CASE STUDY
Lemon & Duke
A SUCCESS STORY
Hospitality
INDUSTRY
25+
EMPLOYEES
1
Location
2014
USER SINCE
Great food, tank beer, a unique draft range and incredible cocktails – wrapped up in stunning yet welcoming space in Dublin city. That’s Lemon & Duke.
We talked with Darren Costello, General Manager at Lemon & Duke, to see how they use Bizimply in their business.
SETTING UP BIZIMPLY
Lemon and Duke started using Bizimply after opening their doors in August 2016. They started off with estimated projections of sales, cost of labour and tried to work out rosters within an acceptable wage percentage.
They found this to be very time consuming and the manual process of doing these things on spreadsheets restricted growth in other areas of the business. As a new restaurant, this added to the pressure that was already present when opening up.
Darren admits; “had we set up Bizimply before we opened, it would have saved so much time and hassle”. He highly recommends restaurants set up Bizimply before opening; “using Bizimply can save you a lot of time, especially due to its simplicity, it is so easy to use”.
At the start the restaurant mainly used it for a wage percent calculator and to send emailed rosters, now they implement more features, using it for HR documents, any recorded staff issues and to comply with some staffing regulations like maximum hours, recorded breaks etc. We even store files on all required documents for staff online, like visas, work permits and any other necessary info.
The more you play around with Bizimply and get used to all of the features, the more you will get out of it.
Bizimply allows them to check the projected wage costs day by day to the actual cost and allows me to monitor the wage percent very closely; “If a week is looking like it may be under your target then you can pull it back in line” A true benefit is gaining this insight into the business.
The benefits
Bizimply is extremely useful for storing the necessary employee data; “we store most of our data on Bizimply due to how easy it is to use”.
Every night Darren and the managers do a shift synopsis to record how the day was, did we have enough staff on and most importantly to do a hand over to other managers. This gives them an insight as to whether they are managing the business well and looks at ways they can improve.
From a HR perspective; “Bizimply helps us keep everything in check”. Darren now stores the digital records of things like work visas, PPS numbers, commencement dates or medical records on files within employee’s profiles. “I love that you can record when people are late, document training sessions, log any issues and put notes on their files”. Making use of these features within Bizimply enable you to keep all important documents of employees in one location and ensure you stay compliant. “Being able to store and find these documents so quickly is very helpful, especially for inspectors or health and safety visits”.
Communications amongst staff improved profoundly in Lemon and Duke. Darren admits he finds everyone understands the business goals and values and they want to align with these; “it has also helped to improve both our employee and customers experiences in a positive way”. Using Bizimply is a very efficient way of getting a roster out to so many different people. There are times when Darren would have to amend the rota mid-week maybe due to increased bookings or other events in the area and it is very easy to send an updated roster to selected employees, you can even leave a note as to why there is a shift change which is really handy.
The wage percentage calculator is Darren’s favourite Bizimply feature; “One of the most important things I must do is keep the wage percent within a certain limit. I track the predicted costs, the actual costs and tweak the roster as a result”.
Darren feels relieved that he has access to the real-time information that Bizimply provide; “it helps me be proactive rather than reactive. It’s a massive benefit”.
Lemon and Duke has found one of the longer-term impacts of using Bizimply is the return value. He expresses; “all of our managers are happy using it so it just makes life easier.” He adds; “obviously, we want to deliver great customer service but that has to be done without overstaffing, it’s something Bizimply helps us to find the balance”.