by Abby Henson | 4 Jun, 2018 | Blog, Press & News
May was an excellent month for the UK hospitality industry with like for like sales across the industry up 5% on 2017 levels, our latest research has found.
Analysis of over 100 organisations using our S4Labour scheduling and HR software revealed that strong drink sales – likely bolstered by fine weather and the Royal Wedding effect – were the primary factor in the overall good performance.
Food-led venues enjoyed an 8.5% increase in drink trade, while wet-focused sites were up 7.7% on average.
Operators also saw a rise in food revenues – albeit a small one – with an overall 0.1% increase recorded across all businesses surveyed and dry-led sites faring slightly better in this regard.
June sees the start of the World Cup and many in hospitality will be anticipating a continuation of May’s good results for the industry (even if not for the England team).
By identifying and correcting times of sub-optimal staffing, S4Labour helps its clients increase sales and improve service, as well as reduce labour costs. Why not book a demo today?
by Abby Henson | 18 Apr, 2018 | Blog, Press & News
After a winter that seemed to last a lifetime, with Artic conditions punishing hospitality operators well into March, spring is finally here. Britain is basking in warm, sunny weather and the fine days are set to last into the weekend, giving the industry a golden chance to make proverbial hay.
But simply throwing open the doors and waiting for the customers to come may not be enough. Competition amongst operators to attract the crowds can be fierce. Here are our top tips to get ahead of the rest through effective labour planning and deployment.
Understand the impact on your site
Every venue is different, and the fine weather will affect them differently. For those lucky enough to have large outside areas, bumper sales are a near-certainty. Smaller, more enclosed sites, especially in urban areas, may in fact lose out. Take some time to consider your last year’s sales in the context of the weather at the time. This will give you the best guide on what to expect and allow you to plan and execute profitable days of trading, however the sun impacts your site. Multi-site companies may benefit from resisting a one-size-fits-all approach, tailoring a plan to each site specifically rather than the business as a whole.
Forecast proactively
Optimised labour deployment, which leads to higher profits, starts with accurate forecasting. As well as considering historic data to make an accurate initial prediction, it’s a good idea to take a proactive approach. Keep a close eye on the weather forecast – we all know how quickly they can change – and consider each day’s trading when looking ahead to the next. If Thursday was busier than first expected, it’s likely Friday will be too. Don’t be afraid to update your sales forecast as the week progresses and make scheduling decisions accordingly.
S4Labour is the perfect tool for better forecasting. With built-in Met Office weather forecasts geolocated by site and clear, intuitive reporting on historic sales and weather, it allows managers to predict trade levels more accurately than ever before.
Reconsider shift lengths and patterns
It’s likely that you have regular patterns in shift lengths and start and finish times. These may have worked well to reflect sales through the winter months but can be far less optimal when the sun shines. If your site is typically busy at lunch time and again later in the evening, it makes sense to keep staffing minimal between 3 and 6pm. But on a sunny day this may miss out on groups tempted by an after-work drink, leaving you understaffed and resulting in poor service and missed sales opportunities. Time spent thinking closely about shift lengths, start and end times, and split shift timings is unlikely to be wasted.
Create a culture of flexibility
As well as encouraging flexibility in shift lengths and timings, it’s always a good idea to promote a culture of general flexibility in your business. Explain to staff that shift timings may not always be set in stone and reward them appropriately when they go the extra mile. Now is also a great time to think of the composition of your team in terms of full and part time staff in anticipation of the busy summer season. Full time staff bring consistency of service, but also cost the business more to employ. A team built around a lower number of full time members and more part time employees may bring the flexibility needed to run an effective business through the fickle British summer while staying within a tight labour budget.
Plan for contingencies
In life nothing is certain, and it’s a foolish man who banks on the British weather staying fine. It’s a good idea to make sure you have contingency plans in place for when the weather lets you down. Be prepared to end shifts early when disappointing weather reduces sales, and communicate with staff to make them aware of this possibility. As a useful alternative to trimming hours, it can be sensible to redeploy hours away from service and into the ancillary tasks needed to keep the site functioning; essential cleaning, chopping fruit, and emptying bins are all important tasks that it’s easy to neglect when sales are high.
Following our advice will put you well on your way to excellent labour management through this fine spell and beyond. For optimum insight and control on labour, bringing invaluable benefits in cost-saving, driving sales and service, and saving time, S4Labour is the ideal platform. Why not request a demo today?
by Abby Henson | 11 Apr, 2018 | Blog, Press & News
S4Labour is leading workforce management software for the hospitality industry.
