Tableside Restaurant Group: How 10 Minutes a Day Saves One Operator Hours a Week

Managing multiple restaurants is no small feat. For Matt Passardi, COO, overseeing three locations means juggling labor budgets, optimizing schedules, and ensuring smooth operations—all while maintaining profitability. With HotSchedules, Matt and his team can proactively manage scheduling, which directly impacts their ability to drive profitability.

By spending just ten minutes a day in the HS reporting center, Matt saves hours each week, allowing him to focus on high-level strategic decisions instead of getting caught up in manual scheduling tasks.

Challenge

For multi-location restaurant operators, labor is one of the biggest challenges and expenses. At one location, Tableside initially tried a different software for scheduling. However, they quickly found that it lacked the depth of labor management capabilities needed for multi-location oversight. It didn’t provide real-time labor cost tracking, automated scheduling recommendations, or the scalability required to manage multiple restaurants effectively.

Some of the key challenges faced include:

• Lack of Centralized Oversight: With multiple locations, Matt had no way to quickly assess labor needs and scheduling conflicts across all restaurants.
• Inefficient Scheduling: Manually creating schedules led to errors, overstaffing, and last-minute changes that increased costs and frustration.
• Limited Labor Cost Visibility: Without real-time labor insights, controlling costs and optimizing payroll was an ongoing struggle.
• Communication Barriers: Staff had trouble coordinating shift swaps and time-off requests, which often required managerial intervention.

Solution

HotSchedules gave Matt and his team the data-driven tools needed to streamline operations and maximize efficiency:

• Proactive Scheduling for Profitability: By leveraging forecasting tools, Matt ensures labor costs align with expected sales, preventing unnecessary overtime and understaffing.
• Multi-Location Visibility: A centralized dashboard allows him to view labor costs, staffing levels, and scheduling conflicts across all locations in real time.
• Automated Scheduling: AI-driven labor optimization ensures schedules are built to reduce costs while maintaining coverage.
• Real-Time Communication: The mobile app allows employees to swap shifts, request time off, and receive instant updates, reducing scheduling conflicts and manager workload.
• Detailed Labor Reporting: Advanced reporting tools provide insights that help cut unnecessary overtime, reducing labor costs by up to 10%.

“With HotSchedules, I can get a quick snapshot of our labor costs and staffing levels across all locations in seconds. It gives me total control without micromanaging.” – Matt Passardi

This integration allows managers to make informed staffing decisions, preventing over- or under-scheduling and optimizing operational efficiency. 

Result

Since switching to HotSchedules, Tableside has seen significant operational improvements:

• Increased profitability: Optimized scheduling has improved profitability by 3%.
• Time Savings: Scheduling that once took several hours per week now takes just 10 minutes a day, freeing up over 10 hours per month for Matt.
• Higher Staff Satisfaction: Employee engagement improved as staff gained more control over their schedules, reducing turnover and increasing shift coverage.

“We’ve not only reduced our labor costs, but we’ve also created a better work-life balance for our staff, which keeps them happy and engaged.” – Matt Passardi

For restaurant operators managing multiple locations, having instant access to labor insights and automated scheduling tools isn’t just a convenience—it’s a necessity. HotSchedules has transformed the way Tableside operates, turning scheduling from a reactive task into a proactive profit-driver.