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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    HotSchedules

    Score8 out of 10
    N/AHotSchedules is a cloud-based scheduling, labor and communication management software solution serving the restaurant and hospitality industry. According to the vendor, key benefits include: Build & Communicate Schedules The scheduling and labor management software reduces the time it takes managers to create and communicate schedules. All scheduling and employee information is stored in one central location, so managers have access to time-off requests,…

    $2

    per month per employee

    TouchBistro

    Score6 out of 10
    N/ATouchBistro is a complete mobile POS solution on the iPad for the restaurant industry. It allows users to manage reservations, view the menu, take orders and review sales reports with a few simple touches. Instead of servers repeatedly moving between customers and terminals for order management, servers can remain with customers and instantly submit orders to the kitchen and bar. Servers no longer need to write down an order and then enter it into a distant terminal. TouchBistro's single entry…

    $25

    per month

    Pricing
    HotSchedulesTouchBistro
    Editions & Modules
    Essentials
    $2
    per month per employee
    Plus
    $4
    per month per employee
    Quote-Based
    Quote-based pricing
    Gift Cards
    $25
    per month
    Online Ordering
    $50
    per month
    POS License
    $69
    per month
    Reservations
    $229
    per month
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    HotSchedulesTouchBistro
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    HotSchedulesTouchBistro
    Considered Both Products
    HotSchedules and Fourth
    No answer on this topic
    TouchBistro
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    88%
    Would buy again
    7 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    88%
    Delivers good value for the price
    7 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    88%
    Happy with the feature set
    7 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    88%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    7 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    63%
    Implementation went as expected
    5 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    HotSchedulesTouchBistro
    Small Businesses
    Jolt
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Lightspeed Restaurant
    Score9.9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Jolt
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Toast Point of Sale
    Score8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    HotSchedulesTouchBistro
    Likelihood to Recommend
    1.0
    (167 ratings)
    8.1
    (14 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    8.9
    (12 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.9
    (4 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    HotSchedulesTouchBistro
    Likelihood to Recommend
    HotSchedules and Fourth
    For small to medium-sized companies HotSchedules works great when business is very static. If you are simply using HotSchedules for a schedule writing tool, it is phenomenal. However, it does miss the mark as a labor control software. Needs more controls to keep managers aware of spending versus historical sales data.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    TouchBistro
    It's a tried and true system, over the years I have always had a great experience. Capturing sales is easy and it's extremely user friendly and easy to train staff on. While I have tried other systems and they have not been as easy or user friendly there are some more advanced technology and backend capabilities that TouchBistro could work on. Maybe just a little updating.
    Read full review
    Pros
    HotSchedules and Fourth
    • Communication is so simple on HotSchedules. Whether it is communicating a new schedule release, or a quick note about tonight's shift we as managers are able to easily communicate and know that it will reach our team through text notifications, or email notifications.
    • The Meal Break planning tool is very useful in being able to help our floor leaders clearly understand and plan for what breaks are needed throughout the shift. This allows them to come up with a strategic game plan quickly and spend more time with our guests.
    • Shift Swaps and Releases are so seamless. This is our favorite tool as it makes helping our team cover shifts extremely easy and painless. On the flip side it also makes staff who want more hours be able to find what is available in real time.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    TouchBistro
    • Allows the user to set up specific food modifiers that can be used on one or more menu items.
    • Displays the kitchen orders and tracks the time they were received and shows alerts when time is getting late
    • Reporting on staff hours and breaks taken.
    • Flexibility with different tax options.
    • Splitting checks multiple ways
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    HotSchedules and Fourth
    • Clocking In and out can be a little slow. It takes longer to clock in then our previous method. Before we just had a card you swiped and it would clock you in. Took 2 seconds. Now with the Hotschdules method we use it take 30 seconds or so. Not a huge issue but it can add up if you have one computer and a line of employees waiting to clock in.