Since 2011, its innovative visual analysis of hourly sales data, taken direct from EPoS integrations, has allowed operators to optimise staff deployment, resulting in lower costs and increased sales. The feature-rich package also significantly reduces administrative time for its users. The fully-integrated HR module, covering everything from digital contracts to employee appraisals, allows managers to spend less time in the office and more leading their teams in delivering great experiences to customers.
Increasingly, hospitality firms are realising the huge value S4Labour brings to their businesses. This has seen the milestone of 1,000 active sites recently reached, driven by impressive 60% sales growth in 2017.
Already in 2018, several first-rate operators with superb reputations have rolled out with S4Labour, joining the ranks of award-winning firms using the software. These include Revolution Bars, who manage a nationwide estate of 73 premium late-night venues, and Oakman Inns, a growing collection of 25 high-end pub-restaurants across the South East and South Midlands. Completing a trio of auspicious new clients is Butcombe Brewery, who have implemented S4Labour into their 24-strong West Country managed pub estate, which they plan to double in size in coming years.
We are delighted to welcome these new operators to S4Labour, and eagerly anticipate sharing in their future successes.
Want to join these fantastic companies in controlling labour spend and driving increased sales? Contact us to book an S4Labour demonstration today.
by Abby Henson | 27 Mar, 2018 | Blog, Press & News
We’re growing. In the last year we saw a 60% increase in turnover, and rolled out S4Labour into over 30 new organisations, totalling over 300 sites.
As we grow, we are eager to recruit the best people to help drive our continued success. As such, we are currently advertising for the position of Business Development Manager, within our Sales & Marketing department.
Please find the full job description below. To apply, send a CV and detailed cover letter to info@cattonhospitality.com, or call 01295 267400 for more information
[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.cattonhospitality.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/JD-business-development-manager-Catton-March-18.pdf” title=”JD business development manager Catton March ’18″]
by Abby Henson | 23 Mar, 2018 | Blog, Press & News
On May 25th, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect. The new laws oblige businesses to amend the way they interact with data in a world with an increasingly technological outlook.
GDPR impacts on the way we interact with employee data
As such, we have reviewed, audited, and documented our processes, and have made appropriate changes. How the GDPR affects S4Labour and its users.
How the GDPR affects S4Labour and its users
Under the GDPR, S4Labour is considered to be a data processor, as we give our clients access to our software, and hold their employees’ data on our servers. Our customers are considered to be data controllers.
What we’re doing…
Personal Data
We have documented all personal data that we hold, its source, and who can access it. We never share any personal data with any third party organisations unless advised to do so by clients.
Access Rights on S4Labour
We have reviewed the different user access levels in S4Labour, and the data users can access, ensuring it is appropriate and relevant to their role. This also applies internally; we have revised what our own staff can access and amend.
Exchanging Data
We require a secure transfer of data from clients. As data controllers, it is the responsibility of clients to be compliant in this.
Logging into S4Labour
We have evaluated our current log-in process and will be making appropriate changes. We will differentiate the password process security process based on system access rights, with greater authentication required for higher level users.
Online data is securely protected
Our Contracts
We are currently reviewing our contracts with customers and amending terminology where required to ensure compliance. We will be contacting clients ahead of May 25th with revised contracts where necessary.
Data Protection & Security Policy
Our policy has been reviewed and updated in line with GDPR.
Privacy Policy
We are updating the privacy policies on our websites for increased transparency and full compliance.
Communication & Marketing
We are reviewing how we communicate with our customers and will implement a policy of communicating system information to users in a way that is fully compliant with GDPR and maximises visibility of important messages.
And now for the technical part…
Our data is stored on EC2 General Purpose SSD encrypted volumes using an AES-256 algorithm, so all stored data is encoded at rest. We take a snapshot every day, which is also encoded, which can be used for disaster recovery. In the worst-case scenario, we can lose up to one day’s worth of files. Hourly backups are made to Dropbox, and transferred using SSL/TSL 256-bit AES keys. Dropbox is encoded using 128-bit AES keys. S4Labour itself uses SSL/TLS SHA 256 encoding to protect data in motion, and is certified using a 2048 RSA certificate authenticated by Go Daddy Secure Certificate Authority.
We take GDPR compliance and the protection of our customers’ data very seriously. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
