Online Employee Scheduling for Restaurants at Schedulefly

Where the Heck is the Staff Phone List?!?!?!

2010-02-09T06:54:00.003-05:00

Last week I ate lunch at a new wings and rings restaurant nearby. I bellied up to the bar and ordered some wings and a Bud Light, and started chatting up the bartender.

It turns out the she's normally a night time bartender, but - get this - this place had been open only three days, and the daytime bartender didn't show up. No call. No communication. Nothing. She just didn't come to work. So guess what happened? The manager had to drop everything, find his phone list, and start calling every employee trained as a bartender - desperately hoping to find somebody who could work. He got lucky and found the nice young lady who took care of me.

Now this story isn't unique - it's probably happened to most people reading this, and it will happen again. However, until now restaurant communication was a problem, and it took lots of phone calls and voice mails to try to track somebody down. But had the manager used Schedulefly, he could have blasted a text and email to all bartenders with a single click - and asked who could come in. No phone calls. No voice mails. Just one click and everybody would instantly get notified of the fire drill. Easy and fast restaurant staff communication. Here's an example...

This could also be done from a Blackberry, iPhone, or any mobile web phone...

I was also curious why the person who was scheduled wasn't there. Maybe she wrote down the wrong schedule when she saw it posted at work. Or maybe she called to find out when she was working, and somebody told her the wrong day / time. Or maybe she just decided she didn't want to work there! Funny thing is, Schedulefly would have also helped with the first two scenarios. She would not have had to write down her schedule or call and find out - rather, her schedule would have been available at www.schedulefly.com and on Facebook and iGoogle. Oh, and it would have been texted and emailed to her as well. Point is, she definitely would have know she was supposed to be there, and a fire drill may have been avoided altogether.

Keepin' It Simple & Fun,

Wil @ Schedulefly

You Can't Spill Coffee on This...

2010-02-08T11:02:00.004-05:00

Most restaurants have a paper-based manager logbook in the back office. It's used to help managers communicate, assign tasks, schedule meetings, keep checklists, let the next manager know what time the beer delivery guy is this afternoon, etc. It’s a simple organizational tool that all managers use.

And for years the only option was pencil and paper and a book that had to stay at the restaurant. Coffee could be spilled on it. It could be lost. A recently fired manager could take it on his way out the door. Any number of things could happen to cause disruptions, confusion, and headaches.

Alas, no longer. Available from anywhere with Internet access (computer or mobile device), never lost or damaged, customizable - the list of benefits over paper-based books goes on and on. And of course Schedulefly's customers leverage "FlyNotes," our terribly simple, intuitive, customizable, web-based manager communication tool....

Click play to see it in action.

Keepin' It Simple & Fun,

Wil @ Schedulefly

The Hooters Team in Miami Loves Schedulefly!

2010-02-06T13:45:00.007-05:00

The Hooters in Doral Florida is ranked the #1 Hooters in the world. There are 90 very busy girls there and a management team that has to stay on the ball to keep work schedules fine-tuned and communication flowing. The staff enjoy the simplicity and ease of use of our web based software - they've even said we make it fun. They enjoy the convenience of checking their schedules and communicating with the other girls from anywhere. The girls at this particular Hooters are also some of our most active mobile users as well - trading shifts, posting wall messages and checking their schedules on the go - from their mobile devices. The GM there, Steve, has this to say about how our simple software is helping his business.

"Schedulefly is easy for me and fun for our girls. It saves me several hours of scheduling time per week. In addition, the girls love being able to receive their schedules via text message or their Facebook pages, as well as being able to trade shifts and request time off online or on the fly on their iPhones and Blackberries. And we have completely eliminated scheduling mis-reads. I highly recommend Schedulefly."

While making life for Steve and his management team easier, we've also managed to make it fun for all the girls. Check out what they had to say about Schedulefly...

Thanks for watching!

The Schedulefly Team

Three Guys And A Service

2010-01-31T07:54:00.010-05:00

We recently updated Schedulefly's "About Us" page so potential customers and partners could learn more about us, our philosophy and who we are here to serve. The page was getting wordy so I thought I'd cut some out and share it here in this post.

