The 9 Best Restaurant Scheduling Software & Apps in 2024
The best restaurant scheduling software platforms reviewed and compared: Get info on features, pricing, pros & cons and more below.
Managing staff schedules is among the most challenging parts of running a successful restaurant business. Last-minute leave requests, unplanned shifts, and miscommunication among team members can severely hurt productivity and cost a restaurant thousands of dollars.
As economies around the world are bouncing back from the pandemic restrictions, coping with new ones, or dealing with rapidly-shifting demand, it makes sense that among the restaurant owners surveyed by Finances Online in their 2022 report, 55% consider staffing the top challenge they’re facing.
To make sure you avoid the pitfalls of inadequate scheduling and staffing practices, we’ve handpicked some of the best restaurant scheduling software for your business.
In this detailed guide, we’ll cover the top restaurant scheduling tools, describe their strengths and weaknesses, evaluate their features, and examine their pricing plans.
Top Restaurant Scheduling Software
To find the best scheduling software for restaurants, we meticulously evaluated a plethora of tools drawing upon demos, testing, user feedback and expert insight. To be featured, tools must excel on three pivotal criteria: staffing features, ease of use, and pricing.
- Staffing Features: We prioritized products with comprehensive staffing features, as this is one of the main challenges restaurants face. The software tools we picked all offer robust functionalities, including shift planning, team communication, employee availability management, and shift swapping.
- Ease of Use: User-friendliness is essential in the fast-paced restaurant industry. We focused on software that stands out for its intuitive and straightforward interface. These solutions all offer a hassle-free setup, streamlined navigation, and efficient workflows.
- Pricing: Budget considerations can be paramount for restaurant businesses. We sought out companies with competitive and transparent pricing models. The chosen solutions offer flexible subscription plans, affordable pricing tiers, and features tailored to the unique needs of dining establishments.
To delve deeper into our rigorous evaluation process, you can always have a look at our post on how we select the finest HR tech.
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7shifts
7Shifts is an excellent scheduling solution for most small restaurants. It offers an intuitive drag-and-drop scheduling tool that adjusts itself based on employee availability. It also has features to let you analyze attendance trends, forecasts, etc.
PROS
- Easy-to-use shift management features
- Match top employees with important shifts
- Maximize profitability through labor cost management
- This software has a lot of integration options, making it easier to streamline aspects of your business like sales. You can, for example, connect to point of sale systems like Square and Toast so you can easily accept credit card and NFC payments as well as inventory and financing.
- A fully-featured software that helps you manage team schedules, timesheets, tasks, communications, and much more, within a mobile-friendly platform.
- Their free plan features basic scheduling and ATS functionalities to get your restaurant up and running, and it can accommodate as many as 30 users per location.
CONS
- Once published, you can’t edit reports
- Customer support may not be available on weekends
- Web and mobile app synchronization doesn’t always work
- The platform’s scheduling can be a drag for teams with global remote workers because the shifts are only scheduled in CST timezone.
- The system, sometimes, does not synchronize employee’s mobile shift data with admin data. So shifts could be created and published on the manager’s end and the employees might not receive it.
- Doesn’t allow you to edit schedules before publishing. If a mistake is made, the schedule will have to be deleted and created again.
7Shifts is an employee scheduling solution specifically for the restaurant industry. It helps restaurant managers maximize profitability and save time through excellent third-party integrations. Even the free version of the app offers extensive functionality and is good enough for a small team.
This makes 7Shifts one of the best free employee scheduling software for small-medium restaurants.
7Shifts offers the following subscription plans:
- Free - Up to 30 employees + basic scheduling features
- Entree - $29.99/location/month
- The Works - $69.99/location/month
Best For
7shifts was checked and updated daily. It was primarily used to track shifts for kitchen/front of house staff. I would send notifications for open shifts, schedule changes and other relevant info to the team. I would also create wage predictions to forecast for payroll. I would also exercise its template options for tasks.
