Love Your Horeca Life Again: Less Admin, More Hospitality with AAPI

Working in hospitality is a bit like being in a relationship.

There are the moments you absolutely love: a full terrace on a sunny afternoon, a restaurant buzzing with happy guests, a hotel running like clockwork or a team that somehow manages to nail a hectic Friday-night service.

And then there are… the other moments.

Someone calls in sick two hours before their shift. A student suddenly isn’t available. The planning changes for the fourth time today. Someone forgot to clock out. Payroll is approaching. And somewhere, hidden in an Excel file, WhatsApp conversation or pile of paperwork, is the information you urgently need.

Still feeling the #horeca LOVE?

Hospitality should be about people, not paperwork

Nobody starts a hospitality business because they have a passion for administration.

Hospitality entrepreneurs want to create experiences, welcome guests, build great teams and run a profitable business. But managing a flexible workforce can quickly become a business of its own.

Permanent employees, flexi-workers, students, temporary staff, changing availability, different contracts, last-minute absences and fluctuating customer demand all have to fit into one operational puzzle.

That is exactly where AAPI comes in.

AAPI brings staff management, shift planning, time tracking, contracting, payroll and reporting together in one digital environment.

Less jumping between systems.
Less manual administration.
Less monkey business.

And a lot more time for horeca.

A planning that moves as fast as your business

In hospitality, yesterday’s perfect schedule can be completely outdated by this afternoon.

Good shift planning therefore needs to be flexible.

With AAPI, managers can create and adjust schedules digitally, react to changing availability and manage last-minute replacements without rebuilding an entire planning spreadsheet.

Employees can access their schedules digitally, while managers maintain an overview of who is working, when they are working and what those shifts mean for the operation.

Because a planning should not be something you create once.

It should be something that works with you.

From working hours to accurate time tracking

Planning a shift is one thing. Knowing exactly how many hours were actually worked is another.

AAPI’s digital time tracking helps businesses register working hours accurately by allowing employees to clock in and out.

That creates greater transparency for employees and gives employers a reliable foundation for administration and payroll.

Especially in horeca, where working hours can change quickly and shifts don’t always end exactly when originally planned, accurate time registration can make a significant difference.

No discussions based on different versions of the truth.

Just better data.

Give your team the information they need

Staff management isn’t only about creating schedules.

It’s also about communication.

Employees want to know when they are working. They need access to contracts, payslips and other relevant documents. Managers want to communicate changes quickly without having to send the same information through five different channels.

With the AAPI employee app, this information is brought together digitally.

That means fewer messages asking:

“When do I start tomorrow?”

“Where can I find my contract?”

“Did the planning change?”

“Can someone send me my payslip?”

Your employees get more autonomy. Your managers get fewer interruptions.

That’s a relationship worth investing in.

Planning and payroll: better together

There is another relationship in hospitality that deserves some love:

planning and payroll.

When these processes operate separately, administration starts multiplying. Information has to be copied, checked, corrected and transferred from one system to another.

AAPI connects workforce planning with the processes that follow it, helping businesses reduce repetitive manual work and simplify payroll administration.

The result isn’t simply digitalisation for the sake of digitalisation.

It’s about creating a smoother operational flow from the moment an employee is scheduled until those working hours are processed.

Know what’s happening while it’s happening

Running a hospitality business purely on gut feeling becomes increasingly difficult as teams and operations grow.

Managers need visibility.

How many people are scheduled?
What are the labour costs?
Where are adjustments needed?
Are actual working hours matching the planning?

AAPI dashboards and reporting bring workforce information together so managers can make decisions based on what is happening in their business.

Not three months later.

Now.

And that matters in an industry where margins can disappear surprisingly quickly.

Fall back in love with horeca

Technology should never take the hospitality out of hospitality.

Quite the opposite.

The best technology removes the repetitive work surrounding your business, so you and your team can spend more time on the things humans are actually good at: welcoming people, solving problems, creating experiences and making customers want to come back.

That’s the idea behind AAPI’s #horeca LOVE life.

Because your relationship with horeca might occasionally be complicated.

But your staff planning doesn’t have to be.

Less planning stress. Less administration. Better staff management. More time for your guests.

Sounds like a pretty good match.

Ready to make a move?

Discover how AAPI can simplify your staff planning, time tracking and payroll processes and give your team more time to focus on hospitality.

AAPI – No More Monkey Business.

Tom De Pauw, a passionate hospitality entrepreneur… and his take on digitalisation.

