In today’s world of coffee businesses, competition is relentlessly increasing, and managing and optimizing staff workflows are becoming key success factors.
B&B Coffee House, one of the most famous coffee house chains in Tashkent with more than 8 outlets and more than 200 employees, decided to join the clockster HR system in 2021.
Established in 2015, B&B Coffee House quickly gained popularity for its delicious cuisine, quality coffee and pleasant atmosphere. However, as the number of branches and employees increased, there was a need to improve staff management more efficiently to ensure a high level of service and customer satisfaction.
The joining of B&B Coffee House to clockster in 2021 was a landmark event both for this coffee house chain and for clockster in Uzbekistan. They were one of our first major clients to implement the clockster in their country. In this article we will look at how clockster has helped B&B Coffee House to optimize staff management, improve service quality and increase the efficiency of their branches.
The Way to clockster: The Evolution of Staff Management
This chapter will explore the process of implementing clockster’s staff management system at the B&B Coffee House chain, from their history of staff management to the solutions that have made clockster an integral part of their operations.
Manual timesheets in HoReCa: human factors issues
At first, as in many other coffee houses, B&B Coffee House had an old-fashioned manual attendance tracking system. Employees simply marked their arrivals and departures on the timesheet by hand, signing their name next to the entry.
“Of course, as it happens in life, there may have been some indulgences allowed when using a manual timesheet. After all, at the end of the day, we are all human beings. I myself started my career in the HoReCa industry, working as a waiter, then as an administrator and manager. So I had a good understanding of how it goes. That’s the nature of this industry.”
Zhakhongir Umarov, founder of B&B Coffee House chain of coffee shops, shares the problems of manual timesheets: “Basically, when attendance tracking processes are done manually, management has problems that we didn’t even realize we had. Why? Because in the morning, when you come to work and see that sales are small, or even none at all, you ask employees, “What happened, why so few customers?”. And the answer was usually standard: “There were just no customers.” After all, no one will admit that they were late for work. Even if there were enough clients, there was always an excuse ready.
The transition from manual timesheets to the clockster competitor and the challenges encountered
After a long period of using a manual attendance tracking system, B&B Coffee House decided to make the switch to an automated system (our competitor). This was an important step in improving their business operations, but as it turned out, it also came with a number of challenges.
“The first and perhaps most significant problem we encountered when using your competitors’ system was the difficulty of entering employee schedules and calendars. The process of entering this data was extremely inconvenient and time-consuming. And it was really inconvenient given the amount of information that needed to be entered.”
In addition, in this system, B&B Coffee House staff entered their arrival via a code. This provided some opportunities for manipulation and error, as one staff member could check in for another. This ambiguity became a noticeable problem.
“To solve this problem, a year later, we installed a fingerprint device. However, this system was not without its drawbacks. Sometimes the device failed to work, which created additional inconvenience and slowed down the attendance tracking process.”
Given the high staff turnover and employee turnover in the HoReCa industry, the problems with using the previous system became more apparent. Employees often did not pay attention to system failures and went to their workplaces without checking in. This forced B&B Coffee House management to spend time dealing with and correcting errors.
A move to another clockster competitor and new challenges
“Then we decided to switch to a different system, and we had another important detail that needed attention. The difference was how, in the second system, the shift times didn’t fit our needs.”
In this system (clockster’s competitor), a working shift was counted in the day from 12am to 12am. But one of the B&B Coffee House establishments was open until three o’clock in the morning. The requirements of the B&B Coffee House management were that the shift starting at 6:00 pm and ending at 3:00 am should be a single and continuous shift.
However, this system did not allow to set up such a shift without having to split it into several fragments, for example: from 18:00 to 00:00 and from 00:00 to 03:00. This caused misunderstandings.
“We have always held the principle that software should fit the needs of the business, not the other way around. Business should not adapt to the limitations of software. Effective software should facilitate and optimize business processes, not complicate them. That’s a key point for us.”
B&B Coffee House management is often faced with other solutions and products that are designed with the client side in mind, but do not sufficiently address the specifics of the restaurant business.
“When you have to do three times as many actions, you ask the question: “What good is this software?”. I mean, we’re doing all this to make it easier and less time-consuming. Not IT just for IT’s sake, but to increase business efficiency.”
Major Pains prior to clockster Implementation
According to Zhakhongir Umarov, speaking about ordinary restaurants that open at 10 or 11 in the morning, the probability that customers will come by that time may be minimal, because guests come to restaurants close to lunchtime.
“However, coffee shops have a special dynamic and our guests sometimes show up even before the workday starts. Sometimes people stop by the coffee shop before taking their kids to school. They arrive, grab coffee or breakfast, and then head to work.”
Even a small delay or early departure can seriously affect the reputation and long-term success of a coffee shop. For example, if a guest came several times and each time found the coffee shop closed, it could result in losing the customer altogether. Discipline and punctuality are important for customer satisfaction as well as for building a stable reputation for the establishment.
“In bringing up the topic of early departures, we’ve always told staff that if there aren’t many customers, they can start the cleaning process in order to be able to close the establishment on time. And in the past, on manual timesheets, employees could indicate that they left much later than they actually did, and that could cause confusion and loss of control.”
