Restaurant operators are facing tighter margins than ever before, working to keep customers coming in, controlling costs, and retaining busy staff with fewer resources.
Original Roadhouse Grill, a Los Angeles, California-based casual family dining chain, has found the answer to those challenges in technology from JobApp Network, an end-to-end talent management solution.
JobApp’s automated web- and phone-based talent management system allows Original Roadhouse to easily meet the economic challenges restaurateurs face, says Linda Bryant, V.P. of Operations. “We’re under tremendous pressure in the restaurant industry; we’re all looking to lower costs. We have to look for ways to keep the American public, who are also under economic pressure, coming in to our restaurants.”
Hiring technology like JobApp allows busy restaurant managers to spend more time on the floor with customers — and less time on paperwork. “I wanted a platform to allow us to pretty much go paperless and save money on time and on paper,” said Bryant.
The results on operational efficiency with JobApp have been dramatic. Managers who spent one hour per new hire on paper now spend 10 minutes with JobApp, and applicant mistakes are caught by JobApp versus the manager.
Manager ease-of-use is another system feature Original Roadhouse appreciates about JobApp. “Our Director of Training loves it, because within a half-hour your people will know the system,” said Bryant. “With some systems, store managers normally have questions after the initial training when a new hire needs to be made. The online courses for new managers save our Training Dept. time. Managers have access to a refresher if they need it.”
Store managers appreciate the ability to manage their own job postings with location- and position-specific requirements. “This filters out unqualified candidates and brings us the pre-configured service-oriented candidates we want,” explained Bryant.
Assessments fit Original Roadhouse’s model due to managers’ ability to access candidates. “Unlike other systems that prevent managers from viewing candidates who may be qualified, but are flagged due to soft criteria, with JobApp our managers have access to all candidates that meet the hard criteria they have set up.”
Assessments are easy to use, too. “Because of the visual scale, graphs, and measurements, the managers can see — rather than having to read through – an entire assessment and they save a great deal of time.”
The transition to JobApp has been seamless, said Bryant. When talking with others in the industry she said they are saying, “It sounds too good to be true.”
About JobApp JobApp gives any company with a decentralized workforce what it needs to hire the best person for the right job, right now. You identify the top 20 percent of applicants at a glance, engage the best candidates quickly and, just as efficiently, you draw a bead on a new employee’s best next move within your company. But that’s only what the candidate and hiring manager might see. Behind the scenes, paperwork is eliminated from the entire process, from application (whether by phone or online,) background checks and assessments through onboarding and performance management. Hiring compliance? Done. Tax credit eligibility? Handled. Headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., JobApp is online at http://www.jobappnetwork.com/.