Do we need to introduce Tom De Pauw? As managing director of AAPI and founder of Horecafocus, Tom has been the reference when it comes to personnel management for years. Tom is also a pioneer in the professionalisation and digitalisation of the hospitality industry in general. A fascinating interview with a passionate hospitality entrepreneur.

Tom, how do you look at digitalisation in the hospitality industry?

You have innovation, disruption on the one hand and recurring business on the other. You have the start-up and the spin-off that bring an innovative, and often disruptive product to the market. On the other hand, you have the long-standing economy with the big bombasts who collectively own 95% of the HR and Payroll market. It will therefore be important to see how innovatively both worlds will work together with only 1 goal in mind; the ultimate solution tailored to the hospitality entrepreneur to be profitable in a labour-intensive sector with the highest payroll costs.

The worst thing that can happen to the sector is that all the bombasts adopt all the innovative tools. I cannot be any clearer.

Perhaps I should also mention that the Federatie Horeca Vlaanderen and organisations like the B.R.A (Belgian Restaurant Association) have a big role to play. They too should qualitatively spread the message of ‘digitalisation’ and support the digital transformation through all kinds of training initiatives.

Yet we do see collaborations; AAPI works closely with Growzer, for example?

True, occasionally companies and/or start-ups find each other. These are companies with a common DNA, who want to strengthen each other and where there is a huge synergy. Growzer’s strong point is definitely digital ordering, stock management, smart menu engineering and their maximum cost control.

Moreover, there is obvious hospitality expertise in this package, which is where Frank de Meulder’s input has undoubtedly been very important and still is by the way. You have to be able to grasp the DNA of the sector, otherwise you can never solve the problems. Meanwhile, they have also brought in some big names like Otomat and Bavet, as early adopters, and that naturally attracts other entrepreneurs. With AAPI, we seamlessly link to Growzer, which allows us to give the entrepreneur a quick overview of their winners, runners, sleepers and…. sadly, losers from our AAPI dashboard.

Could you perhaps briefly outline what AAPI can do for an entrepreneur?

AAPI is the heartbeat of any business. Through the dashboard, you get real-time visibility into the health of your hospitality business. Every minute, we map out your costs and benefits and give you useful notifications via smart sensors, allowing you to make proactive adjustments in terms of your staff costs and F&B.

With AAPI, you make your planning efficiently and a hospitality entrepreneur automates his payroll calculation 100%. I sometimes refer to it as Belgium’s first digital social secretariat. AAPI links your personnel costs, fixed costs and F&B costs to your turnover via numerous links with social secretariats, accounting tools, cash suppliers and GROWZER.

There are obviously still some pain points in the industry, where do you see progress?

Cross-media and the fact that a lot of applications can now be controlled with the smartphone (both IOS and ANDROID) was a game changer. If we manage to give our tools a lifestyle sauce and make management fun, we will have more impact. From necessary evil to sexy.

Furthermore, AAPI and other tools also increasingly allow in-depth analysis based on big data, which can help run a business better.

Where does your personal ambition still lie Tom?

First, I want to achieve that the hospitality entrepreneur of tomorrow can focus 100% on his time, talent and money. Secondly, I want to connect. After all, collaborations between competing colleagues are crucial for the profitability of the hospitality entrepreneur. This ‘connecting’ also manifests itself in the fact that AAPI links with a lot of external packages and POS constructors such as Yuki, Growzer, Crewplanner, Lightspeed, Untill, Trivec, ….

Furthermore, I also want to continue raising awareness in the sector about the importance of digitalisation. Despite the fact that a lot of hospitality businesses are struggling to operate profitably, the time is ripe to invest in tools that can help them make their business profitable with less red tape as an extra motivator.

With AAPI, we offer a FULL CIRCLE insight into the cost structure of a hospitality business, with one login and with one dashboard. It should be and remain that simple.

Moreover, start-up also remains crucial. People need to learn how to work with it, so proper onboarding and guidance is incredibly important. Something that both we and Growzer have patently understood. We sometimes call it the FIGITAL approach, or physical support for digital transformation.

Finally, I no longer believe in the traditional approach of a social secretariat. Legislation is becoming increasingly complex. So I still strongly believe in focusing on one sector. Arranging the entire flow from data capture, to dashboarding, a link with the till and correct payroll, etc … from A to Z in the easiest possible way for the entrepreneur, that’s what I keep fighting for.

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The retail sector faces a number of challenges every day: staff management, complex schedules, smooth communication with employees… All these tasks can soon become time-consuming and distract retailers from their main objective: satisfying their customers. Fortunately, there are solutions to help you manage your operations. Here are five tips to optimise the productivity of your retail business and simplify your team management.