Another major problem that was present in B&B Coffee House before the implementation of clockster was attendance accounting and payroll. In each branch, each branch director spent 3 hours a week on this task. This was too much of a burden for the branch directors, who are loaded with a variety of responsibilities.
“It was unacceptable to me that branch directors, who incidentally receive the highest salaries, had to spend so much time on such routine tasks. Branch directors should be in the room, solving current problems and providing quality customer service, not spending hours counting employees’ marks.”
Loyalty, Efficiency and Convenience: Switching to clockster at B&B Coffee House
“I remember when your representative in Uzbekistan called me and offered to meet me. He told me, showed me all the advantages of the system. To be honest, I was skeptical. I tried other similar solutions, and nothing met my expectations. However, I decided to give the clockster a chance and just give it a try.”
Zhakhongir Umarov, founder of a chain of coffee shops, shares: “What surprised and pleased me about clockster from the very beginning was the opportunity to spend a test period. Many companies offer to sign a contract and pay for services immediately, but clockster gave us the opportunity to evaluate the system for some time for free. This loyalty on your part proved to be an important factor in our decision.”
“I was also impressed with the customer service at clockster. The managers were quick to respond to our inquiries and helped us solve a variety of problems. We’ve had difficulties with settings and questions about using the app, and the support staff is always on call and ready to help.”
At B&B Coffee House, one person is now responsible for keeping track of attendance and calculating payroll for all of the company’s branches. Previously, each branch administrator did this independently and spent up to three hours a week doing it. “With the clockster, we are saving 20 hours a week of our employees’ time.”
Importantly, the clockster provides the ability to control the location of the clock-ins & clock-outs. This means that a person cannot check in outside the work area, which provides additional discipline and reduces the possibility of late arrivals and early departures.
“We also noticed that we had fewer incidents of lateness thanks to the clockster, by about 10%! Employees realized that the system doesn’t tolerate irregularities and can affect their salary and career development. This has been an added incentive to be punctual.”
Additional clockster features at B&B Coffee House
clockster has proven to be not just a handy attendance tracking tool, but also a useful assistant in managing various processes. Let’s take a look at some of the additional functions that B&B Coffee House actively uses.
Storage of Electronic Documents
An important feature of clockster is the ability to store electronic documents such as medical certificates and employee photos.
“Previously, to provide the accounting department with the necessary documents, you had to print them out and get them to the office. Now everything is much simpler. The branch manager can easily make sure that the necessary documents are available and, if necessary, print them out. No late night phone calls or unnecessary worry – everything is at your fingertips and available at your convenience. Usually, this is not even required, as all documents are available electronically,” – founder of the coffee shop chain, Zhakhongir Umarov.
Birthday reminders
This clockster feature allows employees in large companies to always be aware of memorable events of their colleagues. It is not only a pleasant reminder, but also a way to create a warm and friendly atmosphere in the team.
List of Employees with Phone Numbers
clockster provides a handy list of employees with their phone numbers, as well as a list of those present on shift.
“The different staff lists have saved us a lot of time and effort as we can easily find the right person and contact them. This is especially important when we have many branches and we don’t always know who is on shift.”
Adaptation to the new system among staff
There are always some challenges when implementing any new system, and clockster was no exception.
“Our staff felt some trepidation, fearing possible errors and failures that could replicate the experience of previous systems. We spent a month working in parallel with paper marks and the clockster to make sure the new system was reliable.”
However, in the second month B&B Coffee House decided to completely switch to the clockster, doing away with paper time sheets. This decision was crucial for the management, as B&B Coffee House could not afford to spend a lot of branch directors’ time on manual accounting. Working in a HoReCa business, every minute counts, and the directors needed to be in the room rather than spending hours manually calculating employee salaries.
“At the beginning of the transition, there were small misunderstandings and some employees forgot to mark their presence in the system. We were tolerant and gave them a chance to correct mistakes. However, after two months, we made a strict rule: we work exclusively through clockster, and manual corrections are no longer accepted.”
Now the situation has stabilized, and B&B Coffee House started charging salaries based solely on data from clockster. This has saved management a significant amount of time and money. The joint work between clockster and B&B Coffee House is now efficient and beneficial for the business.
Conclusion and feedback from B&B Coffee House on their experience with clockster
“Since working with clockster, we have not only improved the management efficiency of our B&B Coffee House chain, but also significantly reduced costs. Month after month, clockster has demonstrated its value and return on investment for our business. We have seen that investing in this system is a long-term and profitable solution.”
Zhakhongir Umarov, founder of a chain of coffee shops, shares, “The price of implementing the clockster was more than affordable, especially considering all the benefits it brings. The experience with this system has been so positive that we are happy to recommend it to other entrepreneurs in Uzbekistan and beyond.”
clockster has become a reliable and indispensable tool for B&B Coffee House, allowing them to manage schedules more efficiently, track attendance, and improve staff discipline. B&B Coffee House also benefited from additional system features such as electronic document storage and employee information, making their work even more convenient and transparent.