How Finney’s Crafthouse Reduced Payroll Errors by 98%
and Enabled Its Director of Administration to Take Her First Vacation in 20 Years
Growing a 16-Location Restaurant Group Without Growing Administrative Overhead
As restaurant companies scale, administrative complexity often grows faster than revenue.
For Finney’s Crafthouse, a rapidly expanding restaurant group with 16 locations and nearly 1,000 employees, managing payroll, compliance, employee documentation, and administrative workflows was becoming increasingly difficult.
Rather than adding multiple domestic hires, Finney’s chose to build an offshore team in the Philippines through Elite Virtual Employment Solutions (EVES).
The results were transformative.
Today, three dedicated EVES professionals support payroll administration, compliance tracking, employee onboarding documentation, reporting, and other back-office functions. Their work has helped reduce payroll errors by 98%, improve operational efficiency, and create a scalable infrastructure that supports Finney’s continued growth.
The Challenge: Growth Was Outpacing Administrative Capacity
Founded in 2016 by Greg Finefrock, Finney’s Crafthouse has experienced rapid growth, expanding to 16 restaurants within a decade. Two additional Las Vegas locations are scheduled to open in the coming months.
With nearly 1,000 employees across the organization, administrative demands increased significantly.
Prior to working with EVES, Finney’s Director of Administration Sandra Castro was personally handling responsibilities that would eventually be divided among three dedicated support professionals. In addition to her leadership responsibilities, she was manually reviewing payroll, collecting employee documentation, processing final paychecks, managing compliance requirements, and supporting numerous administrative functions.
“Monthly form collection alone was literally another full-time job,” Sandra recalls.
At the same time, Finney’s was utilizing Aloha POS, a point-of-sale platform Sandra affectionately refers to as “the dinosaur of the industry.” While Aloha provides significant cost savings by allowing Finney’s to use its own credit card processor, it lacks many of the automated labor compliance tools available in newer systems.
As a result, critical payroll and labor compliance checks had to be performed manually.
The company needed a solution that could keep pace with growth without sacrificing accuracy, compliance, or profitability.
The Solution: Building a Dedicated EVES Support Team
Finney’s was introduced to EVES through its accounting advisory partner, RRFMG.
While Controller Steve Wilson was seeking accounting support, Sandra needed administrative assistance. Following the referral from RRFMG, they explored how EVES could provide dedicated team members to handle many of the time-consuming operational tasks consuming leadership bandwidth.
Today, Sandra works with three full-time EVES professionals, who function as an extension of the Finney’s administrative team:
Today, Sandra works with three full-time EVES professionals, who function as an extension of the Finney’s administrative team:
- Michelle
- Lenny
- Joanne
Unlike traditional outsourcing arrangements, each team member is dedicated to Finney’s and deeply familiar with the company’s processes, systems, and culture. Together, they support payroll processing, compliance management, employee documentation, reporting, billing support, and numerous administrative functions across all Finney’s locations.
Payroll Processing and Quality Control
Every pay period, the EVES team meticulously reviews employee timecards, identifying issues that could lead to payroll inaccuracies or compliance concerns, including:
- Missed or improper meal and rest breaks
- System-generated clock-out errors
- Overtime discrepancies
- Labor compliance concerns
Because Finney’s uses Aloha POS, which lacks many modern labor compliance features found in competitive systems, the EVES team fills critical reporting and monitoring gaps through proactive review processes.
Administrative and Compliance Support
The EVES team also manages the collection and tracking of employee documentation through DocuSign.
With nearly 1,000 employees across 16 locations, maintaining compliance could easily become overwhelming. Instead, EVES staff members provide daily follow-up communications, generate reporting, and ensure documentation requirements are completed on schedule.
They also assist with processing approximately 50 final paychecks every two weeks, helping ensure compliance with California’s strict wage payment requirements.
For a workforce approaching 1,000 employees, these responsibilities represent a substantial administrative burden that no longer falls solely on internal management.
Payroll Errors Reduced by 98%!
The most immediate impact was a dramatic improvement in payroll accuracy.
By introducing multiple layers of review and proactive issue identification, payroll mistakes became increasingly rare.
“Payroll errors have been all but eliminated, and now we rarely talk about mistakes,” Sandra says.
Overall, Finney’s estimates that payroll errors have been reduced by approximately 98%.
Significant Labor Cost Savings
The EVES team routinely identifies payroll system anomalies that could otherwise result in unnecessary labor expenses.
Examples include:
- Incorrect overtime calculations
- Automated clock-out errors
- Missed manager corrections
- Timecard discrepancies
These corrections help Finney’s avoid overpayments while maintaining accurate employee compensation and labor reporting.
Reduced Compliance Risk
California labor laws create significant liability exposure for employers that fail to properly issue final wages when employees separate from the company.
The EVES team now helps process approximately 50 final checks every two weeks while maintaining consistent compliance procedures. Prior to their involvement, this required substantial internal administrative effort.
As a result, Sandra says: “Now we never worry that ex-employees are going to claim they didn’t get paid their final wages on time.”
Operational Freedom and Business Continuity
Perhaps the most meaningful outcome wasn’t operational – it was personal.
After more than two decades in hospitality management, Sandra was finally able to take a vacation without worrying that operations would fall apart in her absence. For the first time in 20 years, Sandra could truly disconnect and enjoy her time away.
While she was on vacation, the EVES team independently managed issues, made sound decisions, and kept operations moving without interruption.
Beyond Efficiency: Building a True Team
While the measurable results have been significant, Sandra points to another benefit that is harder to quantify.
Support.
“To feel supported, to feel like you have a team, like someone has your back. That feels really, really good.”
The EVES team isn’t just dependable, they’ve become a trusted extension of Finney’s corporate staff.
Regional managers and general managers have embraced the structured processes created by the team. Daily communications provide visibility into missing documentation and outstanding tasks, creating predictable routines that allow restaurant managers to focus more attention on guest experience and operations.
Sandra also notes how quickly the EVES team members learned their roles.
“The staffers EVES recruited for us are very intuitive, and very capable of making correct decisions independently.”
Since joining Finney’s, all three EVES professionals have remained with the company, creating continuity and institutional knowledge that further strengthens the partnership.
A Scalable Foundation for Continued Growth
With two new locations scheduled to open in Las Vegas, Finney’s needed an operational model capable of growing alongside the business.
The EVES staffing model provides exactly that.
Rather than continually increasing domestic administrative headcount, Finney’s can add specialized support capacity as needed while maintaining a cost-effective structure.
“The system we now have in place is scalable – and I can add another assistant when we open our two new Vegas locations,” Sandra explains.
As the company continues expanding, leadership has confidence that administrative processes can scale without creating bottlenecks, providing a significant competitive advantage.
Why the Partnership Works
Sandra credits much of the partnership’s success to EVES’ culture and commitment to its employees.
She points to:
- Strong communication from EVES leadership
- Proactive support for team members
- High employee satisfaction
- Exceptional retention
“Michelle, Lenny, and Joanne seem happy working for EVES, and therefore they seem happy working for me.”
That stability has translated into stronger collaboration, deeper trust, and a feeling that both organizations are building something together for the long term.
Looking Ahead
As Finney’s Crafthouse continues its growth trajectory, its partnership with EVES demonstrates how businesses can successfully build offshore teams in the Philippines without sacrificing quality, accountability, or company culture.
By reducing payroll errors 98%, improving compliance, creating administrative efficiencies, and providing a scalable support model, EVES has helped Finney’s strengthen the foundation needed for continued expansion.
Most importantly, it has given leadership confidence that growth can continue without sacrificing accuracy, compliance, or peace of mind.