Our Philosophy
Lots of web businesses don't tell you who their people are. Or they attempt to seem bigger than they are. We, on the other hand, like transparency and we are proud to be small. We don't just say we like to keep it simple, we actually live and breath it. The business model that we have created allows us to keep our team lean and our overhead low. The less people and the less processes and the less stuff to decide on and manage - the better.

Who We Are
We're currently three guys in three different cities in N.C. (Wilmington, Raleigh, Charlotte). We mostly work out of our houses and coffee shops. Our web and database servers live in an impressive data center in Raleigh NC. We have some occasional contract help, but we don’t believe we'll ever have - or need - more than a handful of people around here. That's because we believe in the value - and beauty - of simplicity. We have a simple web-based service with a familiar interface - not too many screens and buttons and settings. We have only added the stuff that really matters - thoughtful features you'll actually use. In fact, you'll probably even have some fun! And because we keep things intuitive, simple, and easy we don't need many people to help take care of our customers. We don't have investors, so nobody is breathing down our necks to grow faster. Instead we grow one restaurant at a time, and we take great care of them, and they almost all renew every month.

Who Uses Our Product
We created Schedulefly for restaurants, and we keep a laser focus on helping restaurants. We mostly serve indies, groups, small chains, and franchisees. More importantly, we serve people who like to keep things simple - and fun! They don't want a lot of bells and whistles and layers and rules and regulations and buttons and settings. Our customers love Schedulefly mainly because its simple. Simple to deploy. Simple to use. Simple to get a new employee started. And fun for all involved. Our customers use words like "Love" and "Fun" - see for yourself.

Wil, Tyler and Wes
The Schedulefly Team

Quick Easy Above-Store Visibility & Communication

2010-01-29T15:39:00.002-05:00

We tried to make our multi-unit dashboard both simple and powerful. Easily check scheduled labor costs for any location. Blast emails and texts to all employees. And post important documents. All with - you guessed it - one...single...click. Check it out....

Keepin' It Simple & Fun,

Wil @ Schedulefly

Where Do Tens of Thousands from the Restaurant Community Come Together Online? The Schedulefly Network...

2010-01-26T12:39:00.003-05:00

The Schedulefly Network is available to every Schedulefly user. It’s a fun, simple place to share ideas, tips and best practices, ask questions about Schedulefly or about anything ("What's your favorite food?" was a recent post), and socialize. A quick screencast showing how folks are having fun - and getting significant value - on the Network.

Keepin' It Simple & Fun,

Wil @ Schedulefly

The Busines Web Theory - Will Business Apps Ever Be As Easy To Use As Consumer Apps?

2010-01-25T14:23:00.006-05:00

Some will, but since the requirements for building these two kinds of web applications are so different, they tend to move in different directions after the very first line of code is written. Consumer web apps are usually focused on people, ease of use and simplicity while Business web apps (especially Enterprise apps) are focused more on functionality, security, rules and tightly coupled integrations. It certainly seems like there is a trend to merge these two with the explosion of multi-tenant SaaS applications on the web (software as a service), but it's challenging to pull off and tough to sell. One of the challenges is changing the perception that simple hosted software is not going to help a business that is complicated. Complexity seems to need complexity.

In 2006 I attended Salesforce.com's Dreamforce event. In the keynote speech, Marc Benioff talked about his theory called the "Business Web" and the idea that business software like Salesforce.com should be as easy to use as consumer websites like eBay and Amazon. This theory is inspiring. Why are web apps used by consumers so easy to use while most business apps are so complicated? You can visit consumer web sites and get your personal business done quickly and easily - yet many business applications require roll out, on site technicians and training. Why can't business software be easy and intuitive like consumer software?

While writing this - I think back to a meeting my business partner Wil and I had with a prospect in early 2009. We flew across the country to demo Schedulefly to a prospect with a few hundred locations. We were excited for sure! We were anxious to show them how our product would make their lives easier and really simplify scheduling and communication with their thousands of staff. After seeing a demo of Schedulefly, the executives in the meeting looked at us and said: "It looks like a great product, but it seems like something is missing. It seems too easy." We were a tad caught off guard, yet smiled and asked what they thought was missing. Maybe our demo skipped over it or maybe we moved too fast. They could not answer the question. Later that evening over a beer, Wil and I high-fived at the thought of it seeming too easy. We didn't make the sale - but we were onto something.

