How to tackle hospitality staff shortages
With one in four hospitality businesses forced to slash hours or close for part of the week due to staff shortages, and over 200,000 vacancies across the country*, what can venues do to maximise the manpower they have and combat the shortage?
Quick & efficient orders & payments
Ensure your EPOS and payment systems are allowing your staff to take orders and process payments as quickly as possible. Having one screen on your EPOS with your most commonly ordered products can save time switching between different screens. Similarly having options & product upsell or modifier prompts set to pop up as you place orders, rather than needing to add notes to an order or run to the kitchen to let the chef know of any changes, allows the staff to move straight onto the next customer.
When you do manage to get new staff in, it's important the EPOS system is simple and intuitive to use, so staff can get up and running quickly. This was highlighted as a key benefit in a recent case study.
If you don’t already have integrated payments, this not only speeds up that all important payment process, it also reduces the risk of errors keying the amounts between the EPOS and PDQ machines.
Mobile ordering
Whilst mobile food & drink ordering was seen as a necessity in the new trading landscape, with many customers preferring to order from a person, there is a still a role for mobile ordering to save you time. Especially for additional rounds of drinks or desserts, allowing customers to place orders quickly when they know exactly what they want, without needing to flag someone down. An integrated mobile ordering and EPOS system means you can receive these orders directly to the drinks dispense or kitchen, without a staff member needing to manually take the order, freeing them up to deliver orders and tend to other customers.
Staff scheduling tools
Having good staff scheduling tools can help you make the most of the manpower you have, focusing the hours staff are working when you need them most. Looking at your rota alongside predicted or comparable historic sales data, itemised by the hour will highlight lulls in footfall when you may be overstaffed, and the pinch points when you would want your full team in.
Keep a happy team
Wages have naturally been pushed up during the staff shortages, so staff are earning more, but how can you motivate them beyond their payslips? Offering subsidised or free staff meals when working will keep tummies full, and staff happy.
Why not try to incentivise sales, this could be a push to see who can take the most overall on a shift, or sales of particular higher margin items. If you’re using our Hospitality EPOS, you can ‘spotlight’ particular products and monitor their sales across staff members. These incentives don’t necessarily need to come from your pocket either, there are always brands who are happy to incentivise sales of their products, or provide tickets to events and gigs they have access to via their sponsorships. Make sure you’re speaking to your local drinks reps.
If you’re interested in finding out how our EPOS can help you with the above, and more, get in touch.
* The Independent 16th Nov 2021
