoid overworking employees. This type of data-driven approach helps to boost efficiency, improve staff morale, and keep costs under control.
Effective management of staff costs is crucial for profitability in bars and restaurants, especially when managing multiple venues. With the right tools, such as Hopsy’s Staff Costs Dashboard, you can centralise your labour data, forecast more accurately, track real-time expenses, and make informed decisions that optimise your workforce while maintaining quality service. By leveraging this data, you can ensure that your venues remain not only profitable but also well-staffed and ready to meet customer demand.
As the hospitality industry continues to evolve, staying on top of staffing costs will be a key factor in staying competitive. Whether you’re focused on reducing inefficiencies or improving operational performance, having a comprehensive overview of your staffing costs is the first step toward a more sustainable and profitable future.