It has great customer support. 7shifts integrates with accounting software easily. It is user friendly.
My client was a small restaurant with five employees looking for a way to simplify shift scheduling. 7shifts was a cost effective method for a small team to manage their weekly schedules and updates. The company had noticed difficulties and overlap with their previous method of scheduling. I have used this tool for two years.
There are occasionally bug issues with the app. 7shifts has limited role assignments for staff, expansion of options would be helpful. The software has to be thoroughly rechecked for accuracy before processing payroll.
I am a fan of 7shifts because of team feedback. The software allows easy access in allowing staff to swap shifts and it is very user friendly in comparison to competitors.
People should consider the size of their team before purchasing. While 7shifts is reasonably priced, you may spend over $400 yearly depending upon the features you require. The app issues may cause frustration for team members but customer support is swift.
I like 7shifts’ consistency. Updates and notifications have improved greatly over the past years as I grew more familiar with the product and as the restaurant expanded.
Small restaurants/popups
I would not suggest 7shifts for large chain locations.
ZoomShift
ZoomShift makes it incredibly easy for employees and managers to navigate the app. The user interface is intuitive yet simple. In addition, the app developers are responsive to user feedback about adding or modifying features.
PROS
- Manage staff scheduling on the move
- Color-coded schedules
- Forecast labor costs and hours with ease
- Manage staff scheduling on the move
- Color-coded schedules
- Forecast labor costs and hours with ease
CONS
- Updates too often for an employee scheduling software, which some customers may find confusing
- Some reports indicates that the tool tends to crashes and disconnects from the server
- Accidentally deleted shifts cannot be retrieved
- Updates too often for an employee scheduling software, which some customers may find confusing
- Some reports indicates that the tool tends to crashes and disconnects from the server
- Accidentally deleted shifts cannot be retrieved
ZoomShift is a fantastic schedule creation tool. Its user interface is intuitively designed to help new users access the essential features of the software with ease. ZoomShift is best for small restaurants that experience seasonal highs and lows.
ZoomShift has the following pricing plans:
- Free trial - Up to 14-days
- Starter - $2.5/user/month (monthly billing) or $2/user/month (annual billing)
- Premium - $5/user/month (monthly billing) or $4/user/month (annual billing)
- Enterprise - Custom pricing
The Starter and Premium plans come with a 14-day trial.
Best For
We use zoom daily. It's used to schedule meetings, it's integrated with google calendars so it's easy to ensure that everyone is on the same page. Zoom is used for both one-on-one meetings as well as group company meetings. Zoom is also used when we have meetings with our external stakeholders.
- It's integration with Google Calendars makes it easy to schedule meetings
- The new notes feature makes in meeting collaboration very easy
- The recording feature makes it simple for us to go back and review meeting information
We use Zoom so that we can collaborate with our globally diverse team. Since we have team members from around the world it's difficult to communicate some things asynchronously so there is a need to have some form of live group communication. We have been using Zoom for almost 4 years now and it has been an excellent video meeting platform so far since it's easy to use.
- There are times when the Camera feature of Zoom doesn't share well
- Having both Camera on and screen sharing can take a toll on the system's processing power
- The chat feature is limited
Zoom is better than its competitors because it offers a smoother video experience, more tools around collaboration and the ability to schedule meetings in advance
People should think about about how long they want to meet, what type of systems will the participants be using and also the level of control they want to have during the meeting
Zoom has significantly improved with the inclusion of its new AI and collaboration features, which cut the need for other third-party software that would usually be paired with Zoom.
Zoom is good for organizations that have many video meetings
Zoom isn't good for organizations that don't do a lot of video meetings
Sling
Sling is an excellent tool for restaurants with multiple locations. Even the free version of the app allows unlimited users and locations. The mobile and desktop apps are stable and free.