    • Time Cards. It does not allow you to view someones current time until the "punch" has ended. If the manager would like to check what time the employee clocked in/out from lunch they have to wait until the employee has clocked out for the day before the record is generated. As a shift lead you may send and employee to lunch but forget to note what time you sent them. Awhile passes and you feel like they should be back by now, so you want to go in and see what time they left for lunch but it does not show you that punch record because the employee is still "clocked in" they are just on their "Meal Break"
    • The ability to customize the restrictions for Clocking in and out. You can set it up so that employees can only clock in from a specific location, however if you have a manager who is allowed to work from home they would not be able to clock in without being at the same location as set in the software. It would be nice to see it able to be customized per user.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    TouchBistro
    • One of my biggest (and only) issues with Touch Bistro is that it doesn’t integrate well with the credit card processing systems we use. Currently, we use Square and while the two systems do communicate, there are some instances, such as paying with gift cards, that take a few extra steps, which can be a pain when you have a long line of customers!
    • Because my credit card processing is separate from Touch Bistro there are a few things that are hard to track. Square does a great job of marketing and tracking the marketing, but it’s not accurate for me due to the fact that I use Touch Bistro as a POS and not Square.
    • I’d love for Touch Bistro to offer more marketing techniques that are easy to use.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    HotSchedules and Fourth
    Ease of use, efficiently creating and posting staff schedules.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    TouchBistro
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    HotSchedules and Fourth
    6 Years of Experience provides me the insight on the upgrades and changes that HotSchedules has done to improve the experience of its users. There are so many features that we still have not started or used to the fullest, but we believe that we are currently getting a strong value out of the money that is paid for this product.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    TouchBistro
    It's an incredibly easy system to navigate both from a management perspective as well as a service member perspective.Training, programming items and inventory, day to day sales, processing payments, gathering reports and data, gift card sales and processing (with the exception of online for us) is easy and seamless.
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    HotSchedules and Fourth
    On rare occasions a phone call has been required to find the solution to a problem, the HotSchedules response staff have been helpful, courteous, and genuinely seem to care for their clients and take pride in what they do. The consistent development and fine tuning of the platform, interface, and mobile environment shows that this is not a program full of people who rest on their laurels.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    TouchBistro
    First of all, I hardly ever need support for Touch Bistro, that’s how well it works. In the very instances over the years where I did need to call, customer support was easily accessible and fast and accurate with their responses
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    HotSchedules and Fourth
    I have not used any other Scheduling software for employees. As a campground manager in the summer season, we are using campground master for reservations. it is very similar in process to employee scheduling. the ability to the user of that program to set up their own parameters for time and reservations is something that would benefit the employee scheduling software.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    TouchBistro
    Harbortouch has a very robust POS system however it has issues that we do not seem to have with TouchBistro. One of the issues with Harbortouch is if the internet goes down, the credit card reader will not work and actually lock of the POS system causing extra customer wait times while their food is getting cold. TouchBistro's system will still capture the card info even when the internet is down and process it when the internet is working again
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    HotSchedules and Fourth
    • Saving time on scheduling means our managers can focus more on guest experience, managing the floor and other areas that contribute to the success of our business.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    TouchBistro
    • The software is easy to understand and use
    • We could not find a case for the iPads that would also fit the third party card reader so we went without. This resulted in card readers breaking off in the charging port rendering the iPad useless.
    • Reports were available in real time, so it was extremely easy to see sales and make quick decisions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    HotSchedules Screenshots

    Screenshot of Time-Off, Availability, Employee Hours, Sales Volume are all available in the scheduler.Screenshot of Employees are able to swap and pick-up shifts from the HotSchedules Mobile App. All shift changes or requests require a manager's approval.Screenshot of Managers and employees can communicate with each other from the mobile and web apps - from anywhere and at anytime.Screenshot of Employees can submit a time-off, request - paid, or unpaid - and can request to work or request off right from the mobile app.Screenshot of Managers can view sales and labor data from their phone.