In short
What this page covers
- Staff the peak, not the day
- Shift templates you set once
- Swaps without the group chat
- Open shifts for a sick call
For cafes
Rota software for cafes, without the spreadsheet
Staff the morning rush properly, sort a sick call before the doors open, and let the hours count themselves. Free, for as many people and sites as you have.
Where the time goes
What actually goes wrong on a cafe rota
These are the everyday situations that turn a rota into a source of mistakes, phone calls and needless cost.
01
The 8am rush with one person on the machine
A cafe is not busy evenly. Between 8 and 10 you need every pair of hands you have, and by two you are paying people to wipe down a clean counter. Staff the day flat and you lose customers in the morning and money in the afternoon.
02
A barista calls in sick at half six
You open in an hour. So you start at the top of your contacts and work down, ringing people who are asleep, while the delivery is arriving and nobody has switched the grinder on.
03
The rota lives in a group chat
You post a photo of the spreadsheet on Sunday. By Wednesday there have been three swaps, two of them agreed in replies nobody scrolled back to read, and now the team is working from four different versions.
04
A second site doubles the mess
Every shop gets its own spreadsheet, and the simple question of who is actually on tomorrow at the other site takes a phone call to answer. Staff who could cover both sites never get asked.
05
Overtime you find out about on payday
The extra hours were real, they just were not visible. By the time they show up in the totals the month is closed and the argument is about money instead of the rota.
06
The new starter who keeps asking when they are in
Every new barista costs you the same week of messages: when am I on, where, and who with. None of it is in a place they can look at themselves.
How InShift fixes it
A rota built for a business with peaks, not for a calendar. Everything below is in the free account, with no cap on people or sites.
Solution 1
Staff the peak, not the day
Build shifts around the hours you are actually busy. Overlap two people from 8 to 11 and drop to one at two. You can see the coverage before you publish, not after the queue forms.
Solution 2
Shift templates you set once
An opening shift, a close, a peak cover. Set the hours once, say how many people it needs and which days it runs, then drop them onto the week. A month of rota takes minutes.
Solution 3
Swaps without the group chat
A barista offers their shift in the app, a colleague picks it up, you tap approve. The rota updates itself and everyone sees the same version, because there is only one.
Solution 4
Open shifts for a sick call
Post the uncovered shift and the whole team gets it on their phone at once. The first person free takes it. No ringing round at half six.
Solution 5
Every site on one screen
One account holds all your shops. See who is on where, move a person between sites, and give each manager only their own. It grows when you open the next one.
Solution 6
Hours ready for payroll
Hours add up as the rota is worked, at each person's own hourly rate. Export the lot to Excel for whoever does your payroll. No retyping, no month-end surprise.
A day on the rota in a cafe
A shop open 07:00 to 18:00, with the peak between 8 and 10 and a lunch run from 12. Note that the people stack up around the busy hours instead of sitting flat across the day.
| Time | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 06:30-14:30 | Supervisor | Opens up, sets the grinder, takes the bake in |
| 07:00-15:00 | Barista | On the machine straight through the morning peak |
| 08:00-12:00 | Front of house | Peak cover only: the four hours that pay for themselves |
| 10:00-18:00 | Barista | Picks up lunch, carries the quiet afternoon |
| 12:30-18:30 | Supervisor | Lunch run, then close, cash up and prep for tomorrow |
Try it without an account
Three free tools that need no sign-up and no email. Build a rota or add up hours right now, and move to an account when the team has to see it.
Frequently asked questions
How many baristas do I need for a cafe open 07:00 to 18:00?▾
Start from the hours, not the people. Eleven opening hours plus half an hour either side is twelve, and you want two on for the four peak hours, so roughly sixteen staffed hours a day, or 112 a week. At an average of 32 hours each that is about 3.5 people, so four, plus someone who can cover holiday and sickness. Put your real opening hours into the rota and you will see your own number rather than this one.
Can I run more than one coffee shop on one account?▾
Yes, and there is no limit on how many. Each shop is a location with its own staff, templates and opening hours. You see everything, a shop manager sees only their own, and a barista who works across two sites has one rota with both on it.
How does the team see the rota?▾
They install the InShift app on their phone and enter a six digit code you give them. That is the whole setup, no email address and no password to forget. When you change the rota they get a push notification, so nobody works from an old screenshot.
What happens when someone calls in sick an hour before opening?▾
Publish the shift as an open shift. Everyone who could work it gets a notification at the same time, and the first one to take it has it. You approve with one tap. It is the difference between one action and eleven phone calls.
Does it work out hours and pay?▾
It adds up the hours as the rota is worked, multiplies them by each person's hourly rate, and exports the timesheet to Excel for any period you choose. Rates are per person, so what someone earns follows them across sites. Counting the hours is the part that used to take an evening, and it is the part it takes off you.
Is it actually free, or free until it is not?▾
Free. All the features, as many staff and sites as you like, no card and no trial clock ticking. We are not going to pretend otherwise on a page whose whole point is that you can trust the rota.