How Family-Run Bobe’s Pizza Grew their Five Locations with 7shifts

A secret family recipe

Dotted along the southern Illinois-Indiana border lie five pizzerias owned by three generations of family. Only Bobes are allowed to learn the secret recipe for Bobe’s Pizza dough, which Billy Bobe cooked up in 1954 after serving as a chef in the army. He brought in his teen brother, Larry, to manage their first location in Vincennes, IN.

Eventually, Larry opened up his own location in Lawrenceville, IL, and brought in his sons, Brad and Brett. Continuing the tradition, Brad and Brett went on to open their own locations in Olney and Mount Carmel. Like their father before them, Brett’s children grew up working in the family restaurant. Cody, Joe, and Allie opened the fifth location in Albion and now operate all the stores together.

We chatted with Allie Bobe, Owner/Manager, about managing almost 100 employees across five locations and keeping tradition alive while modernizing operations.

Problem

When the original Bobe’s Pizza launched in the ‘50s, writing schedules on pen and paper was the only option. But when the Bobes opened their fourth location in 2017, they reached a breaking point. Scheduling so many employees across different locations was complex and unmanageable. It took too much time to not only create schedules but also find coverage and keep track of everyone’s availability.

Finding a solution

The Bobes primarily were looking for a way to organize employee schedules online so that employees could access them from anywhere. Once they saw the additional features for team communication, time off requests, and submitting availability, they knew 7shifts would benefit their business.

There was no learning curve — they found the app easy to use and easy to train their managers on.

“7shifts was very easy to get started with. If you know how to work an iPhone, if you know how to work an app, it’s pretty self-explanatory. This is something that we have our managers use on a weekly basis as well, so teaching them and training them how to do it literally takes no more than 15 minutes,” says Allie.

Simpler, more accurate scheduling

Since Bobe’s Pizza employs many high school students, it’s important that they can check their schedules in the 7shifts app and get reminders of upcoming shifts. “It just eliminates that excuse that I didn’t know I was supposed to work today,” says Allie. “Overall I love 7shifts, most importantly, because I love the aspect that our employees can individually put in their time off and their availability settings.”

7shifts also makes it simple for managers to create schedules and make changes on the go. They can collect and see availability, make schedule templates, and select from common shift times. Bobe’s offers flexible scheduling as an employee perk, which 56% of restaurant employees rate as a top factor for their workplace satisfaction.

“I think that the fact that we can offer flexible scheduling and employees are able to have a schedule outside of work…that's been really great for retention,” says Allie. “A lot of our employees stay with us for two or three years at a time, which I just don't feel like happens a lot.”

With the average tenure of a restaurant employee at 110 days, Bobe’s employee retention is better than most.

7shifts helps Bobe’s managers make schedules more accurate too. Via an integration with Toast POS, they can pull in real-time sales and labor costs. Using that data, 7shifts automatically forecasts sales and labor projections so managers can schedule the right amount of coverage to hit their labor targets. Bobe’s managers also log in to 7shifts multiple times a day to track live labor percentages and make game-time decisions.

“Whenever our labor numbers are coming in high, the first thing that we do is go to our schedule…Where can we trim this and maximize the people that we have here at the time of day?” says Allie. “That's usually the first place we go when trying to figure out how can we improve our labor.”

Speeding up the onboarding process

7shifts handles employee onboarding by sending and storing documents. When the Bobe’s team hires a new employee, they can fill out government forms within the 7shifts app. Management can then review their forms and access them online later with Employee Doc Storage. They also host their employee handbook in 7shifts, so staff can read it and confirm receipt within the app or website.

“It has honestly made things so much easier, filing so much easier. Just the whole process, making sure it's getting done — from the tax information, the bank account information, our handbook. Honestly, I love that feature,” says Allie. ”It's one of my favorite features.”

A connected team

Traditionally, the Bobes’ main form of communication with their employees was a phone call. This practice was time-consuming because they could only call one person at a time and they didn’t always reach them.

With 7shifts, management can spread information rapidly. They can send announcements through the app about new specials and processes and see who has read them. Staff can also chat with each other and ask managers questions. The app’s Shift Pool lets employees take, swap, and offer shifts up for grabs. Since they’re a small business, change is constant, and they have to move quickly.

“So many business owners get so overwhelmed with how much there is to do, and I don't think it has to be like that. I just think it takes setting up processes, finding tools that help you,” says Allie. “7shifts checks a lot of those boxes of responsibilities as a business owner when it comes to scheduling, HR, communication. It provides a lot of relief for business owners.”

Making dough to grow

Since Allie has been visiting Bobe’s Pizzas since she was a kid, she’s seen generations of customers dine at their restaurants. Now that the grandkids manage the stores, they’re looking for ways to bring in new tools and stay current in 2025 while preserving the legacy of their grandfather and great-uncle.

7shifts has helped save the Bobes time on scheduling, onboarding, and team communication so they can take a step back to innovate. They can spend more time analyzing data and finding insights to improve business. They can focus on developing their managers who can then focus on coaching their team.

“Once we've started creating processes and using technology like 7shifts, that's really allowed us to open up ourselves in ways that are driving the business forward. That was a really important tool for us to bring on for us to grow,” says Allie. “I don't think we could have grown without it.”

Could they ever go back to those manual processes?

“No way. No way.”

Samantha Fung

I've taken orders at a drive-thru and a golf course. I've quit a Thai restaurant after 3 shifts. I've done marketing at a Tex-Mex franchise. Now I create content about the restaurant industry.