How Classic Burgers is saving hours every week on payroll

Abdul Hugais is the co-owner and founder of Classic Burgers, a quick-service restaurant specializing in made-to-order burgers. Located close to China Lake Navy Base in the small town of Inyokern, CA, Classic Burgers is a favorite among locals — and the many tourists and sailors who pass through also delight in the delicious burgers and friendly but speedy service. 

   

The family-run business has high standards when it comes to their beloved business. Every morning, they grind their own meat and only use fresh, local ingredients to bring their menu to life — and they apply the same level of diligence when selecting their point of sale (POS) partner. 

After years of using a different POS system, Abdul set out to find a system to meet their standards and the needs of their growing business. Classic Burgers switched over to Toast in 2020 and Abdul hasn’t looked back since. “Thank god we had Toast right before COVID hit,” he shared. “We were able to use delivery services, we were able to take online orders. We wouldn’t have been able to offer delivery or online services with our old POS system.”

But what really sets Toast apart for Abdul and his team is how dramatically his payroll workload has been reduced by implementing Toast Payroll & Team Management. 

Reducing the Administrative Burdens

Classic Burgers started off using Toast just as their point of sale system, but Abdul was still spending hours each week processing payroll with a bookkeeper. 

Abdul’s old payroll process will be familiar to many who manage a restaurant: “We would have to count the hours at the end of the week and I would either fax or email [the timesheets] to the bookkeeper,” he began. “A few days later, she would fax or email me back and I would go into work, write checks, and hand them to the employees. A lot of steps, a lot of processes, a lot of time,” said Abdul. 

He decided to add Toast Payroll & Team Management to streamline his operations, and processing payroll has been a breeze ever since. 

“It takes me a few minutes a week. Everything goes directly to my employees’ bank accounts so it’s just very simple and very easy,” he said.

Tip Calculation and Distribution Simplified

Like many restaurant owners, Abdul would often have to spend time reviewing timesheets and ensuring he had enough cash on hand to make sure the appropriate tips were paid to his employees. 

But 2020 presented unique challenges to the restaurant industry. Before switching to Toast, Classic Burgers only accepted cash tips, and pandemic-era restrictions meant that transactions began to skew sharply towards digital dining. That meant more credit card payments, as well as more credit card tips to deal with.

“Before Toast POS, we would only take cash tips,” he shared. “Now that we have Toast, we’re able to take credit card tips.” At first, he approached tip management manually: “I would print the Toast pooled tips sheet, give it to my employees, and [the employees] see how much they made and they would take it in cash,” he says.

But recently, Abdul went one step further in simplifying his payroll operations by adding Toast Tips Manager to save him even more time.

“I just go online, approve tips, and it’s sent directly to my employees’ bank account,” he shared. Simple as that. 

Toast Tips Manager has made it that much easier to distribute tips to the hardworking employees who earned them. Abdul no longer has to worry about cash shortages or making an extra trip to the ATM, as tips are automatically calculated and distributed to his employees paychecks.

"The way restaurant wages work in the U.S. means my employees rely on tips," said Abdul. "It's my responsibility to make sure they get those as accurately and quickly as possible, so having that happen in Toast POS and Toast Payroll is a huge advantage."

Saving Time to Invest Back Into The Business

Like most restaurant owners, Abdul has the energy and the drive to roll up his sleeves and tackle his daily neverending list of tasks. But he acknowledges that he can’t do it all, and that the biggest benefit to Toast’s suite of products is the time he gets back to focus on what matters. 

With Toast Payroll & Team Management, Abdul doesn’t have to be physically at the restaurant to run payroll or distribute tips. Classic Burgers has cut down the time spent managing tips by - 85% with Toast Tips Manager — and Abdul is saving hours a week that he can invest back into growing his business and his team. 

“If you want to save time and make it easy on yourself, then Toast Payroll and Tips Manager is the way,” says Abdul. 

And, perhaps most importantly, Abdul’s employees all have peace of mind that they’ll be paid accurately and on time thanks to Toast Tips Manager.