86 Reason Ep13: How to Fix Hospitality Labor Compliance & Burnout - Anthony Presley

Great food isn't enough anymore. In today's competitive restaurant landscape, operational excellence separates thriving multi-unit operations from those constantly fighting fires, and the biggest battles aren't happening in the dining room. They're buried in scheduling chaos, compliance nightmares, and labor management issues that quietly destroy profitability and burn out your best managers.

In this episode of the 86 Reason Podcast, Anthony Presley, founder of Time Forge, reveals how he transformed his unconventional background, from hacking video games in Cairo to pioneering workforce solutions, into a system that saves multi-unit operators from costly compliance errors and excessive manager workloads.

🔥 What You'll Learn:

The Hidden Cost of the 80-Hour Manager
Discover why the restaurant industry's expectation that managers should be generalists working 80-hour weeks is destroying operations—and how to fix it.

Why His First Product Failed
Anthony built sophisticated automated scheduling technology... and nobody bought it. One restaurant owner's blunt rejection—"Anthony, I pay my managers to build schedules. I don't know why I'd also pay you"—exposed the industry's dangerous disconnect in valuing manager time.

From Cairo Hacker to Restaurant Tech Pioneer
How learning to program from an original Macintosh inventor and reverse-engineering video game copy protection built the systems thinking that revolutionized restaurant operations.

The Scheduling Crisis That Started It All
Why employees driving to work just to check their schedules in 2006 proved the restaurant industry was dramatically behind—and ripe for transformation.

Smart Funding Philosophy
Anthony's hard-earned wisdom: Money should only be "gasoline for the fire" to accelerate a proven business model, not to figure one out. Learn when to bootstrap and when to raise capital.

⏱️ Key Timestamps:

The Unexpected Origin of Tech Expertise: Learning from an original Mac inventor and how hacking copy protection built a systems mindset

The Industry Lag: Why driving to work just to check a shift schedule proved restaurants were ready for tech disruption

The Manager Burnout Trap: Why owners undervalue software that keeps managers from sifting through sticky notes and text messages

Focusing on Complexity: How Time Forge pivoted to solve compliance and HR issues for multi-state operators across hospitality and retail

Funding Philosophy: Why money should accelerate proven models, not figure them out

💡 Perfect For:
Multi-unit restaurant operators | Restaurant managers facing burnout | Hospitality business owners | Restaurant technology buyers | QSR and fast-casual operators | Anyone managing labor compliance across multiple states

🎧 More from 86 Reason Podcast:
Subscribe for candid conversations about the operational realities behind successful hospitality businesses—because every story teaches you something about People, Plates, & Profits.

📧 Contact Over Easy Office: Discover outsourced bookkeeping, AP processing, and inventory management solutions tailored for restaurants.
https://www.overeasyoffice.com/

Connect with Anthony Presley:
🌐 Time Forge: https://timeforge.com/

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