Reflections on 2024 and the Road Ahead for 2025: How EMenu Now is Solving Hospitality’s Staffing Crisis
2024 Reflections: A Year of Challenge, Change, and Triumph.
The hospitality industry faced a whirlwind of change in 2024. As consumer habits shifted, luxury hotel sales dropped by 10%. However, a more significant trend emerged — while people visited venues less frequently, they spent more when they did, valuing quality over quantity. This shift put operators in a challenging position, having to meet rising guest expectations with leaner, more agile teams.
Labour challenges were front and centre. According to UKHospitality, staff turnover in the sector hit an all-time high of 30%, with rising wages forcing operators to reduce headcount. For many, balancing labour efficiency with quality guest service felt like a losing battle. But not for everyone.
For EMenu Now, 2024 was a year of unprecedented growth.
Our revenue surged by 400% year-on-year, and our solutions are now at the heart of industry transformation. Our ability to modernise legacy till systems in a single day, without costly hardware replacements, has been a lifeline for operators facing tighter budgets. Any business can take an order and payment on any device making POS and payments more accessible with fewer card terminals required. Our new in-venue advertising partnership F&B brands has unlocked new revenue streams for operators — all while reducing paper, hardware, and food waste.
But perhaps our proudest achievement this year was helping venues thrive despite staffing shortages. Our work with Greene King and Red Dog Saloon showed just how transformative simple, scalable technology can be.
We dive into the detail below, case study here:
The Staffing Challenge: How EMenu Now is Turning Labour Churn into a Competitive Edge
If you ask any hospitality executive what keeps them up at night, they’ll likely say “staffing.” It’s no secret that hospitality has one of the highest employee turnover rates of any sector. The cost of recruiting, onboarding, and training each new employee can run into the thousands. And with wage pressures growing, operators have no choice but to rethink how they work.
This is where EMenu Now is leading the charge. Our POS and digital ordering systems are designed with simplicity at their core. Unlike traditional till systems that require weeks of training, EMenu Now empowers venues to operate with minimal front-of-house staff — and in some cases, none at all.
Case in Point: Greene King & Red Dog Saloon
In 2024, a Greene King pub sought to outsource its kitchen operations to Red Dog Saloon. The challenge? Operating the front-of-house with as few staff as possible. With EMenu Now, they achieved this with ease. Our system enabled Red Dog to run its service without dedicated front-of-house staff, instead relying on EMenu Now’s POS, self-ordering QR codes, dynamic upselling, and payment automation.
The result? Faster service, higher sales, and a smoother guest experience — all with a leaner, more efficient team. In fact, the venue’s capacity to serve guests didn’t just stay the same — it increased through using our QRs. Digital orders are now 100% higher than orders at the bar due to smart upsell prompts and impulse-driven offers.
This wasn’t just luck — it’s strategy. With fewer staff on the floor, Red Dog didn’t need to sacrifice customer service. Guests could browse menus, order, and pay — all from their phones.
The Business Case for Simplicity: Less Training, More Savings!
Hospitality’s high turnover rate is costly, and it’s not just the expense of hiring replacements. The real cost comes from training. Studies show that onboarding a new hire in hospitality takes an average of £1,200 per person. Multiply that by 10, 20, or 100 hires per year, and it’s easy to see how the numbers add up.
Traditional POS systems only make this worse. Complex interfaces, slow onboarding, and legacy systems drain time and money. But at EMenu Now, we believe the right POS should eliminate training altogether.
How? By creating a POS system so intuitive that staff can “learn by doing.” If an employee can operate a smartphone, they can operate EMenu Now.
Here’s how we do it:
Familiar, Mobile-First Design: Our system mimics the simplicity of apps like UberEats or Just Eat, so there’s zero learning curve.
On-the-Fly Upskilling: New hires can start taking orders on Day 1, with the system guiding them through each step.
Fewer Buttons, Faster Service: Our POS has only the essential features, with no clutter. This means faster checkouts, faster onboarding, and happier guests.
The cost savings are enormous. If a venue hires 10 new staff a year, saving just £1,200 per hire in onboarding time could net a total saving of £12,000 annually per location. Multiply that across multiple venues, and the financial benefits are clear.
2025: Smart, Lean, and Tech-Powered Growth
So, what’s next? The hospitality sector faces rising costs, labour shortages, and shifting guest expectations. But those challenges also present opportunities for the most agile businesses.
Looking ahead, the future of staffing is hybrid. This means balancing automation with human service. EMenu Now is perfectly placed to drive this shift.
Here’s how:
Contactless Guest Communication: In 2025, more venues will use tools like WhatsApp to engage guests. With EMenu Now’s WhatsApp integration, guests can browse menus, place orders, and ask questions instantly — all from their phones. No need for a large front-of-house team.
AI-Powered Chatbots: Allergies, wait times, and order status updates are the most common guest queries. In 2025, EMenu Now’s chatbot functionality will automatically handle these FAQs, reducing pressure on staff while improving the guest experience.
On-Demand Offers: Promotions like “Today Only” deals tap into the psychology of FOMO (fear of missing out). Our smart POS can display these offers at the top of menus, driving impulse orders and boosting average spend.
The goal? Working smarter, not harder. Pubs and restaurants are already doing more with less, and in 2025, the smartest operators will continue to shrink their labour costs while growing their revenue.
For hospitality operators looking to reduce costs, streamline labour, and increase revenue, EMenu Now is the smart choice. Our case studies prove that staffing challenges don’t have to be a bottleneck.
If you’re ready to turn staffing pain into profit, get in touch with EMenu Now today.
2025 will be about working smarter, not harder.