PROS
- Get alerts when total labor cost exceeds the budget
- Use projected sales data to view labor costs as a percentage of sales
- Predictive alerts minimize OT cases
- Get alerts when total labor cost exceeds the budget
- Use projected sales data to view labor costs as a percentage of sales
- Predictive alerts minimize OT cases
CONS
- Mobile app notifications don’t come through sometimes, as reported by some users
- The time clock can’t be customized for different roles
- Mobile app notifications don’t come through sometimes, as reported by some users
- The time clock can’t be customized for different roles
Sling is among the best restaurant scheduling software you can find for free. Its scheduler provides organization-wide awareness. You can add unlimited users and locations. The tool works best for small restaurants looking for a comprehensive scheduling solution on a budget.
- Free - Packed with features, unlimited users, and locations
- Premium - $2/user/month
- Business - $4/user/month
Best For
Push Operations
Push Operations stands out for its outstanding payroll management capabilities. It’s easy to navigate and incredibly fast, saving managers hours weekly.
PROS
- POS system integration
- Eliminate break violations through proactive alerts
- Customized reporting
- POS system integration
- Eliminate break violations through proactive alerts
- Customized reporting
CONS
- Some users have reported issues like a confusing interface, long loading times, and the platform logging out randomly.
- Some users have reported issues like a confusing interface, long loading times, and the platform logging out randomly.
Push Operations is a small business. This allows them to provide personalized customer service. Push stands out for its cloud-based payroll management system that saves lots of managerial time. The software is best for multi-location restaurants with 50+ employees.
The pricing plans are as follows:
- Starter - $5/user/month
- Pro - $6/user/month
- Premium - $10/user/month
- 50+ users - Custom pricing
You can book a demo before making a purchase.
Best For
Planday
Planday offers some of the most critical scheduling app features at an affordable price. Out of all the software we tested, Planday’s app stood out for its visual appeal and after-sales support. That being said, most users are able to figure out and use the app on their own.
PROS
- Automatic punch clock alerts prevent OT cases.
- Easily manage employee schedules, payroll, and timesheets.
- The app is highly customizable to suit the needs of your business.
- The development team is proactively fixes bugs and frequently releases new app updates
- Automatic punch clock alerts prevent OT cases.
- Easily manage employee schedules, payroll, and timesheets.
- The app is highly customizable to suit the needs of your business.
- The development team is proactively fixes bugs and frequently releases new app updates
CONS
- Daily reports don't show weekly overtime until the last day of the week.
- According to some reviews, the customer service has room for improvement.
- Limited mobile app functionality.
- The app asks for way too many access permissions on its host device which may be considered invasive by users.
- Compared to its competitors, such as Deputy, Zoomshift, and Sling, Planday offers a much less affordable solution.
- Daily reports don't show weekly overtime until the last day of the week.
- According to some reviews, the customer service has room for improvement.
- Limited mobile app functionality.
- The app asks for way too many access permissions on its host device which may be considered invasive by users.
- Compared to its competitors, such as Deputy, Zoomshift, and Sling, Planday offers a much less affordable solution.
Planday is most suitable for shift-based restaurants with multiple teams working with their schedules because it allows managers to create different schedules for different groups.
For this reason, the software is an excellent match for the needs of modern restaurants, bars, pubs, and similar businesses.
Ida Beate Wenstad, the restaurant manager at Heim in Norway, says that Planday makes it easy for her and her employees to plan their workdays and shifts without worrying about making calls to colleagues for shift management. She goes on to say that Planday allows her to maintain a bird’s eye view of the business while maintaining control over weekly staffing budgets.
Some of Planday’s prominent customers are Shell, Sophie’s, Riddle & Finns, Enoteca Da Luca, and Rumba Cabana.
The paid plans for Planday are:
The Starter and Plus plans come with a free trial. It’s important to note that the packages are sold in increments of five users. For example, if you have 13 users, you’d be billed for 15.
Best For
Planday is best for shift-based, labor-intensive restaurants with multiple locations that require forecasting and labor planning tools.
