In the restaurant industry, it’s crucial to get your team working together on the same page. This is not only for the benefit of your staff but also to keep your business running smoothly. Navigating scheduling and labor management can be tricky, so 7Shifts offers a platform that helps you meet labor targets and streamline employee scheduling.
If you want to know whether 7Shifts is right for your small business or venue, our review explores what 7Shifts is, who it is suited to, all its features, integrations, and overall monthly cost.
7Shifts Review
What is 7Shifts?
7Shifts is scheduling software designed for the restaurant industry. The software is designed to move restaurants away from basic spreadsheets for scheduling management. Using it, you can lower labor costs, keep employees happy, remain labor compliant in scheduling, and track staff attendance and performance.
The scheduling dashboard is accessible to both employees and the restaurant management team. It covers basic HR tasks like hiring, alerting employees of upcoming shifts, and allowing them to request time off. This platform also alerts managers to labor compliance discrepancies to help with better restaurant labor management.
Who is 7Shifts For?
7Shifts is popular with restaurant owners and management teams looking for ways to streamline scheduling and employee management while remaining labor compliant.
The scheduling software also supports business-employee communication, and you can use it to assess employee performance in teams of almost any size.
7shifts is suitable for most restaurants, including locally-owned restaurants, diners, eateries, and larger chain or fine dining establishments.
Features
Free Plan
7Shifts’ free plan includes most basic necessary functions that a team needs to cover entry-level restaurant schedule management. Currently, the free plan can accommodate an employee limit of thirty staff members per location, so it’s suited to smaller restaurants with less staff or to software trials.
Time Clocking
All plans include a free time clock app that your employees and scheduling manager can download on their mobile devices. This free app allows your staff to clock in and out of work through any electronic device with clock capabilities installed.
For time tracking, your team can generate reports on clocking times, overall employee attendance, and any requests that employees may have regarding their shifts - including time off. Managers may also personalize the application to prevent employees from clocking in when they have not been shifted.
Shift Scheduling
7Shifts’ has an optimal labor scheduling feature that allows you to track and manage employee shifts, get open shifts covered, and stay on top of important bookings and events happening at the venue. Employees can use the mobile app to track time management, get notified of schedule updates, and use the software to request extra shifts and time off.
Centralized Dashboard
The scheduling dashboard utilizes a drag and drop system for better overall labor management. Management can also use the hiring and applicant tracking features to find and hire new staff. Also included are staff communications tools, engagement tracking for employees, and payroll integration.
Detailed Reports
Paid plans include budget and forecasting capabilities to manage labor costs, project sales reports, and track employee leave and shift breaks.
On the most advanced package, you can have unlimited employees on your shift rosters and in the restaurant database, advanced budgeting and reporting tools, a manager day logbook feature, payroll integration, and compliance tools.
What Integrations are Available for 7Shifts?
Like most modern software platforms, 7shifts offers integrations with various restaurant systems to support optimized operations. Some of the most notable ones include Qu for POS and sales-related integrations, RUN powered by ADP for payroll integration, and Toast to improve overall restaurant operations.
In total, this restaurant scheduling software has nearly fifty integration partners. The list includes payment processors, POS systems, accounting software, food experience solutions, HR management, and loyalty programs to round out their offering. Using these, you can customize your system to suit your operations.
How Much Does 7Shifts Cost?
7Shifts currently has four offerings available to users. The first is a free plan ideal for a single location or small business getting started. This plan is limited to a single location and can store up to 30 employees.
From there, 7Shifts offers an Entree package for about $30/month if you have multiple locations. This package includes the scheduling module and other basic functions, as well as various other features to improve operating efficiency.
The Works costs about $70/month, includes all-in-one management tools, and can accommodate an unlimited number of employees.
Depending on your subscription, 7Shifts offers paid add-ons for tools like labor performance and engagement tracking, a manager log book, task checklists, and tip pooling to help calculate and distribute tips among employees or staff members.
If you are a small business looking for a professional tool, these add-ons can start to stack up.
If you are interested in using 7Shifts software for enterprises and chain restaurants, you will have to contact the team for custom pricing. The customizable subscription includes additional features like onboarding and implementation and devoted account management.
Pros:
- Optimal labor feature
- Suited for restaurants of all sizes
- Free scheduling module to create schedules and post events
- Time clock app for better employee management
- Includes features for time off requests and HR management
- POS and payroll integration
- Manually add projected sales for better projections
- User friendly for management and staff
- Labor forecasting
Cons:
- Mobile app can lag or be challenging to use
- Inability to allocate employee roles
- Wage predictions are not always accurate
- Time clock requires code to modify
- Clunky when scheduling recurring shifts
Conclusion
7Shifts’ restaurant management software can help you manage your team’s monthly schedule, timesheets, tasks, and communication in one place. It’s been designed specifically for restaurants and is relatively affordable. The free plan can give you a taste of the software, and the list of features is comprehensive.
If you get into the space of hosting events at your restaurant, we would like to introduce you to Perfect Venue. It’s an all-in-one venue and event management tool that can take care of your event calendar, generate documents such as BEOs and other PDFs in seconds, and streamline event task management.
Like 7Shifts, you can try us out for free or request a demo from the team.
