SpotOn acquires Missoula, Montana based labor scheduling and payroll software company Dolce

As part of the deal, Dolce co-founders Peter Lambros and Glenn Kreisel will join SpotOn.

The growing POS provider will add Dolce’s scheduling, payroll and tip-pooling techonology to its toolkit for restaurants.

SpotOn is adding labor management tools to its offering for restaurants.

The fast-growing POS provider said Monday it has acquired Dolce, which offers scheduling, payroll, tip-pooling and compliance software for multiunit restaurants.

The deal comes as labor costs are rising and restaurants are struggling to hire and retain workers.

“With the acquisition of Dolce, we’re giving our clients the tools they need to manage and retain their employees with full compliance in this incredibly competitive labor market,” said SpotOn co-founder and co-CEO Zach Hyman in a statement.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

It is the latest in a flurry of restaurant tech acquisitions being driven by lots of investment and demand in the space. SpotOn has raised $425 million in two funding rounds this year and is now spending some of that to expand its capabilities. It also acquired Appetize, a mobile ordering company used in entertainment venues, in September.

Dolce helps operators manage labor costs by automating much of the process. For instance, managers can assign a labor budget and compare labor costs to the budget in real time. They can also get alerts about overtime, understaffed dayparts and labor vs. sales trends.

It also eases payment by integrating with more than 20 payroll providers and automating the time-consuming job of tip distribution.

“When we found Dolce helped us decrease our (tip distribution) time from one hour down to 10 minutes, we knew it was a no-brainer for our restaurants and for SpotOn,” said chef Michael Mina, restaurateur and a member of SpotOn’s Restaurant Advisory Council.

SpotOn’s existing tools include online ordering, reservations, website development, loyalty and data reporting.

By Joe Guszkowski