A year later, I can think of a few reasons why that may have happened:

1. There was no discussion between us and their IT team about software installations, or a big roll out that would require time and training. There were no "documents" to pass out explaining complicated features related to security or governance or integration. Rolling it out to hundreds of locations would surely require many people, many hours, on site visits and lots of training right?

2. There were no busy looking screens with loads of data entry fields, check boxes, drop down boxes, complex rules etc. This is likely what they are used to using. Surely, to be useful to a complicated business, the software must look complicated and need lots of explanation right? How could it be so simple and help their business?

3. They were not already using inexpensive web based software to help run their business. The systems they had implemented to date were likely expensive, difficult to install, learn, use and maintain. Schedulefly was none of these things so it was not familiar.

I'm actually glad that meeting went the way it did. We were not right for this particular business and it actually had nothing to do with our size or their size. Even though our software would have added value and made their lives easier, they didn't feel it would because they perceived it to be too easy. They felt they needed more software. It was clear after that meeting and even more clear today that our software is not ideal for all restaurants and that's OK. We could make it more complicated and more automated and bigger, but we passionately believe that keeping it simple and laser focused makes it more reliable and will create a bunch of happy, loyal customers in the end. We like to think of our software as software for "The Business Web".

Are you using business software on the web yet? Let us know what you think and how it helps your business.

Wes @ Schedulefly

Share Wedding Pics with Schedulefly? I Thought Shutterfly did that…

2010-01-22T12:13:00.002-05:00

You can post pictures on your Schedulefly Message Wall, and here’s a fun example:

Keepin’ It Simple & Fun,

Wil @ Schedulefly

Altruism + Schedulefly = Haitian Relief

2010-01-21T15:36:00.003-05:00

I love this story. Empire Eats, a fantastic restaurant group in Raleigh, N.C. that runs some of the best and most popular restaurants in town, decided to donate profits from all locations this Tuesday to the Red Cross. Check out this quick clip on how they spread the word internally and externally with Schedulefly.

Got your own story about your restaurant’s Haitian relief efforts? We'd love for you to post it on this blog, or feel free to email it to me at wbrawley@schedulefly.com

Wil @ Schedulefly

Tired of Wasting Paper?

2010-01-19T07:49:00.005-05:00

Our customers don't need to print paper schedules – employees can check their work schedules on http://www.schedulefly.com, or while logged into Facebook, or on iGoogle or from their mobile device. Or they can just have their schedules emailed or text messaged right to them. So it's nice that so many restaurants can save a couple of pieces of paper every week by not posting a printed schedule.

But what's very cool is how they can literally save reams of paper, by storing all of their important documents on Schedulefly. Menu changes, training documents, HR documents, specials, prep lists, weekly specials, etc. The list goes on. Any document they would typically print and hand out to all employees can be stored on Schedulefly. Even better, you can view a list of employees that have downloaded the documents. Below is a snapshot of O'Leary's Schedulefly Documents tab (O'Leary's is a cool, fun Irish joint in St. Louis, MO: http://www.olearysrestaurant.com/). They have 39 documents posted on Schedulefly – and they never have to make copies for all of their 45 employees!

Keepin’ It Simple & Fun

Wil @ Schedulefly

A Cool Restaurant Foursquare Story

2010-01-15T10:15:00.010-05:00

So I was picking up lunch last week at one of my family's favorite lunch spots in Wilmington - a small local family owned place with fantastic food and really good service. While I was waiting at the hostess stand for our soup and sandwiches - I fired up Foursquare on my iPhone to see what businesses near me might pop up. The place I was standing in popped up. It's a small local favorite and usually has some older patrons so I was surprised they were a Foursquare venue. Old is cool - just sayin'.

Well, I tapped through to "check-in" and I noticed a guy had just checked in 12 minutes before me and was the only person who had ever checked in there. If fact, he was their Mayor! The place is very cozy and small so I quickly scanned the dining room and there he was,the mayor, having lunch with a friend. Not only was he the mayor, but he had also left a "tip" for others to "try the seafood bisque". I thought that was really cool. Of course I tried to see what was on his table and see if he was having his favorite meal - but realized I was staring and felt like a weirdo so I turned my attention back to my iPhone.

