DoughCone Enjoying 'Made to Order' Integrated HR Through ADP Marketplace
The founder of DoughCone, an ADP Client, explains how he integrated RUN Powered by ADP®, as well as Homebase time and attendance, to run a better business.
Avneesh "Avi" Oberoi, founder of Houston-based DoughCone, has food prep baked into his genetic code: His family has a successful 70-year history in the highly competitive food and restaurant industry. With that, and a childhood dream of owning his own restaurant, Oberoi bid adieu to his tech world job and said hello to the dessert domain.
Since its soft launch in October 2016, DoughCone, with its 300-year-old recipe from eastern Europe, has been a smash hit in Houston, with long lines and great reviews. As Oberoi built his business, he found that payroll, along with time and attendance, were going to need to be a focus for him from an administration standpoint.
Oberoi initially asked family members for their "secret sauce" in the restaurant business. His mom, CFO of the family enterprise, told him that ADP played a key role in driving the business's smooth operation. Taking his mom's advice, Oberoi turned to RUN Powered by ADP® (payroll and HR for small business), and soon followed up by integrating a time and attendance solution, Homebase, via ADP Marketplace, which delivers turnkey solutions to HR professionals for workforce management.
"Payroll is so important," he says. "You want to make sure that you're doing right by your team, that you're setting things up the right way. But you also have a responsibility to ensure you're paying your taxes appropriately and everything is being withheld properly.
"We specialize in our special cones and ice cream. That's why people come to us. I thought, 'Why aren't we going to someone who specializes in payroll?'"
Integration is Key
Oberoi hasn't regretted choosing ADP. He notes that the RUN Powered by ADP® and the Homebase integration has delivered productive, valuable hours of the day back to his life.
"We're small now but we intend to grow," Oberoi adds. He hopes to franchise DoughCone as an expansion strategy. "We've got to make sure that we're setting a foundation for ourselves in the future. It doesn't matter the size of a business; you have to think ahead."
The RUN Powered by ADP® and Homebase integration allow DoughCone to take a necessary step to avoid a potentially huge headache later, Oberoi explains, as it adds contractors and employees while the business scales up.
Giving Time Back
Oberoi says that the integration process through ADP Marketplace was quick, with an auto-import of key payroll and organization HR data. He estimates that between the two applications, he saves around 80 percent of the time he used to spend on his off days to run payroll.
"I have more of my life back," he says. "We're so lucky to have a company like ADP taking care of everything."
Apart from delivering the required consistency on the payroll and scheduling fronts, ADP and Homebase are both very affordable and offer peace of mind — not just to Oberoi, but also to the firm's workforce — with direct deposit and remote scheduling.
DoughCone also takes advantage of the Homebase mobile option, useful for scheduling flexibility and messaging to employees when necessary.
"We live in a world where everyone has a smartphone," Oberoi says. For DoughCone team members, even if they don't have a smartphone, the business has an iPad on which it runs its point of sale system. Employees can use that to clock-in and clock-out. "The point is that you use it anytime, anywhere. When we put a schedule out the team gets a text and an email. They don't have to worry about coming to the truck to look at a paper schedule."
Putting More Focus on the Business
For Oberoi, the integration between RUN Powered by ADP® and Homebase has been "a dream come true," because he has all he needs in a one-stop shop. A few taps or clicks, and his needs are met.
"It's so critical with ADP that my time now is mainly spent taking care of my team, taking care of my guests and making sure that we are running the business the right way," he says. "Plus, the technology totally helps build morale and employee engagement."
As for endorsing the RUN Powered by ADP® and the Homebase integration available on ADP Marketplace, he'd tell other small business owners that there is nothing to really think about. It's a no-brainer.
"I'd tell them it's literally going to make their life easier at a phenomenal value," he says. "I'd also say 'You are welcome,' ahead of time, because their life is about to change."