The recipe for overcoming restaurants’ toughest HR challenges

You didn’t get into the restaurant business to chase down timesheets or untangle tip payouts. You got into it for the food, the people, and the guests who keep coming back.

It’s generally known in the restaurant industry that employee turnover is constant, hiring needs shift quickly, and administrative paperwork can pile up fast. Your priority is delivering a great guest experience, so HR inefficiencies can quickly become a burden on your team. Without the right tools in place, creating a positive and productive environment among staff can be difficult.

Here are four of the biggest HR challenges our team hears about from clients, and how our restaurant clients say they’ve worked through them. 

Pain Point #1: Struggling to provide employees with a quick onboarding process

Onboarding can be a long and daunting process for a new employee. And when restaurant teams are already stretched thin, getting new hires trained and ready to work quickly becomes even more challenging. Without an efficient onboarding process, new hires may experience delays before their first shift, increasing the risk of turnover.

Guernsey Holdings knew of this challenge. As a Zaxby’s franchisee, the organization continues to grow rapidly. Initially having 20 restaurants in South Carolina, the company has now expanded operations into Georgia, Tennessee, and Mississippi. With this new development, Heidi Toms, HR Manager for the South Carolina locations, hires and onboards between 15 and 20 people a week.

“We need to move fast and get people working shifts as soon as possible, or they will just walk down the street and find roles with a competitor,” says Heidi. In the past, the onboarding process involved working with multiple systems. “New starters would complete onboarding forms in one tool, then we used another tool to download and transfer that data into our previous provider,” explains Heidi. “It was a long, convoluted process.”

The solution: Building a strong HR system to support employees

Guernsey Holdings was looking for a user-friendly system from a responsive provider. As their franchisee continued to grow, they needed a solution that would streamline onboarding and support continued growth.

Now, after Guernsey Holdings switched to Paylocity, they have been able to add the Onboarding module and eliminate additional work for incoming employees. "Our onboarding process is much simpler now," Heidi said. "New hires complete all the forms in the system, then I click one button to add their details into payroll. And the integration with E-Verify cuts manual work."

Pain Point #2:  Growing inefficiencies from manual and paper-based processes

Let's face it: Paper-based tasks like onboarding and performance reviews eat up your time, and managing them manually only adds to the workload.

You rely on seasonal staff to keep things moving. But with fresh faces coming through the door repeatedly, onboarding never really stops. And when those steps live on paper, things slip through the cracks. Work slows down, admin costs creep up, and your team spends more time chasing forms than doing the work that matters.

Home Run Inn, an iconic Chicago-based pizza restaurant, felt the stress of paper-based processes and couldn't keep track of all the information efficiently. Kelly Griffith, Talent Acquisition & Culture Manager, remembers when onboarding was entirely paper based after first joining the company at age 16. Now, more recently, Home Run Inn has been using separate systems to manage training, shift scheduling, background checks, and employee surveys. “During orientation, I would give out so many different login credentials to new hires,” explains Kelly. “Inevitably, people would forget usernames and passwords, and I spent a lot of time sorting out those issues.”

The solution: Designing a modern HR system

Once Home Run Inn replaced paperwork with digital processes and created customized orientation packets through Paylocity's Onboarding module for restaurant, manufacturing, and corporate roles, they were able to customize the employee experience for each new hire. Kelly said that Home Run Inn was able to add video messages from individual restaurant managers to ensure new starters know who to go to with questions.

Now, employees can find HR information, pay stubs, and time-off requests all in one place. Home Run Inn also uses the Recruiting module to connect with candidates via text message, giving the hiring team a faster and more effective way to engage potential new hires.

Pain Point #3: Poor employee retention and engagement

Today's workforce expects technology to be accessible from anywhere, especially on mobile devices. When HR tools aren't mobile friendly, employees can become frustrated, disengaged, and less connected to the organization.

Costa Vida and FatCats (Win Brands) is one example where their mobile accessibility was not a positive experience. Victoria Crowther, System and Benefits Manager, People Strategy Department, said their app could only be used on a desktop computer. This became an issue with tracking time off requests and terminations. It created challenges for managers trying to track requests, approvals, and employee information efficiently.

The solution: Mobile-first tools that enhance employee engagement

With Paylocity's Mobile App, managers can easily handle requests, review schedules, and complete tasks from anywhere. At Costa Vida and FatCats, employees also use the app to access their Employee Self-Service portal and check paystubs, request time off, and view any announcements posted through Community collaboration pages.

Victoria also mentioned that Community is used to post corporate communications along with restaurant managers sharing potential ideas and best practices with their peers. These tools help employees collaborate, stay informed, and build strong connections across locations.

Pain Point #4: Inflexible HR software creates frustration

Restaurant operations move quickly. Without flexible HR technology, managing complex schedules, employee turnover, varying pay rates, and a distributed workforce becomes increasingly difficult.

As a result, managers end up spending more time on administrative tasks, and employees face the challenge of accessing schedules, benefits, and HR information.

Rockham 5G, which runs several Five Guys locations, experienced several of these challenges with its previous HR system, including limited automation and labor-intensive administrative processes.

Shanda McCain, Benefits Administrator at Rockham 5G, noted how initially they had to manually calculate each employee's medical and dental plans to deduct from their pay, and if it was incorrect, they'd have to start the process all over.

The solution: Integrated systems and powerful analytics lead to smarter workforce planning

Paylocity was able to create a custom-built integration system for Rockham 5G that can pull employee hours and tip data directly from the Crunchtime timekeeping system through Paylocity's Payroll module, and this has eliminated hours of manual work.

The Learning module has also been useful when it comes to navigating the new platform. It has helped employees and managers adopt new tools, including E-Verify, with greater confidence.

In addition, the Data Insights module has provided Rockham 5G with real-time data to help understand turnover rates and labor costs to make smarter decisions when it comes to workforce strategy.

Transform your restaurant operations with smarter HR technology

After hearing from these HR leaders in the restaurant space, one thing stands out: Organizations that prioritize their employee experience create a stronger foundation for long-term success. From the front of the house to the back of the house, investing in your people drives better operations, stronger teams, and improved guest experiences.

When you focus on creating a seamless onboarding experience, reducing manual administrative work, and using workforce data to support retention and engagement, you empower employees to perform their best. The result is a more resilient restaurant that adapts, grows, and delivers consistent experiences to both staff and guests.

The most successful restaurants recognize that HR technology isn't about streamlining processes. It's about creating an environment where employees feel supported, connected, and valued throughout their journey with the organization. 

Because while technology helps restaurants operate more efficiently, it's the people and the culture they create that keep the business thriving.