As I started to check-in myself, our food came out. The young girl who rang me up is the same girl who always rings me up - very nice, always smiling and seemed approachable so I started a conversation that went like this:

Me: "Did you know your restaurant is on Foursquare?"

Her: "What square?"

Me: "Foursquare - kinda like Twitter except it asks Where are you? It lets you see where your friends are right now and what they like there. It's way cooler for restaurants...and more fun."

Her: "Hmm...ok - so why are you asking?"

Me: "Well - your busy so I'll spare you details on what it is - but there is a guy here right now and I know his name and I know he comes here often and I even know his favorite soup but I have never seen him before in my life. He is sitting right over there. He is the mayor of your restaurant! I just thought you might like to know your mayor is present."

Her: "[smiling - laughing] Huh?"

Me: "Ok, Foursquare lets people like that guy "check-in" when they visit your restaurant. His friends see this and can learn more about why he loves your restaurant. People get points for checking in and the person who checks-in the most is your "mayor". It's like a game. It's cool for a restaurant because that guy can leave tips and to dos for others that visit your restaurant. In fact, he left a tip to try the seafood bisque and I'd love to try it. Can you change my french onion soup order to the bisque?"

Her: "Sure!"

I then showed her my iPhone and how I could see this guy was there - we looked at their venue page showing anyone who's been there recently, who is there now, the mayor's photo and tip he left about the seafood bisque. I could see her realizing how cool this was so she called the owner over and explained it to him. They kept nodding their heads like whoa - this is amazing - and thanked me for showing it to them. I paid and I left. As I was walking out I noticed the owner walk over to the mayor to talk to him. They were laughing and shaking hands. I suspect a free cup of seafood bisque was being poured soon after....

Restaurants - get on Foursquare, see who your loyal customers are, what they like and if they are there right now! You can also sign up as a business and post specials for your mayor and others who visit your restaurant frequently. The cool thing is that even if people are checking in next door at your competitor's venue - their phones will know they are near you - and your specials will pop up! Come on - really? How could you not try to persuade customers at other places close by to come visit you?

Here is some more info for businesses and (for good ideas) a listing of a ton of restaurant venue pages with specials they are offering loyal customers.
http://foursquare.com/businesses/

Off to check-in at the YMCA just to keep mayor status there. Funny - many people there much more deserving of that title than me.

Wes @ Schedulefly

Ditch Happens

2010-01-14T13:25:00.003-05:00

A customer called today and said she was so thankful to have Schedulefly, because it saves her from stopping what she is doing multiple times per day. You see, she no longer has to pick up the phone to have an employee tell her she needs somebody to pick up her shift because she got her car stuck in a ditch.

I copied her Schedulefly site activity report below. In one day alone last week, Heather approved six shift trade requests. It took her six clicks of a button on her laptop or perhaps from her Blackberry or iPhone (or any web-enabled device). No phone calls. And of course she did not have to field any calls from employees wanting to know when they are working either. That’s because her employees can see when they are working on Schedulefly’s web site. Or on Facebook. Or iGoogle. Or in their email inbox. Or as a text message on their cell phones.

Schedulefly eliminates the phone calls because, well, ditch happens!

Wil @ Schedulefly

Schedulefly + Facebook = More Sales for Your Restaurant

2010-01-08T11:48:00.002-05:00

Here’s a quick clip showing how to spread the word about discounts and specials to your staff and then virally through Facebook - all inside Schedulefly:

Keeping It Simple,

The Schedulefly Team

Tell ‘Em All At One Time

2010-01-05T20:06:00.003-05:00

Use Schedulefly to tell your staff, customers, and friends about your restaurant’s specials, discounts, and other news – all within a matter of seconds!

Keeping it simple,
The Schedulefly Team

Keepin' It Simple

2010-01-04T22:09:00.002-05:00

This bike is so simple. It has what a lot of people need. It is also missing a lot of things that other people need and that is clearly by design. It was built for a niche audience - and that audience appreciates its simplicity and ease of use.

At Schedulefly we also believe in the value - and beauty - of simplicity. Like most people, we are busy and juggling work and life and we just get worn out with anything that we have to think about or learn to use. We live for simplicity. Our product is simple. Our business model is simple. And every time we make a decision we focus on how to keep things .... you guessed it: simple.

