Kome Restaurant Group Cuts Labor Costs by 13% with 7shifts and Toast

Elizabeth Hyman started with Komé over 6 years ago as a General Manager and quickly became the Director of Operations for the Komé restaurant group. She shares how they've used both Toast and 7shifts to improve their operational efficiency, increase their revenue, and reduce their labor costs.

Growing Their Restaurant Group with Toast

Komé struggled with various POS systems in the past ten years, wanting to find a POS system that would help them scale their business. 

“Before Toast, it was a roller coaster of POS systems," says Elizabeth. "Our first POS system was antiquated and not user friendly. We then tried using a more reliable legacy POS system that couldn't support the amount of business we were doing. So we switched to a cloud-based iPad system, which crashed often, and getting help from support was frustrating and hard."

Komé searched for a POS system that could help them grow as they added more locations and as each location experienced more demand. "My friend owns a high-volume full service restaurant that's similar to Komé. Since she likes Toast, I tried it out there. Toast was easy to use, and I could access it anywhere so we moved all Komé locations to Toast," says Elizabeth. 

Using Toast, Komé has improved the guest experience while improving efficiencies. "Toast Go handhelds have cut our table turn times in half. Great service means getting that bowl of ramen out hot and fast because the noodles get soggy quickly," says Elizabeth. "We fill 22 seats in 10 minutes. The server just pops to each seat with a Toast Go to take an order and in real-time has the ticket go through to the kitchen. Within minutes, our server is able to bring out those bowls and then quickly take other orders.”

And Komé has been able to increase their revenue. “We save $1,500 a month just with Toast's software, not including all the other savings we're experiencing,” says Elizabeth. "Toast's online ordering with takeout brings in an additional $1,200 or more in revenue each month." 

Lowering Labor Costs with 7shifts & Toast

Komé needed to find additional ways to be efficient by keeping their operating costs low and improving profit margins. So, they turned to 7shifts, which offers a drag-and-drop schedule builder, built-in team communication tools, and robust reporting. “Our previous scheduling tool was basically a spreadsheet that had little functionality and was a nightmare to use,” says Elizabeth.

7shifts and Toast work together so restaurants can optimize their scheduling and reduce their labor costs in the process. In their first five months using 7shifts, Komé reduced their labor cost percentage by 13%, building labor-accurate schedules. And, their labor productivity increased by 7%—meaning that for every labor hour worked, they increased their earnings by 7%. 

With sales being pulled into 7shifts directly from Toast, managers can schedule based on their labor target and avoid over- or under-staffing their restaurant. “I have one store that has leaned on the labor budgeting tool more heavily recently, and they're seeing a difference,” says Elizabeth. “Their labor is coming down below the goal that we've set. It’s great because they're able to stay within their labor budget.”

“7shifts and Toast have changed the way that we schedule people. With Toast's sales data, 7shifts projects sales so you can better prepare for that business when building schedules,” says Elizabeth.

A Stronger Team with 7shifts

With many restaurants around the country feeling the labor crunch, Komé is always looking for ways to better retain their staff. "Treating people like family is at the heart of what we do. Family is not only guests to whom we want to provide a consistently great experience, but also our staff. Our staff is the reason that we're here, and we're doing so well because of how long they've been with us," says Elizabeth. "Our team communication makes us unique from our competitors on the operation side."

Komé found sharing, storing, and organizing daily shift notes difficult so they switched to using the 7shifts Manager Log Book. “I had to use HTML and CSS to create communication templates in Google Blogger, and every manager had to update their appropriate blogs for each location," says Elizabeth. "It's been a game changer to now have our manager communications all rolled into one tool with the 7shifts Manager Log Book. We use their team Announcements and messaging features.”

With sales and labor data being fed directly into Komé’s Manager Log Book, they make an average of 65 Manager Log Book entries daily between all locations. “The Manager Log Book is a huge tool we use since it fully integrates to sales and fully integrates to labor,” says Elizabeth. “That by itself is worth every penny I've spent on 7shifts. We know exactly what to expect this year by pulling the day up from last year, reading through the notes, looking at sales and labor, and seeing what we’re scheduling.”

Streamlining Operations with 7shifts' Toast Integration

Having 7shifts and Toast integrated has saved Komé time, money, and effort. “You don't have to hop back and forth between what's being sold in Toast and what your labor looks like—schedules versus actuals. 7shifts' Toast integration makes looking at a snapshot for the day, week, or month and for your store or all stores easier,” says Elizabeth. “It's cost-effective from an operational standpoint. It's user-friendly from a managerial standpoint. And from an ownership standpoint, it's worth the investment.”