It's in the Numbers: Control Labor Costs with POS Technology

Breaking Down the Labor Numbers Gross Profit: $500,000/year Labor Percentage: 28% Reduce by 1% = $5,000/year savings Reduce by 2% = $10,000/year savings 1% Savings = $13.70 per day @ $8/hour average for 1 hour, 42 minutes total labor saved How Your POS Can Cut Labor Costs Prevent 3 employees clocking in 10 minutes early = 30 min. Keep 3 employees from taking 5 extra minutes on their break = 15 min. Stop 1 employee from going into overtime = 15 min. Send 1 employee home early = 1 hour

Cutting labor costs by just 1% or 2% a year can save you thousands of dollars. With the right point-of-sale system, trimming the excess labor costs is easier than you might think. All you need are five basic tools:

1. Labor scheduling
2. Access to the latest sales/labor numbers
3. Flexible clock-in/clock-out features
4. Overtime prevention
5. Easy-to-use ordertaking

"With the scheduling feature, I instantly began saving money by comparing the past eight-week sales reports with the labor for each day," says Edward Barski, owner of Philly's Phatties in Oaklyn, New Jersey. "I've also cut down on employees clocking too many hours when they're only scheduled for a certain amount. Phoenix's labor tracking really keeps my costs down by letting me know how many employees I need to schedule."

2 - Sales/Labor Report: The Magic Numbers
Your POS system should give you instant access to key reports, especially your sales and labor numbers. Phoenix POS has a labor vs. sales graph on the Manager's Home page, which gives you an instant glimpse of your labor costs in relation to your sales for any hour of the day. You can use the system's Web-based remote access feature to check this data on-site or at home, any time.

"The labor/sales report provides information that helps me fine-tune my labor percentage," says Brian Banick, co-owner of two Solos Pizza Café restaurants in suburban Minneapolis. "I can save anywhere from 2-1/2 to 3 hours a day. That adds up to thousands of dollars a year."

"Personally, I use the labor reports a lot," says Deborah McCowan, COO/CFO at Knorr Enterprises (the parent company to K Bar M Pizza Co., which owns six Pizza Huts in southwestern Illinois). "From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. is the lunch hour, and I know the labor percentage is higher. From 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., that labor percentage better be decreasing. If it's not, then I know something needs my attention."

3 - Employee Clock-in: Control Their Hours

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An employee time clock that prevents early clock-in is a must to slashing labor costs. "Phoenix's scheduling feature saves time and money, since we can prevent employees from clocking in too early based on parameters we set," says Todd Parent, president and CEO of Extreme Pizza in San Francisco, California.

Any POS system that helps you obey labor laws without costing you extra can also help. "In California, strict labor laws dictate that an employee has a paid 10-minute break after working a certain number of hours," says Jonathan Bailey of Mountain Mike's Pizza in Modesto, California. "With our old system, we'd have to track down the employees to make sure we weren't paying for extra-long breaks. But the Phoenix system automatically switches the employee to 'unpaid' status after 10 minutes. If an employee takes a 15-minute break, he doesn't get paid for those five minutes. It saves us time and money."

Phoenix can also help you ensure that you are following those labor laws by alerting employees and managers when breaks are required and restricting scheduling availability of minors.

4 - Keep Informed with Manager Alerts
A reliable POS system will have manager alerts that tell you when employees are approaching daily or weekly overtime–and notify you when they are late returning from a break. The Phoenix system will provide instant alerts on your Manager screen as well as send text-message or e-mail alerts to warn you of impending overtime.

5 - Save Money with Easy Training

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In a high-turnover industry like foodservice, training new employees can be costly. Your POS system should be easy to use and intuitive. Phoenix POS has a graphical interface and a "take-it-like-they-say-it" order flow, as well as integrated training videos and a special "training mode" to simplify training.

"Phoenix is so easy to use," says James King, owner of Big Island Pizza in Hilo, Hawaii. "After 10 minutes of training, employees are taking orders and being somewhat productive."

Learn more about slashing labor costs with Phoenix POS. Call 866-678-6781 or click here to book an online demo!