Planday allows us to plan our internal shift schedule effectively so that there is no confusion and constant coverage. We use Planday to track our customer success and other key operations shifts. The tool allows us to make quick edits to the shifts. It also clearly displays them for team members to review without issues. Planday allows team members to track their timeshare which simplifies the process of reviewing the productivity of team members
- The simple layout that shows the schedule clearly
- The ability to make quick adjustments to the schedule
- The overall user experience is intuitive
It's difficult to maintain all of the scheduling between our internal team. It's also difficult to track the productivity of other team members in a globally diverse team when some team members don't operate on set schedules. Planday tackles both of those problems with one product. We use it to track the timeshare of the team members as well as coordinate with select team members..
- The site has some longer load times when signing in after a long time
- The color scheme of the website could be better (Personal opinion not that there's anything wrong with it)
It provides a very intuitive experience to manage the entire shift process, from scheduling, tracking time and executing payroll
You should think about the number of members on your team that need to be on the shift and also the type of shift system that you have.
The product is constantly adding new features.
It's good for all organizations that have a shift system.
It wouldn't be good for organizations that predominantly operate on mindshare and are more deadline based rather than time spent.
Deputy
Deputy is a robust restaurant scheduling app. It stands out from its competitors due to its AI scheduling capabilities that make workforce management easier. Simply enter your team data and let Deputy take care of everything from shift scheduling to payroll.
PROS
- Create AI optimized employee schedules
- Eliminate no-shows with quick replacements
- Track unproductive time and breaks with precision
- Create AI optimized employee schedules
- Eliminate no-shows with quick replacements
- Track unproductive time and breaks with precision
CONS
- Limited reporting functionality
- Once published, upcoming schedules can’t be changed
- Limited reporting functionality
- Once published, upcoming schedules can’t be changed
Deputy is packed with valuable features. Its AI-powered employee scheduling gives it an edge over its competitors. The software is best for small restaurant owners who like to free up their time to focus on growing their business.
- Hubspot
- Ace Hardware
- Bondi Vet
- Silk Hospitality
- Dallas Air
- Au bon pain
Deputy offers a 31 day free trial. The paid annual plans are:
- Scheduling - $2.5/user/month
- Time & Attendance - $2.5/user/month
- Premium - $4.5/user per month
- Enterprise - Custom pricing
Best For
Medium to large organizations, especially those with frequent shift changes such as hospitality and retail.
We use Deputy to schedule 24/7 global operations with three shifts staffed with team members in multiple time zones. We have two managers who approve work hours and time off for 42 team members. The managers can view team members' availability and shift preferences, and they can see on the upcoming weeks' schedules who will be out based on approved time off requests. Managers can also see, based on each team member's hourly and overtime rates, how much labor cost a schedule will incur. The tool is also used to determine how many additional staff are needed.
I appreciate that it has all of the functionality you would expect from a scheduling system for a very reasonable price. As an admin, I like that I can see who is out on leave, any pending time off requests, and who is running late all at a glance. It also has a few additional features that you would not expect that are nice, such as announcing birthdays and anniversaries.
We purchased Deputy in December 2020 and are still using it for our global hourly team members. We needed to be able to have a scheduling application that worked with different shifts and time zones. Additionally, we needed it to integrate with BambooHR, since BambooHR does not have its own native scheduling application. The integration we needed was one that would push approved work time and paid time off over to BambooHR to be included in the US payroll. Other considerations included needing to allow shift swapping and needing to have different time off types for different groups of employees.
I highly dislike the fact that they do not seem to prioritize maintaining their integration with BambooHR. We've put in multiple help tickets over the course of more than a year trying to get the sync issues resolved, and it always goes nowhere. The reason this is a big deal is that people's approved hours and time off requests and balances are not being pushed over to the HR/Payroll system. This creates confusion for employees and has even resulted in people not being paid correctly more than once. So we no longer even bother relying on the integration and just assume it won't work properly and enter everything manually. The poor customer support on this issue combined with the lack of resolution is why we are actively evaluating alternative solutions.