Our customers love Schedulefly mainly because its simple. Simple to deploy. Simple to use. Simple to get a new employee started. And so on.

We love seeing other complex, daunting apps out there because the folks that want complexity and lots of bells and whistles and levers and layers and rules and buttons (I get worn out just thinking about that) need options.

For our part, we plan to keep things simple and be the option to folks who love simplicity.

Stay tuned for my upcoming posts on Easy, Intuitive, and Fun.

Wil at Schedulefly

New Mobile Site - Simple, Easy, Fast, Powerful

2009-12-16T21:17:00.010-05:00

We've just launched a NEW mobile site (http://m.schedulefly.com/) and wanted to share some details on our blog. The main enhancement was a redesign of the pages. We got too fancy with our first version. It either worked great or did not work at all - depended on the device's browser capabilities.

So we created a new site that is much more usable across devices, simpler, much faster and even easier to use. Since it is a site that you access from your mobile browser - we can deploy changes quickly and seamlessly. It just works better for everyone. The site will remember your login - so a bookmark of it puts you one click (or touch) away from your stuff.

While developing the new pages - we took the opportunity to add in a few new goodies. Here's what you can do now from your mobile device:

- View Today's Crib Sheet (Who is at work, daily notes and events)
- View Your Schedule, Offer up Shifts and Pickup Shifts
- Approve or Decline Shift Trade Requests
- Check and Post to Your Message Wall
- Read and Reply to Inbox Messages
- View Employee Directory and Contact Information
- Check Labor Costs against Sales Forecasts

Also - if you have more than one location and use the Schedulefly Dashboard - the mobile site will show you your locations and let you choose the one you'd like to visit.

Here are a few mobile screen shots.

Daily Crib Sheet	Pending Shift Trades
Multi-Unit Dashboard	Labor Cost Summary
Staff Contact Info	Message Wall

We would love to have you give our employee scheduling and communication software a free trial.

The Schedulefly Team

Introducing Quick Staff Updates - A Daily Stream Of Updates From Your Employees

2009-11-25T12:37:00.009-05:00

I'm not sure if Twitter realized what impact the question "What are You Doing?" would have on the world when they got started - but wow - it's changing the way humans communicate. That one simple question is getting answered every second now - and not just be your friends, but also by your colleagues and fellow employees.

That's right - it's now a question asked in many business applications like LinkedIn.com and Salesforce.com. It is actually a really a powerful question to ask in a private intranet application like Salesforce - since it's helpful to know what your co-workers are working on or what they are thinking about it. During his keynote speech last week at DreamForce, Marc Benioff (CEO of Salesfore.com) said it perfectly: "Why is that I know my friends are going to the movies tonight, but I had no idea that my VP of Sales is visiting our #1 customer today?" Good point.

We believe this question is also a good one to ask your staff at the restaurant - often. As scheduling manager or an owner or a fellow employee - it is helpful to know when someone is running late to work or when they just took a last minute reservation over the phone for 100 people tomorrow at lunch. These are not planned events, they are not things the schedule could ever know about - but they absolutely affect the restaurant's ability to run smoothly.

Quick Staff Updates is a simple new tool in Schedulefly integrated into our Message Wall and is like a private daily stream of updates from staff at your restaurant. The Message Wall has always been a super tool for broadcasting messages to staff - but quick, short, time sensitive messages can sometimes get lost in the middle of longer, more static wall posts and conversations.

The staff updates are short (140 characters or less), timely thoughts they are having while logged into Schedulefly and checking the schedule, requesting time off, approving shift trades, whatever. They keep management and staff informed on things going on at work and in their daily lives - things that are often affecting the business in some way.

Here are a few screen shots of Quick Status Updates - on the Schedulefly Home tab and our iPhone application.

We are happy to help our customers reap the huge benefits of improving communication. Just one more way we are making our customers’ lives easier.

The Schedulefly Team

Social Restaurant Scheduling with Schedulefly

2009-11-23T15:35:00.010-05:00

Let's face it: Software does not make good schedules. People do. Creating a staff schedule for the restaurant that satisfies owners, managers, staff and customers is not easy. Sure, availability and seniority are variables but so are unexpected life events affecting the staff, weather changes, personalities that no longer work well together, nightly reservations, expected business, loyal customer's favorite staff and on and on. In order to create that ideal schedule that makes the restaurant hum day in and day out takes effective communication tools and frequent input from everyone on the schedule.

