Spica's solution supporting fast-growing startups

Bevo (Juicy Marbles)

• Industry: food
• Company size: medium
• Number of employees: 50
• Achievements of three products:

1. Thick cut filet: The Grocer’s New Product & Packaging Award 2023 champion for plant-based meat, VegNews’ Finer Things Club no. 1 vegan item of 2022.
2. Loin: Ranked among the top 50 Food & Drink items of 2022 by Gear Patrol magazine.
3. Ribs: Selected as one of the most innovative food items of 2024 and received a special award for innovation in sustainability.

About Juicy Marbles: From Europe to America within five years

The Bevo startup was founded in 2019 and concluded its participation in the US startup accelerator Y Combinator, which provided the company with initial funding, in January 2021. 

From the very beginning, co-founders Tilen Travnik, Luka Sinček, Maj Hrovat and Vladimir Mićković have been dedicated to creating delicious plant-based food products manufactured using sustainable practices. In 2021, the company with its headquarters and production in Domžale was also a finalist for the Slovenian Start:up of the Year title.

Their brand is called Juicy Marbles. By developing their own manufacturing technology, the company earned their spot at Y Combinator, one of the world's most prestigious business accelerators. Since then, their team has grown by nearly 40, reaching a total of 50 employees.

The company manufactures and sells delicious plant-based food. Due to their uniqueness and lack of plant-based meat alternatives on the market, they have been selling out months in advance and have recently increased their manufacturing capacity. 

The Juicy Marbles brand has already established a strong presence in Europe and America, particularly in the UK, Scandinavia and the DACH countries (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), but is also present in other European countries such as the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, France and beyond. 

In Europe, their products are available both in restaurants and supermarkets, while in America, currently a smaller market, their products can be purchased online. Slovenia represents a small portion of their sales, with the majority of their revenue coming from exports.

Challenges: The growth of the production team has outpaced Excel's capabilities

"I can no longer imagine how we’d be able to manage attendance and absence data without Spica’s All Hours solution, even if we had only ten employees,"

says Ana Gabršček, head of HR.

When they decided to go with Spica's All Hours solution in 2021, they had a maximum of ten employees, so there weren't many challenges at that point. But knowing that the company would grow rapidly, they sought to implement an automated solution as soon as possible. In the initial stages, tracking employees' working time was solely managed through Excel.

More advanced features were introduced in 2022, when the production team started to grow.

"That's when we had to start using Spica's solution to automatically get data on breaks, lunch breaks, shift work, flexible working hours, overtime, sick leave, vacation days, etc. Now I can no longer imagine managing HR without All Hours, even if there were only ten of us,"  says Ana Gabršček, Head of HR.

Solution: Two work schedules-shift and flexible

The company now has two different working schedules, one for production and one for office employees. The latter is more flexible and allows employees to work remotely.

Since autumn, office employees have been tracking time with great precision, according to HR specialist Lina Petek. Previously, the tracking process was less structured. Currently, those who are not bound to shift work are free to adjust their working hours, such as working 10 hours one day and 6 hours the next. Half of the company’s employees work like this.

"Now we all have a better overview of how much time we actually spend at work and can even out busy days or weeks by taking an extra hour of free time when needed. We have control over the surplus of our working hours,"

says Lina Petek, adding that the app is very user-friendly. 

All employees use the option to clock in and out of their workplace via terminals or the app. The terminals were introduced in 2022, that is, not immediately when the Spica's All Hours solution was introduced. Because the employees have both options at their disposal, they clock in and out fairly consistently. 

The company also introduced the rule allowing employees to submit corrections themselves. For office-based employees with flexible registration in particular, tracking working hours has become more transparent.

New employees quickly adapt to Spica's solution. 

"On the first day, they get a manual, and I show them the app. In the past, transitioning to the tracking system was more challenging for some existing employees because they were not used to it,"

says Lina Petek.

The employees can see their timelines, overtime, absences and the number of days of leave they have left directly in the app. Automatically submitting corrections is quicker and easier, ensuring that managers are better informed about team absences, as employees are more accurate and up-to-date about submitting their absence requests via the app. 

This gives managers an overview in advance, making it easier for them to organise work. For example, production manager greatly benefit from a better overview of employees’ annual leave. 

The solution provides fast access to data analytics and, of course, faster payroll calculation. On average, it takes around 2 hours less to calculate one payroll.       

"The entire data collection process is now automated,"

says Lina Petek. In the end, the data is still exported to Excel and sent to the partner accounting firm. The data is quickly available for analytics, for example comparing hours paid to the employees' actual physical presence at work. 

"At the end of the month there are minimal corrections needed."  Lina Petek

Conducting payroll and mid-month analysis of staff attendance and absence are key for the HR department. They have easier and faster access to data for various reports, attendance overview and payroll data. This is because analytics can quickly identify individuals with missing entries. The connection to the terminals and the app is good, and administrative work is easier. 

Thanks to absences requested in advance, organizing work in production becomes easier, and there's also a better overview of remote work. The productivity of the HR department is increased thanks to the automatic recording and corrections submitted by the employees.

Spica's solution sparked humour among the team

"Now we all have a better overview of how much time we actually spend at work and can even out busy days or weeks by taking an extra hour of free time when needed." 

says Lina Petek.  

Of course, some employees occasionally forget to clock in or out.  

"A few years ago, we had a few team members who often made mistakes. Sometimes they forgot to clock in, sometimes they were late in doing so... We shared many laughs about it. I’m not sure if they felt guilty, but after a while, they suggested that they contribute two euros to a jar for every registration mistake. In fact, I almost got rich from that. 

We ended up using the money to buy a notice board. I thought it was particularly cute because they came up with the idea themselves. This was back in the days when the employees couldn’t correct mistakes themselves," reminisces Ana Gabršček, recalling that employee mistakes were also accompanied by fun times.  

"Some employees still make mistakes. That's why we have now implemented a transition period during which they learn to correct mistakes on their own. Also, some individuals from the team still message me asking to correct a piece of data" adds Lina Petek. Employees can, of course, make corrections with the subsequent approval of their managers.  

And the data also helps the company in their planning. 

"We've noticed that there are significantly more sick leaves at the beginning of the school year in September. That's why we extended student work last year. However, we do not observe a systemic exploitation of sick leave. When children return to school, an increase in sickness naturally follows," says Ana Gabršček, adding that the students also use the same tracking system, and the payment is done through the student service.  

Ana Gabršček points out another advantage of Spica's solution: "Despite many new legal requirements, it allows us to meet them with minimal administrative work."

She also praises Spica's support team: 

“For me, this is the most responsive support service. They typically respond within minutes, and at most within a few hours. We would appreciate another in-depth meeting similar to the one we organized before the introduction of the new registration law. That way we would also better understand the changes they make to Spica's All Hours solution." 

Key advantages

Benefits of time tracking:

• overview of the hours, the 8-hour working day ...
• more detailed information on hours spent working remotely and in the office,
• tracking overtime in order to use it promptly.

Benefits of absence management:

• overview of annual absences, e.g. collective leave and special arrangements (the schedule is available far in advance),
• up-to-date information about sick leave and overtime use (automatic deletion of used overtime from the balance, and a more accurate overview).

Benefits of payroll:

• quick analytics on working hours, annual leave and sick leave,
• overview of working remotely (overview of all employees reveals who has worked from home and for what duration— half or full day, which is important for payroll).

Benefits of access control:

• an overview of all users,
• the ability to make quick corrections,
• fast reporting,
• a review of attendance for a specific day,
• fast payroll data preparation, overview of specific departments - paid time vs. hours worked.