Restaurant PEOs Should Know: Payroll Isn’t Your Biggest Expense

When searching the web for “restaurant PEOs,” you’ll likely come across a wide range of companies proclaiming to fix every payroll issue you could ever encounter. Even problems you don’t have or can’t imagine.

Payroll is an important part of successfully running small and mid-sized businesses, but it’s not nearly as complicated as PEO companies proclaim. When searching for the right PEO, keep in mind important services any good PEO offers and that can significantly impact your bottom line – such as health insurance.

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What is a PEO?

A PEO or Professional Employer Organization offers a broad array of HR solutions for small and mid-sized companies. The idea is that, by hiring a PEO to manage payroll compliance and health insurance, PEO-supported bars, restaurants and food service companies can focus on core aspects of their businesses (such as producing and selling great food and drinks) versus paperwork and other administrative headaches.  

Yet, while many PEOs claim to be cost-effective solutions by helping these companies streamline payroll, the biggest cost gains usually have nothing to do with payroll. It’s health insurance.

Why is Decent Different Than All Other PEOs?

Decent is one of the only PEOs around – certainly the only one in Texas – that manages and designs its own health insurance plans. Other PEOs are middlemen offering health insurance run by traditional healthcare companies and then being the “go between,” which results in extra fees billed to small businesses on top of what’s already expensive. This middleman structure adds administrative fees which exacerbate healthcare expenses. Then, too often, small businesses (like many restaurants and bars) have to forego health insurance altogether.

Decent’s different. Because we own and manage our own health plans, we can customize them to help drive down costs and reduce healthcare premiums by as much as 35 percent —with no added admin fees. 

The first question we usually get is: 

“What’s the Catch?”

There isn’t one. Decent has found a way to make health insurance more affordable by banding together small companies in similar industries. Doing so allows our clients to get similar benefits often available only to large companies because of their sheer size. 

Other questions we get are around our network (ours is expansive including HCA, Methodist, Memorial Hermann and other major Texas healthcare systems) or what are our co-pays (primary care is free, meaning $0 for any visit). And yes, premiums are reasonable.

Why Does This Matter?

The value of employee benefits is mounting for recruiting and retaining quality staff. In a tight labor market, offering affordable health insurance can make all the difference for small and mid-sized enterprises.

The good news is that what once seemed out of reach (decent health insurance that is affordable) is within reach. Contact a Decent customer service representative today.