How The Pantry Saves Time On Employee Rostering

An iconic hospitality business in Melbourne’s Bayside, Brighton’s The Pantry is a one-stop destination of style and excitement. Since throwing open its doors almost 30 years ago, The Pantry has evolved from a single corner café into a vibrant local hub, with a private event space, mouth-watering burgers, world-class sushi, and a brand-new pizzeria serving up award-winning pizza.

Before foundU, The Pantry used multiple platforms to manage their highly-casualised workforce. They wanted one system that combined payroll and human resources – a one-stop-shop that provided all the information they could need. That is when they came across foundU.

Selena Plessis, The Pantry’s Group People and Business Operations Manager, reports that foundU has enabled them to save time on employee rostering and onboarding.

A single source of truth

Across all its venues, The Pantry manages a reasonably sized workforce of 130 staff, with 90 of those staff casually employed.

Before implementing the foundU platform, The Pantry was using multiple platforms to manage its workforce. They wanted one system that combined payroll and human resources – a one-stop-shop that provided all the information they could need.

“We wanted an all-in-one package that operated as a single source of information,” Selena said.

“Things like award interpretation, knowing the costs of rostering – these were all added bonuses. Having a package that combined our payroll with HR, was the goal.”

Realising the benefits of the platform

After choosing foundU, The Pantry enjoyed a hassle-free implementation of the platform.

“Implementation was pretty smooth – foundU did most of the heavy lifting,” Selena said.

“We had a great representative who took all our information, uploaded it for us, and provided training on how to use the platform. It was up and running with very little transition period.”

Selena says the effectiveness of the rostering module convinced them they had made the right decision.

“Being able to know proactively what the cost of our rosters were, rather than looking at them retrospectively and realising what we could have done differently, was the thing that made us feel like we’d made the right decision,” Selena said.

Saving time on employee rostering and onboarding

Implementing foundU has enabled The Pantry to save time on employee rostering and onboarding.

“Having the employee app has been beneficial for the team, especially when it comes to inputting their availability,” Selena said.

“It’s reduced a lot of unnecessary communication between our employees and managers. There’s no need to spend time calling staff and checking availability – it’s all there in the one place.”

“As someone who works in human resources, it is also a very professional-looking package for onboarding. Enabling staff to upload all their information into the app, onboarding them into the business – it’s all a very professional look from my point of view.”

Selena also says that the ongoing support from the foundU customer success team has helped The Pantry get the most out of the platform.

“They are always quick to respond,” Selena said.

“I’ve gone to them before and there’s never been anything unresolved. If they can’t get to the bottom of something in an email, I’ll always receive a phone call or a link to a training video. We always get to learn things.”

Overall, everyone working at The Pantry is enjoying using the foundU platform and does not plan to switch anytime soon.

“foundU is as sophisticated as you need it to be but using it can be as simple as you want it to be,” Selena said.

“It is simple for our managers to use. It is simple for our staff to receive rosters and access payslips. But we love that it has the capability to be comprehensive – we love it.”

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