I guess our point is this: We believe passionately that Scheduling effectively is a very social process and that is why we created Schedulefly. Since communication amongst the team is critical when creating (and changing) a schedule - you need a tool to bring everyone together to help. With Schedulefly, employees and managers not only sync up on availability - they also exchange messages and easily update each other with what they are doing outside of work that might affect the schedule. Managers frequently communicate new dinner specials, customer comments and new company policies via their Schedulefly Message Wall. Staff let people know when they need to pick up shifts – or when they need to give up shifts. They use profile pictures to easily get to know who their fellow employees are and visit those employee profiles to find contact information, work preferences and upcoming scheduled shifts. They can even select their “Favorite” employees to easily keep up with when they will be working together. We all know who you are working with this week is sometimes as important as when you are working!

Here is a shot of the home tab showing upcoming shifts, manager log entries (Fly Notes), new inbox messages, message wall posts, the weather forecast and more.

Here is a shot of daily status updates posted by staff - shown on the home tab as well. Always helpful to know what's on the mind of your staff when they log in.

Here is an employee profile showing contact information, upcoming shifts, links to fellow co-workers, a personal message wall, latest status update and more.

We would love to have you kick the tires and give every feature we have a test drive. We will only ride in the backseat if you want us to!

The Schedulefly Team

Tell Your Employees, Facebook Fans, and Twitter Followers About Specials & Discounts with Schedulefly

2009-11-16T20:56:00.003-05:00

We realized recently that when our restaurant customers need to tell their employees about specials and discounts, they broadcast messages on their Schedulefly Message Walls. Employees can log in and see the messages, and they can also receive them as texts and emails. Easy enough - and simple and fun at the same time.

But we got to thinking, and realized we should let our customers tell their Facebook fans and Twitter followers about those specials and discounts at the same time they are telling their employees. And, poof, it was done.

That's right - our customers post specials and discounts to their Facebook and Twitter pages while they are logged into Schedulefly. Even better, their employees become brand evangelists, and post those same specials to their personal Facebook and Twitter accounts, which exponentially increases the audience our customers are connecting with.

And like everything we do at Schedulefly, we made the process simple, easy, intuitive - and FUN!

Come on and give it a try. We would love to have you join our growing family.

The Schedulefly team

Restaurant Groups and Chains Don't Need To Buy or Build Intranets - They Can Just Use Schedulefly

2009-10-30T12:53:00.005-04:00

Many restaurant groups and chains are looking into Intranet options - they want portals to enable easy internal communication and access to important documents and information. They should look no further - Schedulefly is the leader in providing easy, simple, and powerful restaurant communications.

You see, Schedulefly isn't just a restaurant employee scheduling application. It is a powerful tool that enables restaurants to make both scheduling and communication easy and simple. For example, our multi-unit dashboard enables owners to blast a text message to all employees at all locations - with a single click.

It also enables owners, HR managers, Operations managers, etc. to post important documents to all locations' Schedulefly pages (see screen shot below) - and see real time which employees have read those documents! Want to post a new menu and text all employees with a note to view it ASAP - you can do it with one click! Oh, and by the way, if you'd like to see today's scheduled labor costs as a % of today's sales forecast at each location, you can do that to - once again, with a single click.

Here is a screen shot of our multi-unit dashboard - where your can post an important company message to all staff at all locations with one click.

Or upload an HR document to all locations with one click. A link to this new document will be added to each account's message wall too!

Hop into a particular location to see who has downloaded a company document.

Share photos and comments with staff on the company message wall - like this photo of a packed house on Friday night!

Want to improve your communications - and make employee scheduling easy and fun while you are at it? Sign up for a free 30-day trial today!

Schedulefly Team

What Would I Do Without Schedulefly?

