How Little Italy Ristorante Turned Hours of Payroll Processing into Minutes

Family Pies

When Chuck and Janet Ward dropped by a grocery store on a long drive, they never imagined this pit stop would change the trajectory of their lives. But a four-hour conversation with the owner turned into a trip to the bank, and that same day they were the proud owners of Chuck's Little Giant in Groveport, OH.

Straight away, they embedded themselves into the community. Since they lived next to their business, they often sent customers home with handmade pasta and meatballs. When the opportunity came up to buy a pizza place down the street, it was a no-brainer.

Soon, a large grocery chain moved in, and they made the decision to convert their market into Little Italy Pizza. They passed the restaurant down to their son, Nick, in the early '80s.

Janet Ward pictured with her son, Nick, and grandson, Avery

Business ebbed and flowed for 40 years until Nick had a brain aneurysm in 2015. It left him with three options: go bankrupt, sell the business, or have his son, Avery, take over. Because legacy was a core part of the business, selling was out of the question. So Avery quit his 9 to 5 job at Apple to turn Little Italy into something bigger.

Problem

When Avery came back to the business, the restaurant was still operating with manual processes. He could only access reports on the outdated POS when he was physically at the store. They wrote the schedule on a printed spreadsheet against a clipboard.

Nick didn't grow up with technology and wasn't comfortable using it. But when business exploded during the pandemic, Avery had to work seven days a week to keep up. He worked open-to-close shifts half of the week, and his fiancée, Tiffany, covered the other half. He was missing all of life's important events, and he knew something had to change.

"I was burning that candle at both ends, right? Waking up every day, going to bed, and realizing that I'm missing important life events with my family," says Avery. "I realized you don't get a second chance at first-chance opportunities."

Little Italy Pizza in 2019

Since Avery came from a tech background, they upgraded their POS and adopted 7shifts for their scheduling software. They initially tried Square Payroll, then switched to Gusto for payroll because it integrated with 7shifts.

"It was a nightmare...It was a painstaking process. It usually took, on average, about four hours to do payroll," says Avery.

The system couldn't support employees who worked multiple roles with different wages, so Tiffany had to enter them manually. She spent hours logging tips, worked hours, paid time off, and sick leave. Employees were also confused where to find their pay stubs.

Solution

Payroll in minutes

Family is at the heart of Little Italy Ristorante, and this extends to treating customers and staff like kin. Avery knew how important it was to prioritize the employee experience. He began the search for a new payroll provider.

"Homebase, we had used them prior for our scheduling platform, but there's just a few nuances that I didn't really like about them. And also, they're not really restaurant-focused. So a lot of their reporting just didn't make sense for the numbers that we wanted to see," says Avery.

That's why they were excited when 7shifts, their team management software, added payroll to the platform. It automated payroll for employees with multiple pay rates. The software helped reduce their lengthy payroll process from hours to just a few minutes. Now, when managers confirm the timecards are accurate, Tiffany just clicks 'Submit payroll'.

"Since switching to 7shifts Payroll, our experience has drastically improved. The platform allows us to automate the entire payroll process with just one click. It seamlessly imports hours for multiple positions, calculates both cash and credit tips, and automatically manages paid time off and sick leave. This automation has reduced our payroll processing time from over three hours to just a few minutes, freeing up valuable time and resources," says Avery.

With 7shifts, they can run payroll as many times as they want—even for off-cycle runs. And they aren't charged for inactive or seasonal employees who don't work.

More than just time clocking

Another reason why the payroll process is so much faster is because staff punch in and out with 7shifts. Using geofencing and photo verification, the app ensures that only scheduled employees can clock in. Staff can approve or dispute their own time cards, so managers only need to scan for major inaccuracies.

7shifts Time Clocking lets the Little Italy managers track labor data and employee attendance against their schedule. It makes it easy for them to detect variances and keep labor costs in check.

"You want all of your systems to be in a unified, consolidated place and for employees to see everything from their schedule to communications...To see their time cards, to have the ability and autonomy to dispute their time cards and approve their own time cards. To seeing their pay stub information, estimated payroll, here's what your payroll is going to look like as of right now. Love that. And employees love that it's visible," says Avery.

An all-in-one platform

Since Little Italy is on The Works plan with 7shifts Payroll, they handle all of their team management within 7shifts.

"We use 7shifts for everything, from scheduling to announcements to payroll to log books...Our employees love it too. With 7shifts, all their needs—pay, scheduling, hours, and time off—are conveniently accessible in one platform. Employees can easily view their earnings on a daily basis and see how it translates to their paycheck, making the entire process seamless and transparent," says Avery.

A typical day with 7shifts might look like this:

1. Scheduling

In the platform, Little Italy managers create the schedule based on employees' digitally submitted availability. 7shifts forecasts their sales and labor projections based on real-time sales data from their integrated Toast POS. Employees can view the schedule, swap shifts, and request time off via the mobile app.

2. Team Communication

Managers send announcements to the whole team or to specific groups, like the people scheduled to work that day. Managers and employees also message team members directly in the app.

3. Time Clocking

Employees punch in to their scheduled shifts on an iPad that takes their picture for verification. Managers get alerts when employees are at risk of missing mandatory breaks or going into overtime. They then use punch audit reports to view edits to staff timesheets and track missed punches.

4. Manager Log Book

At the end of the night, managers document and share shift notes in the log book. They create follow-up tasks for other managers, like any equipment maintenance needed.

5. 7shifts Payroll

Every other Monday, managers confirm the timesheets are accurate so Tiffany can run payroll. The system syncs their punches to payroll and calculates taxes, PTO, and deductions. She tells Avery how much money to move to their payroll bank account. That's it—payroll is done!

Staff get a mobile notification that they got paid and they view their pay stubs in the app. They can add and update their banking information on mobile, as well.

"The 7shifts payroll suite has been a game-changer for us, significantly improving our efficiency and enhancing the employee experience. We highly recommend it to any restaurant looking to streamline their payroll process and provide a better experience for their team," says Avery.

Getting back time with the family

Gone are the seven-day workweeks and missed soccer games. Now, Avery can check in on the restaurant from home and access his team's information online. His managers focus on the day-to-day operations while he focuses on growth.

Since Avery took over Little Italy, their team has grown from 12 employees to 80+, and their sales are ten times higher. To keep up with demand, they moved to a much larger location that includes a full bar and a hand-dipped ice cream shop.

It's clear that the entrepreneurial spirit runs through the family. From Chuck and Janet's snap decision to buy a grocery store, to Avery's pivot from the corporate world to revamp the family business.

They have grand expansion plans for Little Italy Ristorante, starting with a new food truck to cater events and scope potential restaurant locations. They're in the process of turning the old grocery store into a coffee shop, all while Avery mentors other operators in a restaurant coaching program. Eventually, his goal is to make Little Italy an ESOP company, giving employees the opportunity to own shares in the restaurant.

For an operator on the go, juggling so many projects, he needs a tool that can keep up. 7shifts helps him work on the business, not in it.

"The systems that allow us to improve our business—they're inside of 7shifts."

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.