Rostering software for restaurants
Two teams, one service. The kitchen starts before the floor and finishes after it, the Friday and Saturday sittings decide the week, and a quiet Tuesday still needs a chef.
| Who | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tobias R.Head chef | 9–3 | 9–3 | 2–10 | 2–10 | 2–11 | 2–11 |
| Ana F.Chef | off | 2–10 | 2–10 | 2–10 | 2–11 | 2–11 |
| Jordan M.Kitchen hand | off | 4–10 | 4–10 | 4–10 | 4–11 | 4–11 |
| Sofia D.Floor | 11–3 | 11–3 | 5–10 | 5–11 | 5–11 | 5–11 |
| Hana Y.Floor | off | off | 5–10 | 5–11 | 5–11 | 5–11 |
| Lucas P.Bar | off | off | off | 5–11 | 5–12 | 5–12 |
Tobias works a split on Monday and Tuesday, a straight evening after that. Friday and Saturday carry the extra chef and the bar.
What makes a restaurant hard to roster
Four things that come up in every one of these weeks, and what happens here instead.
What changes once it is running
What restaurants get back, in the terms this trade measures it in.
A week in a restaurant
What it is used for in a restaurant
Specific things people in this trade do with it, rather than a list of modules.
- A kitchen that starts at ten and a floor that starts at five, in the same week
- Two shifts in one day for one person, with the gap between them unpaid
- A service that finishes after midnight counted as one shift, not split at twelve
- Chef, sous, floor and bar as job titles beside each name while you roster
- A function rostered at its own venue, with the crew that only works that night
- Sunday and public holiday rates in the estimate before the service is staffed
The Saturday a section chef walked at five
Seventy covers booked, a kitchen of six, a floor of five.
| When | What happens | What you do here |
|---|---|---|
| 5:05pm | A section chef leaves before service starts. | Mark the shift for cover, and look at who is free tonight who can actually do the section. |
| 5:20pm | A part timer can be in by six thirty. | Move the shift and republish. Only the people whose shifts changed are notified. |
| 7:40pm | The floor is short and a waiter stays past his finish. | He clocks out at 11:20, and the difference sits against that shift for Sunday. |
| 12:10am | Close. Two people never clocked out at all. | Both sit at the top of Sunday morning, and the rostered finish is offered as the fix. |
| Tuesday | The week is approved and sent. | Split shifts count as two, the midnight finish counts as one, and payroll gets both. |
One walkout, one long night, and a week that adds up without anybody rebuilding it.
The jobs that stop being jobs
Where the hours in a week like this go. No stopwatch: the left column is what the work takes without it, and the right is what is left of the same task.
| The job | Usually | Here |
|---|---|---|
| Rostering a kitchen and a floor on different clocks | Two sheets that have to agree with each other and usually do not | One week, with the job title beside every name |
| Counting a split shift | An argument about whether the gap in the middle is paid | Two shifts on the day, and the gap is not hours |
| A finish after midnight | Two lines, two dates, and a weekly total that looks wrong | One shift, counted as the hours it was |
| Finding a chef at five on a Saturday | Ringing the same three numbers in the same order | A shortlist of who is free and not already on tonight |
| Closing a week with late services in it | Copying times out of a diary and hoping they were written down | Exceptions first, then approve and send |
What the record shows, and what stays yours
Roster Flow keeps the record. Meeting the obligation is still the workplace's job, and these are the parts of it nothing here decides for you.
- Rostered against worked for every service, kitchen and floor together
- Missed clock outs after a late close, sorted to the top of the week
- Which venue a function crew worked, kept apart from the dining room
- Every correction with its reason and the manager who made it
- The approved week, locked, exactly as payroll received it
- Overtime, penalties and whatever your award says a split shift attracts
- Breaks in a long service, and what happens when one is missed
- Whether time worked past a rostered finish is approved and paid
- Food safety and training records, which are not held here
What has to be kept, and for how long, is set out by the Fair Work Ombudsman. Nothing here interprets an award or certifies that a workplace complies with one.
Who is usually on the team
Often twelve to thirty: chefs and kitchen hands, floor staff and a bar, with a core of full-timers and a casual pool for the weekend.
What drives the wage cost
Weeknights at base, weekend nights at your loadings, and a public holiday at the rate you set. Because the kitchen carries the long shifts, the estimate usually moves most when you change who is on the pass.
Questions people in restaurants ask
Can one person have a lunch shift and a dinner shift on the same day?
Yes. Place two shifts on that day. They are counted separately, and the unpaid break on each is deducted from that shift alone.
What happens when somebody forgets to clock out after a late finish?
It is flagged and sorted to the top of the timesheet the next morning. You can set the finish time yourself, with a reason recorded, or the staff member can request a correction.
Do you handle award penalties for late nights?
No. You set your own rates and loadings, and the roster shows an estimate from exactly what you set. Award interpretation stays in your payroll system.
Can the kitchen and the floor be rostered separately and still add up?
Both ways work. Keep one roster and each person’s job title sits beside their name, or make the kitchen and the floor their own venues with their own rosters. Venues are unlimited, and the wage totals add up across them either way.
A chef works a split with four hours off in the middle. How is that counted?
As two shifts on the same day. The timesheet counts both and does not pay the gap between them, and the estimate prices the two shifts rather than one long one.
If I change the roster on Friday, does everyone find out?
Republishing notifies the people whose shifts changed rather than the whole team, so the person whose Saturday moved hears about it and the six who were not touched are left alone.