1. Streamline admin tasks

While admin is essential, it can rapidly become a source of frustration. Managing contracts, legal declarations, employee files… Paperwork soon takes over daily life. To lighten the load, invest in tools that automate these admin tasks. For example, signing contracts electronically reduces paperwork and avoids oversights. Choosing an automated solution means you can focus on what’s essential: providing your customers with a quality service.

2. Make scheduling simple

Timetabling in retail is often a real headache. It’s hard to keep track of everyone’s preferences and last-minute contingencies. Use a tool that takes account of availability and automatically allocates working hours. This not only saves time, but also optimises your team’s productivity by adapting schedules to customer flows. Smooth planning improves your shop’s overall organisation and means there’ll be no more endless compromises and tense smiles.

3. Empower your employees to manage their working hours

Giving employees the opportunity to manage their own working hours can provide great flexibility. By enabling them to indicate their availability or swap shifts, you reduce friction and improve their job satisfaction. Employees who can organise their own hours are often more motivated and committed, which results in better service for customers.

4. Plan for absences and ensure continuity of service

In retail, last-minute absences can have a direct impact on the customer experience. To avoid service disruption, it’s crucial to have an overview of everyone’s availability and be able to replace absent employees quickly. A management solution that suggests potential replacements when someone’s off work can be a real lifeline, enabling you to respond effectively and guarantee continuity of service.

5. Ensure rapid, centralised communication

Internal communication can soon become disjointed and inefficient with all the emails, messages and calls. Centralising interaction with employees on one platform is invaluable for improving clarity and responsiveness. A tool that enables you to share information in real time and immediately notify each team member of schedule changes or other essential information helps maintain a smooth and transparent workflow.

No one will be insisting they did in fact send a text, and there’ll be no more miscommunication.

Conclusion: Gain peace of mind with AAPI, the solution for your business

The retail sector is changing rapidly, and shops need to be able to adapt to these changes while optimising the management of their business. AAPI is now available for retail outlets and responds to these challenges in a targeted way by centralising all the essential functions on one interface. You’ll reduce the time you spend on admin tasks, make scheduling easier and improve communication with your team.

By choosing AAPI, you’re opting for productivity gains and a valuable ally in managing your shop. A super-tool at your fingertips! ‘Ace!’ I hear you say. Just like you.

The beginning of the year feels a bit like a giant Monday morning: you want to do well, but you don’t always know where to start. It’s the ideal time to lay the foundation for a productive and harmonious organization. By taking targeted actions, you can turn your team into a well-oiled machine (and a human one at that!). Below, you can find three practical tips to start the year off right and give your company a boost without pulling your hair out.

Why is employee well-being important?

A stressed employee is like an overheating computer: it never ends well. Employee well-being is crucial for productivity, efficiency, and overall performance of any organization. It not only promotes a healthy and happy work environment but can also lead to improved employee satisfaction and engagement.

Keeping employees enthusiastic and motivated helps increase their productivity and assists them in their work. They do the right things and are open to new challenges. They are more efficient and can develop new creative solutions.

Less stress, fewer sick days

Feeling overwhelmed or burnt out can lead to additional illnesses. Promoting mental health helps employees avoid stress and stay healthy, leading to fewer absences and better working conditions. Everyone can feel happy and want to be part of your company!

How to develop a work environment focused on well-being and productivity?

Step 1: Create a Supportive Company Culture

Prioritizing a positive company culture can have a significant impact on overall workplace well-being. Promoting values such as respect, inclusivity, and open communication can create a safe and pleasant work environment and reduce stress. Additionally, initiatives such as remote work, flexible hours, or mental health programs can help alleviate mental strain. And don’t forget: a genuine smile and some recognition cost less than a foosball table in the break room (although foosball is fun too).

Ensure your employees feel engaged

When employees feel fully engaged, they are generally happy, enjoy their job and organization, and feel valued by their employer. They are five times less likely to leave their job compared to employees who do not feel engaged.

To increase employee engagement, it is important to create an environment where they feel valued and supported. This can be achieved by regularly showing recognition and appreciation for their performance and contributions. Offering growth opportunities and professional development, such as training and workshops, can help employees further develop and improve their skills. This is further explained in step 3.

Additionally, it is essential to promote a good work-life balance and ensure a healthy and positive work environment. This can be done by offering flexible working hours, paying attention to employees’ mental well-being, and creating a culture of respect and inclusivity. By encouraging open communication and involving employees in decision-making processes, they feel more connected to the organization and are more motivated to contribute to its success.

