The Perfect Blend: How to Schedule Your Coffee Baristas Like a Pro

Something’s brewing!

If you own a business, you know that keeping your staff together while putting the customer first isn’t easy. And if you own a coffee shop? Add the hustle of the 6am rush and cranky, pre-coffee patrons to the equation.

Every company needs to prioritize effective employee scheduling. With the hectic environment of even the smallest local cafe, it quickly becomes something that makes or breaks the chances of success.

A lot of cafes and other customer service companies use employee scheduling tools and restaurant scheduling tools to make their place run like a well-oiled espresso machine.

Remember these important pieces of advice as you begin cafe scheduling. Before you know it, you’ll be able to turn to coffee barista scheduling software to get the job done right every time.

Top tips for cafe scheduling

You don't need loads of caffeine to schedule your coffee baristas the right way. Check out these top tips for getting started.

Organize needs ahead of time

When you first start thinking about what your cafe needs, you’re going to have to answer a lot of questions. Can the cafe run with just two baristas? Which days of the week or times of day will you need more? Should there be one person completely dedicated to taking orders? Your honest responses will help you identify what’s required in terms of scheduling and overall staffing.

Scheduling in advance gives you time to work with any conflicts or issues that may come up as employees see their allocated workloads. When you actually begin shift scheduling your coffee baristas, a lot will depend on your staff’s individual skills and strong points.

Schedule by skill set

Scheduling for a coffee shop begins before an employee is hired. The interview process is the best way to start planning for the future by hiring people with tried-and-true skill sets that can work together to create a well-rounded working environment. 

Sometimes, you'll have employees who are stronger in some areas than others. For example, you might have a barista who's efficient at pulling espresso shots but not very quick with cleaning equipment. You may have another who will easily clean the equipment with time to spare but is still learning to use a POS system.

It’s your job to identify and make a note of everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. That way, you can schedule accordingly, so every shift has someone who performs every element of the business confidently and successfully.

Get familiar with regulations

No cafe owner wants to get in legal trouble because they didn’t schedule employees in accordance with local laws. 

The FLSA is especially important as you create the schedule for your employees. Failure to adhere to all of these regulations can result in hefty fines or complete dissolution of your business.

Stay flexible

One of the main reasons people look for cafe jobs is flexibility. Covering shifts is tradition in food service. Employee scheduling starts with identifying the cafe’s needs, but you will fail if you don’t consider the needs of your staff.

It takes effort, but you can accommodate a large group of employees within the constraints of the limited hours that they can offer you while meeting the demands of your coffee business.

Be considerate of staff members enrolled in school, who have second jobs, work part-time, are caretakers, or have other pressing responsibilities. Showing that you care makes the employees more comfortable, and in turn, they’ll be more honest about their calendars. Scheduling becomes a collaborative process, which makes staff feel valued.

Staying flexible includes being open to last-minute shift swaps and keeping on-call employees in mind in the event of an emergency. Make sure you can always step in yourself if necessary.

Encourage open communication

If you want to create a scheduling process that runs smoothly for all parties involved, let your employees communicate freely about their schedules. Giving them the ownership to speak openly helps avoid job burnout and increases satisfaction so they can have a healthy work-life balance. 

Further, make you have a method of training employees about the scheduling process, and that the schedule itself is easy to read and understand. Your employees need flexibility, but as an owner and employer, you have to schedule them as consistently as possible.

Edit the process

Even the most perfect of cafe schedules has areas that need improvement. Consider reevaluating your scheduling process every other quarter to continue fine-tuning.

Don’t be afraid of collecting feedback from employees – the scheduling process should be mutually beneficial.

When you do decide to make changes, no matter how small, make sure you’re communicating with employees every step of the way to avoid bigger issues and miscommunications down the road. Prioritizing these strong workforce management processes is essential for the big picture. 

What is coffee barista scheduling software?

Employee scheduling is a process that requires management to create fair work schedules for employees and ensure that operations run smoothly. This requires expertise, time, and careful observation. Thankfully, automated scheduling solutions offer a variety of solutions for businesses to choose from to make the process a lot easier.

Employee scheduling software

Employee scheduling software helps companies manage their resources more efficiently, improve business performance, and reduce costs.

These tools automate scheduling, organize all employee tasks in one place, and track time off requests.

Restaurant scheduling software

A lot of factors play into selecting scheduling software, but the goal remains the same: maximum productivity and minimal costs. That’s why many business owners use restaurant scheduling software to handle their food service shift schedules.

Restaurant scheduling software gives companies the tools to create virtual calendars to organize time tracking, communicate with employees directly, make quick changes, and increase visibility throughout the staff.

How to choose the right coffee barista scheduling software

What do you do after you’ve identified that automation is the right fit for your company? Keep the following tips in mind as you search for that perfect sip of software. 

• Outline your needs. What kind of software are you looking for? You may want one with simple scheduling features, or you might be looking for more robust solutions that include payroll software or time tracking software integrations. Determine these needs, so the search is organized.
• Gather feedback. Searching for new software is a great time to collect feedback from other people in the company to see what they think is lacking in the current process.
• Start researching. Once you know what you need, you’re ready to dive into the big search. Compare all software to your checklist, and consider reaching out to software companies for a personalized quote.
• Assess your budget. After searching, you’ll get a good idea of the range of prices for scheduling software. Work internally to solidify exactly what your budget is and how much of it you can allocate to potential onboarding, installation, and maintenance costs.
• Read customer reviews. Don’t take all the software promises at face value. Search for some customer reviews to find out exactly how real users feel about every tool on your shortlist. Consider using G2 to speed up the process.
• Take advantage of demos. Sign up for any free trials that are available. Use that opportunity to see whether that tool would fit into your current ways of working. Remember to keep track of when your free trials end, so you don’t get charged for an entire plan.

Don’t get roasted

I know this information might feel like a latte, but if it’s too overwhelming, you can always chai again later. 

In all seriousness, planning ahead like your company depends on it (cuz it does) is the only way to schedule your baristas successfully. It’s a tall order, but with some time and effort, no one will ever have to pull a double again.

Trust me – not following these tips would be a grande mistake.

Looking for more ways to upgrade how you run your business? Check out these restaurant management best practices to take your game to the next level.