Case Study: Blaze Pizza achieves 5x faster scheduling and streamlined staff communication with Fourth (HotSchedules)

Blaze Pizza - Customer Case Study

R&J Restaurants, a Southern California Blaze Pizza franchisee founded by Joseph Stein, operates a growing multi-unit group (12 locations) and was struggling with manual scheduling in Excel, inconsistent communication, and managers spending excessive time on administrative tasks. These inefficiencies made shift coverage, time-off requests, and staff coordination cumbersome.

By implementing HotSchedules integrated with NCR Aloha, R&J cut schedule-building time from about six hours to one, reduced manager headaches around shift swaps and time-off approvals, and improved staff accountability and coverage. In-app messaging streamlined communication across teams, freeing managers from back-office work and helping ensure the right people are scheduled at the right times.

Blaze Pizza

Joseph Stein

Owner and Founder