Deputy has more functionality and customization than a solution like WhenIWork, and it's more likely to comply with timekeeping requirements for employees than something like Toggl which is designed for contractors. Deputy does not allow you to manage occurrences and warnings based on your company's time and attendance policy like TeamSense.
Make sure you consider the type of workforce and what wage and hour laws apply to them, including recordkeeping requirements, overtime criteria, maximum workweek, etc. Confirm that the system you're going to purchase is capable of complying with the requirements. Make sure the system you purchase will play nice with your other tools and is not redundant. Solicit feedback and gain buy-in from key stakeholders like supervisors/managers, IT, and Accounting before selecting a system.
Honestly, it seems to function the same as it did 2+ years ago. And the customer service has not gotten any better.
It works best for small to mid-sized organizations with compatible payroll systems.
Anyone who also uses BambooHR for HR and Payroll might have issues. Very large organizations might need something with more bulk action options, protected leave management, and corrective action warnings.
When I Work
When I Work offers a solid scheduling solution for small restaurants on a budget. The app takes an essentialist approach to workforce management by filtering out extra features and focusing on delivering high-quality employee scheduling and time tracking features.
PROS
CONS
When I Work is a powerful employee scheduling tool. Its ability to give managers an organization-wide view of staff scheduling makes it stand out. Even though businesses of all sizes use it, When I Work is ideal for employee scheduling software for small or medium-sized restaurants on a budget.
The paid plans are:
- Small Business - $2/user/month
- Enterprise - Custom quote
The Small Business plan comes with a free trial of up to 14-days.
Best For
I utilized it for 8 months. The primary function was schedule management - utilizing the platform to keep track of work schedules and shifts available to pick up. Additionally we utilized it for timekeeping purposes, generating reports from the system to pay 10-99 employees. The chat function was used, however sparingly due to preferred other platforms for this. We had users at multiple access levels, with leaders managing the schedules and reports.
- User-friendly interface in both the app and the web-based platform
- Easy to manage a high-volume of team members
- Solved our problems of needing a centralized scheduling system for multiple locations and a reliable time-keeping app
I utilized when-i-work while employed with JAG Physical Therapy. I have 8 months' experience utilizing the system. It was purchased to be a schedule management system to schedule, track time and attendance, and communicate with our hourly employees. The pain points leading to purchase included a need for an all-access central scheduling system that can accommodate multiple site locations. The key benefits included the ability to keep track of time off, employee availability, and manage shift swaps with a few clicks.
- The chat feature is clunky. We chose to utilized WhatsApp instead for security purposes
- Difficulty with integration into ADP payroll system
- Various aspects of the clock in/clock out logistics, with GPS tracking. This led to extra work when people forgot to clock in or out and had to manually enter
I preferred When-I-Work's App vs Deputy, however preferred the web-based interface of Deputy. It was easier to find settings for changes, easier to copy and duplicate shifts in a series with customization.
- Cost - When-I-Work is an affordable choice for what you get
- Other systems in your workplace - check for the ability to integrate
- Comparison of chat features vs other options - have to find what works best for you. Would be better if when-i-work was encrypted.
It became more user-friendly over the 8 months I utilized the app. The customer service team was helpful in solving challenges that arose.
Any multi-location entity
I cannot think of a situation where it wouldn't be helpful for tracking schedules and time cards.
Homebase
Homebase’s ability to present a centralized view of company-wide scheduling makes it unique. This centralized view offers customizable dashboards for users. Along with its paid features, the app offers a robust free plan that’s good enough for the needs of most small restaurants.
PROS
- Separate dashboards for managers and employees
- Real-time communication features allow for schedule changes on the move
- Requesting and approving paid time off is easy
- Great scheduling templates help managers streamline work
- Separate dashboards for managers and employees
- Real-time communication features allow for schedule changes on the move
- Requesting and approving paid time off is easy
- Great scheduling templates help managers streamline work
CONS
- Limited third-party integration support
- Additional features are somewhat expensive
- Limited third-party integration support
- Additional features are somewhat expensive
Homebase is one of the best restaurant employee scheduling applications. It allows restaurant owners to manage their team’s schedule, make changes, and send out alerts to employees accordingly. Homebase is best for hourly teams, which is why it’s well-suited to the restaurant industry.
