Millers Fish & Chips

Background

Millers Fish & Chips is a York-based, 4th generation family fish and chip shop that was established in 1940. Current co-owner Nick Miller explained how the business has continued to thrive throughout the years.

“Every generation we’ve been through has brought something new to Millers,” he told us. “For us, it’s all about sustainability and also moving forward with the times. Utilising modern technology to support the business is something we’re very passionate about.”

Nick’s work has paid off — Millers won Fish and Chip Shop of the Year at the prestigious National Fish and Chip Awards 2018, resulting in multiple television appearances and even a trip to Japan for Nick and the team to cook fish and chips for thousands of hungry patrons.

The challenge

Like many small businesses, Millers used to build rotas using Microsoft Excel — and it was all rather last minute.

“I built the rota on a Sunday night, and crossed my fingers that it was going to be the right rota for the week.”

The rota would then be accessible on a clipboard in the restaurant, often resulting in headaches and hassle whenever a shift had to be changed.

Nick and the team needed a more efficient way to manage the restaurant’s rotas.

The solution

The team tried several rota planning tools during their research, but soon decided that RotaCloud was the right option for their business.

“RotaCloud is so user-friendly — even for people who haven’t used anything like it before,” Operations Manager Mark Coaker told us. “I didn’t feel like I needed any training. I could log on, on my laptop or on my phone, and use it straight away — it’s that easy.”

Even though Millers hadn’t initially expected any direct cost savings from RotaCloud, they found the software had made a surprising impact.

“RotaCloud’s saving us money already,” Mark explained. “We were spending about 25% [of turnover] on our wage bill, now it’s down to 19%.”

The indirect savings were also significant, with the time spent on weekly rota management down from about 8 hours to around 1.5 hours. “I have time to do more things that benefit the business in a positive way,” Mark told us.

RotaCloud’s Time and Attendance add-on has given the business more visibility over attendance and lateness, as Mark explained.

“If you’ve someone who’s a culprit for frequently being late, we’ve got all the documentation on RotaCloud for us to say, ‘You’ve been late five minutes every single Thursday — why is that?’”

For co-owner Nick, this visibility has given him peace of mind when he’s not on site.

“If I’m not here — out of the country even — I can have a look at my smartphone and see who’s in for that day. I can make sure the business is safe, that the right amount of staff are on — and that they’ve actually turned up!”

With such wide-ranging benefits, RotaCloud has changed Millers for the better, helping them meet their ambitious goals and continue to flourish — perhaps for another 78 years!