Listen to your employees’ feedback

Actively listening to your employees’ feedback is crucial for creating an open and transparent work environment. When colleagues feel that their opinions are heard and valued, they are more likely to discuss any issues or new initiatives. This can lead to higher satisfaction and better collaboration within the team.

Additionally, feedback provides valuable insights that can help improve business processes and solve problems. By regularly organizing feedback sessions and promoting a culture of open communication, managers can better respond to the needs and expectations of their team members. It is important not only to listen but also to take action based on the feedback received. This shows that employees’ input is taken seriously and that their contributions truly impact the organization.

Step 2: Be a flexible employer through hybrid working

During the COVID-19 pandemic, employees consistently expressed their desire to have a say in where they work and what they do. Offer flexible working hours to retain the best staff. This can include remote workdays or flexible hours. Working from home is not for everyone; it strongly depends on personal preferences and home situations. Employees between the ages of 30 and 40 are more likely to work from home, as they often have young children. Employees over 55, according to research, prefer to be present in the office. Of course, it is also important to have a healthy balance between remote workdays and office days.

According to Nicholas Bloom, a professor at Stanford University, aspects such as mentorship, innovation, and company culture can be well-maintained if hybrid working is properly implemented, with employees working from home two or three days a week. His research in Europe showed that two days of remote work had no impact on employee performance over two evaluation years. Moreover, hybrid working improved overall workplace well-being and physical health, not only for employees but also for managers.

Use a planning tool to structure the work schedule and set priorities

To organize your team, there is nothing better than a good planning tool. It is like a GPS for your company: it tells you where to go, when to turn, and prevents you from getting stuck (or making endless calculations). It helps you deploy each employee correctly, reduce hourly costs per employee, maintain an overview, and improve your profitability. You can avoid inefficiencies and maximize your company’s profitability. Discover how AAPI can help to optimize staffing, contracting, tracking, payrolling, and planning

Step 3: Set clear KPIs and a development plan

Setting clear goals and KPIs not only helps measure performance but also gives employees a clear understanding of what is expected of them and generally reduces stress. This promotes motivation and engagement. Ensure that the KPIs align with business goals and are regularly evaluated and adjusted if necessary.

The way these KPIs are set is also important. Setting goals professionally is the same as deciding to go to the gym in January: it must be specific, achievable, and not contain unrealistic grandiose dreams. Use the SMART method (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound) to set KPIs that are truly attainable. Encourage employees to formulate these KPIs together, creating a sense of responsibility and addressing their specific needs, contributing to their professional growth, mental health, and overall team dynamics.

Invest in professional development

In addition to setting KPIs, it is also important to create a personal development plan annually. Creating a development plan is like taking inventory after the holidays: what is going well and what can we improve? Through this plan, you can enable employees to achieve their professional goals and further develop their skills. It provides a structured approach to growth and ensures that employees feel supported in their career path. Identify the strengths of your colleagues and the areas where a little extra support would be helpful. Then offer them appropriate training. They will not only become more skilled but also feel valued (and who doesn’t love a bit of recognition?).

Collaborating with professional organizations can be of great value in this regard. These organizations offer training and courses in HR, leadership, well-being, and other relevant topics. By leveraging their expertise, you can ensure that your employees have access to high-quality learning and development opportunities. This not only contributes to their personal growth but also strengthens overall performance and culture within your team.

In short, improving employee performance and mental well-being at work requires a thoughtful and holistic approach. By creating a supportive company culture, offering flexibility in work arrangements, and setting clear KPIs and development plans, you can foster an environment where employees feel valued and motivated. Investing in professional development and listening to your employees’ feedback are crucial steps to increase engagement and satisfaction. By implementing these strategies, you lay a strong foundation for a productive and harmonious year, where both employees and the organization can thrive.

“When your team grows, complexity grows too,” says Ruben Peeters, Head of CS at Moonbird. “Suddenly, you not only have to think about your product and your customers, but also about who works when, how to keep an overview, and how to keep everyone engaged.”

For this reason, Moonbird chose to collaborate with AAPI.

Through AAPI, personnel planning is managed centrally. Work schedules are clear for everyone, and administrative follow-up remains organized. This structure brings calm, without losing the flexibility that is so characteristic of a growing and innovative company.

In this way, two Belgian companies strengthen each other during a phase of rapid growth: Moonbird, which brings peace of mind to its users, and AAPI, which quietly ensures calm and organization within the team.