2009-10-22T13:16:00.004-04:00

We love hearing customers tell us that they don't know what they would do without Schedulefly. They've ditched the paper and the pencil, or trashed their Excel scheduling worksheet, and moved their restaurant employee scheduling online. And now they don't now how they could ever go back. Kind of the same as how people who watch DVDs think about their old VHS cassettes! But the really neat part about Schedulefly is that it's not just the owners and managers who tell us that. The employees say the same! For example, we just got this email today:

"I have been an employee of the Dolce Group and absolutely love Schedulefly. But I have just started a new job with a large hotel corporation and want them to start using it. I am sending your website to the GM, but was wondering if you have any advice on how I can convince them to switch to using you. It is fine dining and very corporate."

When she starts her new job, she doesn't want to give up being able to have her work schedule sent to her as a text message. She doesn't want to go back to having to make 20 calls when she needs to find somebody to pick up one of her shifts. She doesn't want to go back to having to come in for a meeting because her manager isn't able to blast an email and text to all employees, to let them know an important announcement. And she doesn't want to have to go back writing all of her time off requests on the backs of tickets and receipts.

She wants to use Schedulefly - an easy, simple, intuitive - and FUN - tool that makers her life easier.

Restaurant Employees Have Fun with Schedulefly

2009-10-13T14:04:00.005-04:00

Schedulefly's customers like to have fun. They don't just use Schedulefly to help managers and employees save time dealing with work schedules. They use Schedulefly to build teamwork and camaraderie, and easily communicate in a simple, fun way. Managers and employees each have profile pictures to get to know each other. They can add each other as "Favorites" to easily see when their friends are working. They can even upload photos to the Message Wall.

Today's web-savvy, mobile workforce is accustomed to using fun, cool, easy tools to manage their lives outside of work, and stay connected with their friends. Schedulefly enables restaurant employees do the same as they manage their work lives. They stay connected, have fun, and enjoy their jobs even more!

Give Online Employee Scheduling and Communication at Schedulefly a free try today.

Drive Restaurant SEO with Schedulefly

2009-10-06T15:08:00.004-04:00

Like our Home page says, Schedulefly isn't just restaurant employee scheduling. It's a powerful restaurant employee scheduling & communication tool. And, yes, it can even help you drive better SEO results.

Jeff Gigante, owner of Ciccio Restaurant Group, uses this strategy with Schedulefly - creating "brand evangelists" out of his 350 employees. His staff are frequently discussing daily specials, menu changes and topics of interest to customers who dine with them - inside Schedulefly. Sharing these conversations with their Twitter followers drives more business and better SEO results at the same time!

Any Schedulefly user can link their Twitter account to their Schedulefly profile. When you write a message on your Schedulefly Message Wall that is also relevant to your customers (your followers), you have the option to Tweet the message as well. Twitter posts serve as micro blogs, which can help you drive better SEO results and start conversations with your customers. Owners, managers, and employees can post and share an update such as "(Your restaurant name) has karaoke night tonight. Come on in for singing and ½ price entrees!"

It is this easy...

When posting something relevant to staff and customers, simply check "Post to Twitter" checkbox...

Twitter Followers See...

The more of your team members who tweet customer relevant messages like this while in Schedulefly, the better SEO for you! Hopefully it will drive more business from local followers of your staff as well. Just one more way we are making our customers lives easier, and helping them build fun and successful restaurants.

Oh also - here is a Mashable post on some SEO tips for your Twitter...
http://mashable.com/2009/06/25/twitter-seo-tips/

The Schedulefly Team

Schedulefly Helps Create Sales Growth?

2009-10-05T16:23:00.001-04:00

Yep, that's what our customer said. We asked for a testimonial, and here's what we got from Jamie Guiliano, Owner, Aroma Thyme Bistro:

"At just about $1 per day, Schedulefly is one of the easiest decisions I have made for my restaurant. Schedulefly makes creating and managing staff schedules easy, it makes communicating with staff easy, and it frees me up to focus on driving sales growth!"

Because of Schedulefly, Jamie and the managers at Aroma Thyme Bistro earned all of the time it took every week to both create and manage the employee schedule, as well as the time and distractions that accompany important communications with their team. They now use all of those additional hours of time to focus on attracting and retaining customers. Not to mention, their employees' lives are easier because they get their schedules on the fly on their cell phones, input their time off requests online, and trade shifts with the click of a button. And of course happier employees are more engaged and focused on creating excellent guest experiences!

The Schedulefly Team