PizzaExpress has signed a nationwide partnership with the student work app, Stint, which will see students working in a third of PizzaExpress’ restaurants across the UK.
Following a successful trial at sites across London and Edinburgh, permanent locations include Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Cardiff with more to follow as Stint’s own UK network expands into new university towns and cities.
The relationship is Stint’s first national partnership and will help PizzaExpress support its teams in providing the best service to customers.
Stint connects hospitality operators with a pool of over 115,000 signed-up students, who want short, flexible shifts, to work during the busy periods each day. Stint’s students carry out basic – but nonetheless vital – tasks for just a few hours at a time, freeing up the core team to focus on providing great customer service.
Zoe Bowley, Managing Director at PizzaExpress, commented: “This is an exciting partnership for us, and follows a highly successful pilot where feedback from our managers was extremely positive.
'Providing exceptional customer service will always be at the forefront of everything we do as a business, but that’s much easier for our teams to deliver when they’re well supported.
'Busy periods should be enjoyable, not stressful, and working with Stint allows us to deploy our teams with more precision and dedicate resource during daily lunch and dinner rushes when it is most needed, enabling our core team to spend all their time delivering an exceptional service for our loyal customers.
'We are also happy to be giving university students the opportunity to earn money in a way that works for them, building on our commitment to being an inclusive employer and offering flexibility to our teams.”
Sol Schlagman, Co-Founder of Stint, added, “PizzaExpress is an iconic British brand, and the national roll-out represents a major milestone in the growth of our business.
'We built Stint to help university students earn money in a way that fits around their studies and helps hospitality businesses operate in a smarter way, and Zoe and the team at PizzaExpress have fully bought into the solution we provide.
'We’re thrilled to be able to help them get their staffing right so they never have to compromise between delivering a great customer experience, maximising their team’s well-being, and keeping costs under control.”
PizzaExpress Brent Cross was one of the restaurants to take part in the Stint trial. General manager, Natalia Gomes Monteiro, said, “Introducing Stint to our restaurant has made a real difference. The basic tasks that are usually the most time-consuming for my team are now being completed by Stint students.
'During our busiest hours, the core team can now solely focus on delivering an excellent experience and engaging with our customers. This has improved the experience of our team and made my life easier. Stint students are always on time, happy to help and with a smile on their face. I’ve no doubt that Stint is going to have a really positive impact across the country.’