In the competitive restaurant industry, having enough staff can make or break success. Even for restaurants with a popular menu and high potential like our client Kona Grill, a lack of management and hourly employees can slow growth. Systems like CareerPlug’s hiring software can help put your business back on track and even help you grow.
Over the past few years, we have worked closely with Kona Grill to increase applicant flow and help facilitate staffing for new restaurants.
Kona Grill and Their Hiring Background
A quick background on Kona Grill. Kona Grill is an upscale casual restaurant serving American cuisine, sushi, and cocktails. Founded in 1998, the company has grown to 46 restaurants in 23 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Due to their quick growth, Kona Grill had a large hiring need. Their previous hiring software, PeopleMatter (now owned by Snag), however, failed to meet that need and Kona Grill struggled to make management and hourly hires. With their previous hiring platform, the company experienced a lack of applicant flow and had to pay to post to job boards, in addition to what they paid to PeopleMatter.
Kona Grill’s Hiring Needs
Kona Grill’s hiring needs boiled down to two essential items: increased applicant flow and reduced spending. The company needed to change their hiring strategy to get the management and hourly hires they needed. They knew they wanted to continue using a hiring software, but their future partner needed to show they could reach more potential applicants without Kona Grill having to dig deep into their budget. Kona Grill also knew the platform they used needed to have the hiring tools to reach their ideal candidates, tailor their job application to that group, and increase staffing across multiple locations.
A Hiring Software Solution for Kona Grill
With their rapid growth, we wanted to work with Kona Grill to give them the results they needed, fast. Within the first two years of the partnership, management hires have increased 45%. Kona Grill has enjoyed receiving 400% more applicants than their previous provider after switching to CareerPlug’s hiring software. Kona Grill attributes this to the customizable workflow and job templates, free job syndication, and personal account manager all offered by CareerPlug’s hiring system. They have found the mobile optimized platform and Spanish application option, a key edge in the restaurant industry, extremely useful as well. Through CareerPlug’s competitive pricing and offerings, Kona Grill was able to reduce spend while increasing applicant flow.
In addition to offering a strong hiring solution to Kona Grill, we have worked with the company to create a path for future success through customized reporting, allowing them to track metrics to continue to make improvements. While this mostly involves the product, our process helps to ensure clients like Kona Grill are in the best position to succeed. Our hiring software is supported through a dedicated account manager to help clients maximize and optimize their experience and a support team focused on uncovering answers to questions.
