10+ Best Restaurant Scheduling Software & Apps in 2024

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.

I appreciate that the app has a clean interface and is easy to use, which our employees also seem to like.

Our organization has been using this tool for over 15 months to schedule per diem employees, who are hired as needed. Previously, there was a significant inefficiency in coordinating between management and gig workers, particularly in contacting workers promptly. This platform allows temp workers to schedule themselves at any time of day, effectively resolving the issue and streamlining the scheduling process for gig workers.

Currently, there’s nothing specific that I dislike about the tool.

While there are competitors like UKG and Q-Genda that offer similar services, this tool stands out for our particular needs.

Consider whether you employ many temporary workers and if your workforce is tech-savvy enough to utilize mobile technology effectively. These factors are crucial in determining the suitability of this tool for your organization.

To my understanding, the services provided by this tool have not undergone significant changes since their inception.

This tool is highly effective for small organizations that rely heavily on part-time or temporary workers.

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

The platform is straightforward and user friendly. It allows me to keep track of any employee requests. Its tracker for employee disciplinary issues is easy to follow. The system is great for payroll management.

I have used Buddy Punch to manage employees for clients since 2021. The service is a platform that allows employees to have hands-on access to necessary information like time off and payroll. My clients were looking for an option that enabled them to track expenses, manage employees, and maintain disciplinary information for each member of the team i.e. late arrivals. It has been an affordable alternative to other products for my clients (particularly small team startups). Buddy Punch simple interface allows the HR team to keep track of important changes when I need legal guidelines or employee related team management.

I don’t have any major complaints about the product outside of it being difficult to contact support. The software can be slow to update but it is more than worth the price. It can take extra time to manually upload data.

Buddy Punch is pretty great in comparison to some of its competitors. The service is affordable and user friendly. For about $60 per year, you know what you are getting and your expectations are often exceeded.

Do you need a product that is more AI focused? Are you rapidly expanding and will you have time to manually update information?

I have used Buddy Punch since 2021 and it has been a consistent service. They have improved the loading time.

Buddy Punch is good for small-medium sized organizations that are easing their way into effective HR. At a $60 annual price point, it is easy to manage and offers simple functionality but a great experience.

I like the waiting room of ZOOM as it gives me full control management to managing the meetings and provides enough security because can determine who joins the meetings and what time they join the meeting which gives me a lot of security to prevent unauthorized users from access our confidential meetings, I also like the software stability, Zoom is stable and have not detected any downtime in the tool

We bought ZOOM to make online meetings with remote teams possible and to do webinars about marketing and launching new products and services within our organization, as well as to guide our clients on how to use our products and services. Zoom has helped us achieve clients who cannot access the physical events to have our pre-recorded events that they can watch on demand. I have used the software for five years

At times during the meeting, the software would disconnect even when you are connected to a strong internet connection which interferes with our meetings. The support team takes a lot of time to respond to calls and inquiries when you contact them even during business hours. The mobile application interface needs a lot of improvement because it becomes hard to recognize participants in the meeting when you are using the mobile application

They have fair pricing plans compared to other tools and their web application is fast and intuitively designed to meet our expectation

Good for the marketing team, sales team, and product team

• 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.

1. It is free! The free version of the app provides everything we need to solve our scheduling challenges.
2. It is user-friendly. The web app is great for monthly scheduling, and the mobile app works for our team to view their shifts, etc.
3. It was great that I could begin using it right away. There was no complicated onboarding process or steep learning curve.

I stumbled upon Homebase after a Google search looking for a scheduling tool. It has proven to be invaluable for coordinating the cleanings for my LLC's short-term rentals. Prior to using Homebase, we experienced significant challenges in efficiently managing and organizing the cleaning schedule for multiple properties with multiple members of our cleaning team. It was a time-consuming and error-prone process, resulting in delays and dissatisfaction among the team. We have used it for over three months now and have thoroughly enjoyed using the tool.

1. The system sends a lot of automated notifications (app alerts, emails, text messages).
2. There is a lot more functionality than we use it for, which is frustrating. We don't handle payroll, etc., through the app, but get notifications about these features all the time.
3. Limited customization; I don't need an alert every time there is a scheduling "conflict" because oftentimes one employee will handle the turnover for multiple properties in a given day. I wish I could customize my views, alerts, etc., to better meet our needs.

I have never used other scheduling tools so I'm unsure how it compares.

One thing to think about is how you will handle communication and collaboration. Homebase's communication tools work adequately but aren't very robust. I sometimes get better responses from our team by just texting them, so consider how the tool facilitates communication and collaboration among team members. Look for features such as real-time notifications, messaging capabilities, and the ability to easily share schedule updates and changes.

No changes that I'm aware of.

It's hard to answer this, but it's worked great for us - a small team of people managing short-term rental properties with a small team of people handling the scheduled cleanings for these properties.