ever they saw fit. Now we are giv- ing them guidance, ‘Based on your business, here’s what you should be scheduling by hour.’” Many bigger companies may be doing this already, he noted, but for Shake Shack, “this could be a game changer for us.” The new more-sophisticated system considers factors like each restaurant’s channel mix, whether delivery, drive thru, dine in, as well as the menu mix—certain items re- quire more labor to prepare than others, added Fogertey. “We’re also looking at peaks in the day,” she said. “Some of our restaurants operate pretty even throughout the day, but then we have restaurants that do very heavy lunch, or very heavy dinner. Those just have different staffing require- ments. So with time and motion study, we’ve put up a bespoke mod- el for each of our Shacks.” The technology is increasingly being mentioned in earnings calls and presentations, in fast casual but also other segments. Chipotle’s multi-year effort to speed throughput, for example, has also included a focus on labor de- ployment and getting “aces in plac- es,” as former CEO Brian Niccol used to say. Cava is testing a new labor mod- el that is expected to be in 75 restau- rants this fall with the hope of rolling it out systemwide next year. CEO Brett Schulman said the focus is on reallocating hours so team mem- For Shake Shack, Lynch argues that it’s going to be such operational tweaks that will grease the path for future sales growth.
PHOTO: ENVATO
bers are “in the right places at the right moments during their shift,” and prepping during down time. So far, the effort has also helped managers focus on coaching, rather than having to jump into position to fill line gaps at peak hours, he said. Sweetgreen CEO Jonathan Neman also hinted last month that the chain was working on labor de- ployment. “We’re working on some things around labor deployment that we think can help us, not just on hos- pitality and throughput, but also in terms of continuing to leverage that labor line,” he said during the com- pany’s second quarter earnings call in August. For Shake Shack, Lynch argues that it’s going to be such operational tweaks that will grease the path for future sales growth. For the June 26-ended second
quarter, Shake Shack grew same- store sales 4%, but that was large- ly a result of menu price increases. Traffic was down 0.8%. The chain also last week an- nounced the permanent closure of nine underperforming restau- rants in California, Texas and Ohio, which were the first the brand has shuttered for non-construction reasons. Lynch on Wednesday dismissed the impact of the closures, describ- ing the move as simple portfolio management. “That was just me coming in and saying, ‘Okay, you’ve never closed a restaurant before. Does that mean every restaurant we have is awe- some?’” said Lynch. “These were just nine that weren’t delivering on the financial performance we want- ed them to, and we didn’t see a path for getting them there.”
35
OCTOBER 2024 RESTAURANT BUSINESS
Powered by FlippingBook