How Pressed Café saved over $500,000 annually using HotSchedules labor insights
Pressed Café is a high-volume, fast-growing restaurant brand with 11 locations, known for consistently busy dining rooms and large teams, making labor visibility critical to operating efficiently at scale. This case study features Mike Rogers, COO, who leads operations and growth initiatives across the Pressed Café footprint.
The Challenge
Pressed Café was not struggling to staff restaurants. The challenge was understanding where labor was being misallocated throughout the day.
With large teams and high guest demand, managers lacked clear visibility into how staffing levels shifted by daypart. Without that visibility, it was difficult to show where labor was drifting or to coach managers using objective data—without risking service quality.
They were dealing with:
- Limited visibility into labor spend by daypart
- Overstaffing before and after peak periods
- Difficulty clearly showing managers where labor was misaligned
- Missed opportunities to correct issues early
“All the data showed we were spending too much money leading into lunch, staying too heavy after lunch, and overstaffed at dinner — and HotSchedules gives us the visibility to manage that.”
Mike Rogers
COO
Pressed Café
The Results
After applying HotSchedules labor insights at a single location, Pressed Café saw measurable impact:
Over a 5% reduction in weekly labor spend
Approximately $500,000 in annual savings
Clearer, data-driven coaching conversations
Greater confidence in staffing decisions
Based on early results, Pressed Café identified the opportunity for seven-figure savings as this approach scales across locations.
Why HotSchedules
Pressed Café chose HotSchedules because it provided clear, intuitive insight into labor performance without adding operational complexity.
HotSchedules stood out for its ability to surface actionable labor data that managers could actually understand and use. With HotSchedules, the team could:
- View labor performance by daypart
- Compare staffing levels against real sales activity
- Coach managers using objective, shared data
Mike explained that the visibility changed the conversation immediately:
“Once managers could see it, the changes were obvious.”
Using labor insights to drive change
By reviewing labor insights in HotSchedules with general managers, Pressed Café was able to make targeted staffing adjustments—without cutting blindly or disrupting service.
Managers focused on:
- Reducing overstaffing during slower transitions
- Tightening coverage after peak periods
- Aligning staffing more closely with how restaurants actually operate throughout the day
This approach made labor conversations clearer and decisions easier to execute.
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