Restaurant employee scheduling software that survives Friday night
Build front-of-house and back-of-house schedules, approve shift swaps in two taps, and keep your team in sync without group texts. Free for up to 15 employees, no credit card required.
If you run a restaurant, you've felt this on a Sunday afternoon
Friday-night chaos
A line cook calls out at 5 p.m. Three servers are texting about a swap. Your phone is on fire and the floor is filling up. The current schedule lives in a spreadsheet that nobody can edit on their phone, and by the time you've fixed it, the rush is already happening.
FOH and BOH scheduling tetris
Servers, bartenders, hosts, line cooks, dishwashers, prep - each role has its own availability, certifications, and break rules. Stitching them into one schedule that respects everyone's hours, sections, and overtime caps is a job in itself.
Owners doubling as schedulers
Every Sunday afternoon goes to building next week's rota in Excel, then re-sending it on WhatsApp because two people missed the email. By the time you're done, you've already lost the day off you were trying to take.
Built for the way restaurants actually run
Every Emplora feature was designed with hourly, shift-based teams in mind - the people running your floor, your line, and your bar.
Split-shift and double-shift support
Schedule a server for lunch, off in the afternoon, then back for dinner - without miscounting their hours or accidentally double-booking them on a swap.
Shift swaps with one-tap approval
Servers and cooks request swaps directly from their phone. You see who's qualified, click approve, and the schedule updates everywhere instantly.
QR code and PIN access - no email required
Hourly staff scan a QR or enter a PIN to see their shifts. No app store download, no password reset on a smudged screen, no one left out because they don't check email.
Roles and teams
Tag staff by team and role (server, bartender, line cook, prep). Filter the schedule by team to spot a gap before service starts.
Time-off and sick leave in one place
Staff submit time-off and sick leave from their phone; you see the conflict the moment you drop a shift on an approved day off. No more accidentally scheduling someone on the day they asked off three weeks ago.
Real-time push notifications
When you publish or change a shift, the affected staff get notified on their phone in seconds. No "I didn't see the message" excuses.
From spreadsheet to live schedule in 15 minutes
1. Add your team
Type names and roles, generate PINs, print or text the QR code. No email collection, no onboarding emails to chase. A new line cook is on the schedule the day they start.
2. Build the week
Drag and drop shifts onto the calendar. Copy last week, edit the gaps. Conflicts (double-bookings, time-off clashes) flag themselves so you don't ship a broken schedule.
3. Publish - and get your Sunday back
One click. Everyone gets notified. Swaps and call-outs flow back to you through the same screen, not five different group chats.
Restaurant scheduling questions, answered
The Free plan covers one location and up to 15 employees with weekly and monthly schedule views, QR/PIN access, and shift management. Paid plans add multi-location support, shift swap workflows, payroll exports, and analytics. There's no credit card required to start, and the free plan stays free. If you want to preview Professional there is an optional 30-day no-card trial that falls back to the free plan when it ends, leaving anything over the free limits locked, not deleted.
No. Emplora is one of the few scheduling tools designed specifically so frontline staff don't need email or app accounts. They scan a QR code or enter a PIN on any browser to see their shifts, request swaps, and submit time-off. This matters in kitchens where staff turn over fast and not everyone is reachable on email.
Every swap routes through the teammate first (they accept or decline), then comes to a manager for one-tap approval - most operators want that final say for liability and labour cost control. The whole exchange happens in Emplora, not in a group chat.
Yes. You can schedule the same employee for multiple non-overlapping shifts in one day (lunch + dinner, for example), and double-booking is flagged the moment you try it. Hours reports count every shift, so split days don't get miscounted.
On the Professional plan, the Labour cost report prices the week's scheduled hours from each employee's pay rate - per person and in total. Check it at any point while you build, so you see projected labour spend before the week runs, not after.
Coming from Homebase? See how Emplora compares on pricing, features, and what each is genuinely better for.
Emplora vs. HomebaseGet your Sundays back
Build your first restaurant schedule in 15 minutes. Free forever for one location.