Best For
Schedulefly
Launched in 2007, Schedulefly, to this day, remains one of the easiest apps to use. The software has a loyal user base of over 7000 restaurants.
PROS
- Coordinate with your team easily with one-click schedule sharing and instant notifications.
- Employees can trade shifts without a hassle by direct coordination.
- Requesting time off is a breeze with the option to add notes for more context.
- Coordinate with your team easily with one-click schedule sharing and instant notifications.
- Employees can trade shifts without a hassle by direct coordination.
- Requesting time off is a breeze with the option to add notes for more context.
CONS
- The tool does not offer a mobile app which significantly reduces its utility for off-site workers.
- The mobile site has very limited functionality and is not optimized for mobile experience which we found makes some of the workflows take longer.
- Does not integrate with any third-party software which means it cannot become a part of your existing HR and payroll process.
- The tool does not offer a mobile app which significantly reduces its utility for off-site workers.
- The mobile site has very limited functionality and is not optimized for mobile experience which we found makes some of the workflows take longer.
- Does not integrate with any third-party software which means it cannot become a part of your existing HR and payroll process.
Wes Aiken, the founder of Schedulefly, was a restaurant employee during his college years. Schedulefly was born as a result of the gaps Wes noticed in how employee scheduling is done in the restaurant business. Therefore, it’s safe to say that Schedulefly is specifically designed with restaurants in mind.
As a result, you get a tool that’s light, accessible from any web browser, and offers an efficient employee scheduling solution. As a restaurant, you can also take advantage of Schedulefly’s kitchen and menu management features. However, it’s worth noting that this isn’t the best software for large restaurants due to its limited features in terms of design, scalability, and security.
Sup Dogs, Baked & Wired, Le Farfalle, Avery Brewing
Schedulefly offers a simple pricing structure based on the number of staff you need to create accounts for. You can start with $30 per month for up to 19 users and scale up to 79 people at $60 per month. Beyond that level, you can request a custom quote.
Schedulefly offers a 30-day free trial for you to see whether the software meets your requirements. You don’t need a credit card to sign up.
The different pricing slabs offered by Schedulefly are:
Best For
Schedulefly is best for restaurants on a budget that are only looking for basic scheduling features.
What is Restaurant Scheduling Software?
Restaurant scheduling software is a program/app that allows restaurant managers to organize and automate scheduling processes for their staff with a host of features. These features include a customizable scheduling tool, attendance tracking, task management, etc.
According to a recent survey, restaurant managers spend as much as 20% of their time working on employee schedules every week. Restaurant scheduling software does the hard work for you, freeing up your time as a restaurant manager to focus on more important pursuits.
How much does restaurant scheduling software cost?
For small restaurants that only have a handful of employees with fixed shifts, most scheduling software offers basic features for free. But for more extensive operations, the subscription fee is typically between $1 - $4 per user per month or at a fixed price of $14 to $35 per month for unlimited users.
Last Advice: Which Is The Best Restaurant Scheduling Tool For You?
Restaurant schedule software is in high demand, and for good reason. It allows restaurant managers to automate operational work and focus on other aspects of their jobs.
When choosing scheduling software, managers need to carefully consider the features on offer. It's vital to match business needs with software features.
Restaurant sizes and needs vary widely. Therefore, it's hard to name a single software as the best one for all situations.
However, we hope our detailed analysis of some of the best available options will help you make the right choice.
We recommend that you try these tools since most of them offer free plans. For those without, you can schedule a demo and have their team give you a run down of the tool.
As a last piece note, most of the software here is all about scheduling. If you find that most feature lists don’t cover all that you’d need, that could be a sign that you need a more complex solution, like Workforce Planning Software.
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