Cantaloupe vs Harri: Which Is Better for 20+ Unit Operators?
If you run 20 or more locations, hiring is never just about filling a role. It’s about keeping your stores staffed with people who fit your culture, can handle the pace, and stick around long enough to make a difference. Both Cantaloupe and Harri aim to help, but they take very different approaches.
Who They’re Built For
Harri was built for enterprise hospitality companies. It offers a full suite of tools beyond hiring, including scheduling, timekeeping, HR management, and compliance. It’s a powerful platform, but it can also be heavy to implement and train on. If you need an all-in-one system and have a dedicated HR or IT team to manage it, Harri can be a strong choice.
Cantaloupe is laser-focused on one thing: finding and keeping the right people for frontline hospitality roles. It slots in after your ATS or job boards and instantly interviews every applicant with a short, natural voice conversation. It then ranks candidates by compatibility, skills, and turnover risk so your managers can move fast on the best fits.
How They Handle Speed
In a 20 plus unit operation, the cost of an empty shift is high. Harri can be fast once you have everything configured, but the process still starts with an application form, routing through the ATS, and manual screening.
Cantaloupe speeds this up by replacing early screening entirely. Applicants speak to the AI interviewer within minutes of applying, and your managers get a ranked list without having to read a single resume. In pilots, operators have cut days off their hiring process and reduced early turnover by double digit percentages.
The Manager Experience
With Harri, managers have access to a robust dashboard with many functions such as posting jobs, reviewing candidates, tracking onboarding, and building schedules. It’s comprehensive but can feel like another system they have to learn and keep up with.
Cantaloupe keeps it simple. Managers get text or email alerts with the top candidates and a quick link to review voice responses. No logging into a separate platform if they do not want to. For many operators, this means more hiring actually happens between the lunch and dinner rush instead of getting pushed to when there is time.
Integration and Flexibility
Harri works best when it is your core system. If you are already using it for scheduling, payroll, and HR, the hiring module fits neatly into your workflow.
Cantaloupe is designed to be flexible. It integrates with popular ATS platforms like Restaurant365, Harri itself, and others, or it can run as a standalone layer. This makes it easier to test without replacing your current systems.
Cost and ROI
Pricing for Harri varies by the number of modules and locations. For large groups using the full suite, it can be a significant investment, but the value can be high if you use all the tools.
Cantaloupe is priced per interview or on a subscription that scales with your size. For many 20 plus unit groups, the ROI comes from faster hires, fewer missed shifts, and lower early turnover, savings that can outweigh the cost quickly.
Bottom Line
If your priority is a unified system for everything from hiring to scheduling and payroll, and you have the internal resources to manage it, Harri can be the right fit.
If you want to keep your current systems but supercharge your frontline hiring with speed, candidate insights, and reduced turnover, Cantaloupe is purpose built for that job.
The best choice comes down to your team’s capacity, your existing tech stack, and whether you want a full platform or a specialized hiring tool that plays well with what you already have.