Picture this, you’re a restaurant manager, constantly on your toes balancing a million tasks at once. Every day brings something new – unexpected absences, last-minute shift changes, and the constant juggle of making sure you have enough hands on deck to keep service running smoothly.
It’s a demanding role, to say the least, and sometimes it feels like you don’t even have a minute to think, let alone do all the back-end stuff that you know is keeping the workplace going.
But, what if you had access to ELLA, a 24/7 AI-enabled workforce management assistant that understands and assists with your restaurant’s goals and requirements?
Well, here’s what your day might look like…
8am – Checking the rota and planning the day
First things first: coffee. Never start my day without it, and never will. It is my fuel and the coffee beans here are seriously to die for.
I take my laptop, phone, and coffee to table number one. It is my productive table, where I like to get my work done while still having an eye on what’s happening on the floor.
What is the shape of the day? Are we fully booked? Do we have enough staff?
Before we invested in elementsuite and ELLA, I would have to click through different systems, look at manual schedules and double check WhatsApp messages for last minute shift swaps – and trust me, it was more hassle than it was worth.
But now, I simply type into my good friend, ELLA, and ask:
“ELLA, what does the shape of the day look like?”
In seconds, ELLA gives me a full breakdown – who’s in, any gaps in coverage, and any upcoming challenges I should be aware of. Now I know what I’m walking into, thanks to our AI-enabled workforce management assistant, keeping everything organised.
I also check if there are any outstanding holiday approvals from yesterday.
“Can you tell me if there are any holiday requests I need to approve?”
“Sure, John. You have three pending holiday requests:
– Marvin Jones: 15th of April – 20th of April
– Jemma Reynolds: 6th of April – 8th of April
– Jasdeep Singh: 7th of April – 15th of April
Would you like to accept these requests?”
I quickly accept them, ensuring no delays in payroll and adequate shift changes are recommended through the elementsuite scheduling platform.
9am – Finding cover
It’s barely 9am when I get the first challenge of the day.
A floor staff member has called in sick, and I need to find someone to cover – fast. This is what I mean by everyday has a new challenge as a restaurant manager.
But, everything is fine. No need to panic. Because now, rather than texting multiple people and waiting for responses, I ask:
“ELLA, who’s available to cover tonight’s shift in Tammy’s absence?”
ELLA checks the system, finds people who aren’t already maxed out on hours, and gives me a list.
“Hi John, looking at the schedule, aligning it with Working Time Directive, shift requirements and staff capability and availability, you can swap this shift with the following employees:
– Jack Poole
– Kiara Lumphey
– Michelle Jenkins”
With one tap, I give a few calls, to double check that they are still available.
Perfect, Kiara can come in tonight,
“Thanks, ELLA. Can you now please swap the shift with Kiara Lumphey, notify Kiara of the shift change, and mark Tammy absent for tonight?”
Phew, I can’t believe how easy that was. Within minutes, I’ve got the shift covered. No stress, no time wasted.
11am – Prepping for a big event
We’ve got a huge corporate booking coming up next week. One of the largest bookings to date. Fifty diners during peak service. And this means we’ll need to be fully staffed, highly efficient, and completely prepared to handle the pressure.
elementsuite’s workforce management tool has already notified me of the demand for labour supply that I will need. But, according to the scheduling app, I cannot schedule all my available and capable staff due to breaches of the Working Time Directive (WTD).
I need extra hands on deck, but agency staff are expensive. So, I need to tap into our own network first.
“ELLA, create a job post for extra floor staff based on our event needs and share into the internal newsfeed once I’ve approved.”
ELLA drafts a solid job post in seconds, making sure it ticks all the right boxes. It is even in our company tone of voice. Perfect.
After a quick double-check, I confirm the job post and ELLA automatically posts in our internal communications platform for the whole company to see.
“ELLA, can you also notify all staff of this post?”
“Sure, a notification has been sent to all company staff of your post.”
Thank you, ELLA. Now, my team can refer their friends, or staff from different teams or locations can apply if they want a little extra cash (and I can fill the gaps without breaking the bank).
