One System for Rostering, Stock and Reporting: Replacing Deputy and Restoke

Yes, one system can replace both Deputy and Restoke. Loaded covers the rostering, timeclock and Australian award compliance you'd use Deputy for, and the stock, recipe costing and supplier invoices you'd use Restoke for, then ties both to live POS sales so every venue's labour and cost of goods sit against the same revenue.

Plenty of hospitality groups in Australia run Deputy for their people and Restoke for their kitchen. Both do their half of the job. The trouble is that a venue isn't two halves. Wages, stock and sales move together every shift, and when they live in separate systems nobody sees the full picture until the month-end P&L, by which point the money's already gone.

Can one system replace both Deputy and Restoke?

For most multi-venue hospitality groups, yes. If you use Deputy for rostering, timesheets and award compliance, and Restoke for stock, ordering, invoices and recipe costing, an all-in-one hospitality back office covers both jobs in one platform, with one login for your managers and one set of numbers for the whole group.

The short version of who suits what:

• Deputy is a workforce tool used across many industries. It's built around rostering, time and attendance, and payroll, not stock or cost of goods.
• Restoke is a kitchen-first tool for food costing, inventory and supplier ordering. Rostering connects in from another system rather than being built in.
• Loaded is built only for hospitality and brings sales, labour, stock and reporting together, so you can run the whole back office from one place.

Why do hospitality groups end up running Deputy and Restoke side by side?

Because each one solves a different, real problem, and most groups buy them at different times. Rostering usually gets fixed first, because award rates and timesheets are a compliance headache. Stock comes later, once food costs start biting. A few years on, the group is running two systems that were never designed to talk to each other.

That works while you're small. Once you're running three or more venues, the gaps start to cost real money:

• Labour sits without context. Your roster tool knows what wages cost, but it doesn't know how your stock and margins moved on the same shift.
• Stock sits without labour. Your kitchen tool knows your food cost, but not whether the venue made money once wages are counted.
• Prime cost becomes a spreadsheet job. Someone exports from both systems, lines up the dates, and rebuilds prime cost by hand, usually weeks after the week in question.
• Managers juggle two apps. Two logins, two sets of training, and two places to look when something's off.
• You pay for both. Deputy is priced per team member and Restoke per site, so casual turnover and new venues push two bills up at once.

How do Deputy and Restoke compare to one connected system?

Here's how the two-system setup compares to Loaded on the jobs a multi-venue group needs done every week:

What you needDeputyRestokeLoadedRostering and timeclockYesConnects to a separate rostering toolYesAustralian award complianceYesNoYesStock, ordering and stocktakesNoYesYesRecipe and menu costingNoYesYesAI invoice processingNoYesYesDrinks sold by portion, no recipe neededNot applicableNo, every drink is built as a recipeYesLabour % split by food and beverageNoNoYesLive POS sales reconciled against labour and stockNoStock onlyYesGroup-wide labour and cost of goods in one viewLabour onlyCost of goods onlyYesHow it's pricedPer team memberPer sitePer venue, all workforce features includedOnboardingMostly self-serveMostly self-guidedAssigned onboarding team

For the detail on each, see Loaded vs Deputy and Loaded vs Restoke.

When might Deputy or Restoke still suit you?

If you only need one half of the job, a specialist tool can be enough. A single venue that just needs rosters and timesheets may be happy with Deputy alone, especially if the team already likes its staff app. A kitchen-led business with a central production kitchen, or one that wants food safety checklists inside its stock tool, may find Restoke covers what it needs.

The case for one system gets stronger the more venues you run. Once you're comparing sites, holding managers accountable for prime cost and trying to close the month without a spreadsheet marathon, two disconnected tools become the bottleneck.

What does switching from Deputy and Restoke to one system involve?

Less than most operators expect. With Loaded, you're assigned an onboarding manager who migrates your existing recipes and stock data, and the team can build your stock item list within 24 hours of receiving your last 90 days of supplier invoices. Your team, roster and award setup come across too, and most businesses are live within a few days.

A sensible order for a group:

• Connect your POS first, so sales are flowing before anything else changes.
• Move stock and recipes, using your recent invoices to rebuild current prices.
• Move rosters and timeclock at the start of a new pay cycle, so nothing overlaps.
• Switch off the old tools once a full pay cycle and stocktake have run cleanly.

How Loaded handles this

Loaded was built inside a hospitality group that still runs 12 venues, because we needed one view of every venue's sales, labour and cost of goods, calculated the same way. Managers roster against forecast sales with the wage cost in front of them, see labour as a percentage of food and beverage sales separately, and track stock, recipe costs and supplier invoices in the same platform. Every number reconciles back to your POS, for every venue in Australia and New Zealand, from one login.

Across new Loaded customers, labour and cost of goods margins improve by 8% on average. At Wall Group, Dane Wall's three-venue group, wage costs went from 50% to 33% of sales, and customer wait times improved at the same time.

Frequently asked questions

Does Loaded replace both Deputy and Restoke?

Yes. Loaded includes rostering, timeclock and Australian award compliance alongside stock, recipe and menu costing, supplier invoices and revenue reporting, so you can run your workforce and back office in one hospitality platform instead of two.

Can I bring my data over from Deputy and Restoke?

Yes. Your assigned onboarding manager migrates your existing recipes and stock data, and sets up your team and rosters, so everything is accurate from day one.

Does Loaded handle Australian award rates?

Yes. Loaded includes Australian award compliance as part of its rostering and timeclock, so wage costs reflect penalty rates and on-costs.

Does Loaded work with my POS?

Loaded integrates with major hospitality POS systems including Square, Lightspeed, Tevalis, Bepoz, Swiftpos, Idealpos, Impos, Ordermate, Dnero and Wizbang.

How long does it take to switch?

Most businesses are live within a few days, with the onboarding team handling the initial setup. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial, no credit card required.

Related guides

• Best Deputy Alternative for Hospitality Venues
• The Best Restoke Alternative for Hospitality Venues
• Restaurant Labour Cost Management: The Multi-Venue Operator's Guide
• Food Costing Software in Australia & NZ
• How to Track Prime Cost Across Multiple Venues