Workstream + Crunchtime: The Integration Changing The Game

For Derek Zabel, a 7-unit Culver’s operator in Spring Hill, the onboarding process was falling short. In the fast-paced world of restaurant operations, efficient and compliant onboarding can make or break the employee experience. Manual entry, compliance risks, and new hire drop-off were daily challenges—until he implemented the Workstream + Crunchtime integration.

“This process would be huge for anyone managing multiple locations. You don’t really have the option not to be compliant.”

Derek Zabel

Owner/Operator

The problem

Onboarding Headaches

About Culvers

Culver’s got its start in 1984 in Sauk City, Wisconsin—the beloved hometown of founders Craig and Lea Culver. Along with Craig’s parents, George and Ruth, Culver’s built a loyal following by serving up their now legendary signature combination of ButterBurgers with Frozen Custard.

Since day one, the Culver family has realized that the secret to lasting success is always about putting people first. In 1990, the first Culver’s franchise opened in nearby Baraboo, WI, quickly followed by more beyond state lines in 1995. Today, Culver’s can be found across 26 states in the US.

Locations: 1000+
Industry: Restaurants
Employees: 25,000+

Before the integration between Workstream and Crunchtime, the new hire onboarding journey was filled with friction. While initial paperwork had been completed through Workstream, Derek and his managers still had to manually input the same employee data into Crunchtime—a step that opened the door for multiple issues like scheduling delays due to late entries and heightened compliance risk from inaccurate or missing data entry.

High no-show rates were also common as some candidates never returned to complete onboarding. That wasn’t all. As Derek explains, “Before, sometimes people would forget their ID, and their paperwork wouldn’t be completed. That made us technically noncompliant—and created a lot of back and forth.”

With compliance issues causing headaches, he knew he needed help. Luckily the solution was just an integration away.

The solution

One seamless integration

By enabling the Workstream + Crunchtime integration, Derek’s team finally bridged the gap between hiring, onboarding and team management. Now, once a candidate completes their paperwork—including ID verification and the form I-9—Workstream automatically pushes them into Crunchtime within minutes, which then pushes them into the POS. This automation eliminates the need for endless manual data entry between systems and avoids premature training and scheduling before onboarding is complete.

Hours saved

With managers no longer manually entering employees into Crunchtime, each hire now saves managers 30+ minutes of admin time, allowing the team to focus on training and operations.

Clean employee data

In the past, every hire was entered into Crunchtime, whether they showed up to orientation or not. Now, only fully onboarded employees make it in, giving the team more accurate turnover reporting and preventing franchise penalties tied to manager turnover rates.

Reduced compliance risk

The system ensures no one slips through the cracks. “It forces you to be compliant. It won’t move them over without it,” Derek shared. “This forces our team to follow the right process every time.” The result? Fewer compliance risks, audit-ready documentation, and increased accountability.

Improved Retention & Fewer No-Shows

The integration has helped screen for truly motivated candidates.“If someone’s motivated enough to come back with their paperwork, they’re probably going to show up for orientation,” said Derek. “We haven’t had a single no-show since implementing the new process.”

why it matters

Scalable processes

For multi-unit operators like Derek, the integration has become a game-changer. It scales easily across locations, holds hiring managers to a consistent standard, and dramatically reduces risk. “This process would be huge for anyone managing multiple locations. You don’t really have the option not to be compliant.” As Derek has realized, when your systems work well together, so do your people.