For cafes and coffee shops

Cafe rota software: baristas, counter staff and the morning rush

A cafe earns its day between eight and ten. InShift builds the rota around those hours: short peak shifts next to the opener and the closer, a team of part-timers who swap between themselves in the app, next week copied from this one in a click, and the hours adding up for payroll as the rota is worked.

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Four hours that pay for the day, and a team whose free days keep moving

A coffee shop open from seven to six is busy twice: the commuter rush from eight to ten and a lunch run from twelve. The rest of the day two people are plenty. So the rota that works is not five people from open to close, it is an opener from half six, a barista on the machine straight through the rush, a four hour peak shift that leaves at twelve, a second barista from ten who carries the afternoon, and a closer who cashes up. Saturday is a different shape again: the rush starts later and lasts until two.

The second thing about a cafe is who works there. Half the team are part-timers and students, their free days change every term, and the week is rarely the same twice. In a group chat that turns into a scroll of “can anyone do Thursday”, with the answer buried under the memes. The third is the end of the month: the hours of six part-timers on different rates, collected from a photo of a spreadsheet and three corrections in the chat.

Below is the same cafe in InShift: shift types built around the rush, a swap the team sorts out on their own phones, next week copied from this one, and the hours that add themselves up.

Shift types

Shift types built around the rush, once per location

A location in InShift has its own shift types with a name, days of the week, a time and, if you pay by the shift, a price. For a cafe that is an opener, a peak shift, an afternoon shift and a closer, and the rota is built by picking one in a cell. The demo location on the frame has three general shifts; a cafe adds “Peak 08:00–12:00” next to them and the Saturday variant with its own days.

  • “Add shift type” for every shape the day has: the opener, the peak, the close, the Saturday
  • Days of the week on each type, so the Saturday shift is never offered on a Tuesday
  • A price per shift for the peak shift or an hourly rate on the person: both add up in “Payroll”
  • Shift types are a location’s own, so a second shop keeps its own opening hours
The admin panel screen by screen

A weekday on the rota of a coffee shop open 07:00 to 18:00

The rush is eight to ten, the lunch run starts at twelve. People stack up around the busy hours instead of sitting flat across the day.

06:30–14:30 · Supervisor

Opens up, dials in the grinder, takes the bake in, runs the rush

07:00–15:00 · Barista

On the machine straight through the morning peak

08:00–12:00 · Counter staff

Peak cover only: the four hours that pay for themselves

10:00–18:00 · Barista

Picks up the lunch run, carries the quiet afternoon

12:30–18:30 · Supervisor

Lunch run, then close, cash up and prep for tomorrow

That is 36 paid hours for a weekday, five people. On Saturday the peak shift becomes 09:00–14:00 and a second counter shift is added; on Sunday the opener starts an hour later. The whole week is around 250 hours across eight to nine people, most of them part-time.

Swaps

A student who cannot do Thursday sorts it out in the app

The most common message in a cafe chat is “can anyone take my Thursday”. In InShift the person opens “Substitute”, picks the shift and offers it: “Find a replacement” sends it to a colleague who is free that day, “Available swaps” shows what others have offered. The colleague taps “Take shift”, and if the rules say so, the manager approves with one tap. The rota updates for both of them, and nobody scrolls the chat.

  • Who approves is set in “Request rules”: “Coworker only”, “Manager only” or “Coworker + manager”
  • Only colleagues with a matching position see the offer, so the till shift does not land on someone who has never used it
  • A day off is a request too: “Day off” with a type, “Holiday”, “Sick leave”, “Personal” or “Unpaid”, and the manager approves
  • A push goes to the person whose shift moved and to the one who took it
The app screen by screen

Next week

Next week is this week copied, then the days off

A cafe week repeats: the same opener, the same peak, the same close. “Copy last week” copies every shift into the next week as drafts, the manager moves the two or three that changed and swaps in the people who asked for a day off, then presses “Publish”. Until then the team sees nothing, so a half-built week never goes out by accident.

  • Drafts are visible only to the manager; “Publish” sends the push to everyone whose shifts changed
  • A week, a month or a list view of the same rota, per location or all locations at once
  • Requests for days off sit on the “Requests” page with “Approve” and “Reject”, and the manager’s day view in the app lists who is off
  • “Print” for the sheet on the office door, “Export to Excel” for the accountant

Hours and pay

Six part-timers on four different rates, added up without a spreadsheet

Every published shift has a type, a time and a person, so the hours for a period are already known. “Payroll” shows each person’s shifts, scheduled hours, rate and what is accrued, with the total at the bottom. Rates sit on the person: an hourly rate for the counter, a price per shift for the peak, a monthly salary for the manager. Night or holiday premiums are rules on the “Premiums” tab and apply to everyone from a date you pick.

  • A period of any length: the week, the fortnight, the calendar month
  • What is accrued, what is paid and what is owed, per person
  • “Export to Excel” gives the accountant the same numbers as a file
  • Each person sees their own hours and pay on “Stats” in the app, and nobody else’s

Moving a cafe onto InShift

An hour for a coffee shop of eight, the team joining included.

  1. 1

    Sign up and the location

    Email or Google. The shop is a location with an address and opening hours; a second shop is a second location with its own team and shift types.

  2. 2

    Positions and shift types

    Barista, counter staff, supervisor. Shift types “Open 06:30–14:30”, “Peak 08:00–12:00”, “Afternoon 10:00–18:00”, “Close 12:30–18:30”, with the Saturday variants.

  3. 3

    The team

    “Add multiple” pastes the list of names at once, each person gets a position and a rate. “Invite team” gives a QR code and an invite code for the app.

  4. 4

    The first week and publish

    Shifts from the cell menu, then “Publish”. From the second week on it is “Copy last week”, the days off and “Publish” again.

Frequently asked questions

Can a shift be four hours long, just for the rush?▾

Yes. A shift type has whatever time you give it, so “Peak 08:00–12:00” is a normal type next to the opener and the closer. It can be limited to certain days of the week, and a price per shift can be set on it if that is how the peak is paid.

How do part-timers with changing availability work?▾

There is no availability grid to fill in. A person asks for the days they cannot work through “Day off” in the app, with a type such as “Personal” or “Unpaid”, the manager approves, and the day is listed under “Off” in the manager’s day view before the rota is built. For anything that comes up later there is a swap through “Substitute”, which the team handles between themselves.

Can the team swap shifts without asking me?▾

That is your choice in “Request rules”. With “Coworker only” the shift moves over the moment a colleague accepts it. With “Coworker + manager” a colleague accepts first and you approve with one tap. With “Manager only” the request comes straight to you.

How many people does a coffee shop need on the rota?▾

Start from the hours. The weekday above is 36 paid hours; with a bigger Saturday and a quieter Sunday the week comes to around 250 hours. Divide by the hours your people actually want, and a team of eight to nine covers it with most on 20 to 30 hours, which is what a student or a parent with school hours is looking for.

Does it work for two or three shops?▾

Yes. Each shop is a location with its own shift types, positions and team, and the planner shows one location or all of them at once. A barista who works in both shops is one person with two locations, and their hours add up in one place.

What does it cost for a cafe of eight?▾

Free for one location and up to 10 people. Beyond that it is a subscription per active person on the “Employees” list, with locations, payroll and the team app included. The numbers are on the pricing page.

Get the whole cafe on one rota

Shift types and the first week take an hour, and the baristas see the rota in the app the same day.

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