Laptop down. It’s time to support my team as people are flooding in for lunch (and table one is booked for 11:15am). Something that once seemed like a luxury due to all the admin work that no one tells you will be the main part of your role when you become a restaurant manager.
2pm – Assembling my best team for the event
Just three hours since ELLA posted the internal job listing, and we have already had eight strong applications from staff from different locations.
Now I know who I can call if I am ever in the same situation. I will definitely be adding these applications to my talent pool.
But for now, I need to sort through these applications efficiently. We only need three additional staff on that shift, and I need to ensure we select candidates who can hit the ground running.
“ELLA, can you rank the applicants based on relevant experience, past performance, and large event experience?”
ELLA quickly provides a clear, ranked list with reasoning:
“I’ve ranked the applicants based on their previous experience with large-scale events and recent performance reviews. Priority has been given to team members who have consistently excelled in guest feedback, performance and have large event experience. Here’s the top three ranked:
- Jessica Green (Bar Staff) – Excellent guest feedback and extensive event experience.
- Alex Carter (Wait Staff) – Consistent high performance and extensive event experience.
- Sophie Brown (Wait Staff) – Strong performance and experience with large bookings.”
Perfect. I then ask ELLA to send offer letters to the successful candidates, add them to the schedule, and politely notify those who were unsuccessful.
3pm – Assembling my best team for the event
But now I need to set up my new hires for success and ensure that they are supported by my best people running the floor.
I have a few names that I tend to recycle as my new starter mentors. However, considering one of these team members is on leave and I’m focusing on becoming a more inclusive and fairer leader, I want to start giving other high-performing employees a chance to shine.
Without ELLA, this would have required me to go through peer-to-peer recognition shout outs, guest feedback, performance reviews and development plans. It would have taken me a whole day (or more), and just the thought of this, would have any restaurant manager put the task to the side.
But now, I have ELLA. So, I ask:
“ELLA, who are my top-performing waiting and bar staff [with 3x years of experience]?”
ELLA pulls up a report, highlighting my top performers based on performance ratings, guest feedback, and peer-to-peer recognition.
“Thanks, ELLA. Can you please assign them that shift and notify them of the changes.”
Voila, now I have all that covered, I don’t have to think about it again (and hope that everybody shows up). 
4pm – Prepping for the site’s performance review
Working in a multi-site restaurant group means each location undergoes a quarterly review, where we break down performance, spot trends, and plan ahead.
My meeting is in two days. We’ve been hitting our financial targets, but I know exactly what’s coming – the inevitable question: “Where can we cut costs?”
No matter how well things are going, there’s always pressure to optimise spending. Especially in the current economic climate that we are operating in at the moment.
Rather than scouring through reports at the last minute, I want to get ahead of the game.
“ELLA, show me the turnover rates from the last six months and break down the reasons for leaving.”
ELLA scans our leaver interviews and employee engagement data, pulling together trends in exit interviews, survey responses, and team feedback.
A report is pulled up instantly, no digging required.
“Can you please also break it down by team and shift patterns.”
Within seconds, ELLA generates a visual report, giving me a clear snapshot of where our biggest turnover costs are coming from. Now I can walk into that meeting armed with solutions to tweaking our talent management strategy to prevent further employee turnover costs.
Time to close my laptop, hand over to my colleague taking the lead on the night shift, and make sure they’re set up for success before I head out.
Why I can never work without ELLA again
In this industry, time is everything. With ELLA – our AI-enabled workforce management assistant supporting me with every HR query and initiative – I can focus on leading my team, keeping service smooth, and making sure we deliver a top-tier experience.
What used to take me three hours alone can now take me two minutes – at higher efficiency and accuracy, if I may say so myself.
With ELLA, I can finally be the people manager I have always aspired to be. I have more time to support my team and shape customer experiences – something that I never had enough time for before.
I still have the same challenges every restaurant manager faces. But with ELLA, I’m not stressing for answers – I get them instantly. And that makes all the difference.
Book a demo today to see how an AI-enabled workforce management assistant such as ELLA can help you gain back more time to be a hands-on people manager in your restaurant like me.
