7shifts Expert Reviews, Pricing, Alternatives - 2023

7Shifts combines an array of functionalities such as their innovative AI-powered auto-scheduler, in-app messaging, applicant tracking, and time tracking all in one restaurant tech platform. This is not the case with the majority of systems in this category.

7Shifts is an employee scheduling tool specifically designed for restaurant managers. One thing we love about this software is that it not only gives you the ability to manage work schedules, it also provides a range of other functionalities including timesheet management, approvals, communication, and tips management all in one place. It is essentially an HR software for the restaurant industry.

The company’s core values center on speed and simplicity. From the way the system is set up, you can notice this theme all around. As the administrator/manager, for example, you can easily set up your company account and assign shifts, giving you the time to focus on the more important business end of things. 

Scheduling tasks is just as easy. Managers are able to assign tasks on a calendar-view schedule page. An interesting feature of this page is the live weather forecast you get for each day of the week. This is quite helpful for alfresco-style dining restaurants and cafes. 

7Shifts is available on mobile devices and as a web app. Employees primarily use the mobile application while the web app is mostly for restaurant owners, managers, and administrators. The web app has a dashboard interface that gives you the ins and outs of your operation vis-a-vis sales, labor activities, and costs. These metrics are usually represented on a chart for easy analysis.

As part of their HR offerings, you get to manage hiring, attendance, and payroll from your 7Shifts account. The software integrates with a ton of payroll systems including Quickbooks, ADP, and Gusto, so you can pay employees without having to switch to other systems. Their most interesting integration category is point of sale, because it integrates with several parts of the system. You can, for example, extract data from the POS system onto the scheduling interface for budgetary purposes. Where you get to compare your actual sales to your projected sales. 

7Shifts also offers an auto-scheduling feature. The auto-scheduler uses artificial intelligence to automatically create schedules based on your restaurant’s labor, staff availability, and compliance metrics. This will prove helpful for users with recurring, consistent work schedules through all departments and locations. If you prefer a more hands-on approach and not leave everything to the computer, you can always use the templates to create, copy, and paste recurring tasks. These features are very on-brand with their simplicity philosophy.

7Shifts would not be a good fit for restaurants that have surge seasons. This would mean you have to constantly alternate between their price plans because there is a limit to the number of employees each plan can accommodate. Doing this over time can be expensive.

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• Auto-Scheduler: The auto-rescheduler is an AI-powered feature that uses machine learning to adapt to your processes and workflow. It takes into consideration recurrent activities on specific days and other metrics to recommend the best way to schedule your labor for optimal efficiency. The AI-powered auto-scheduler also predicts sales based on previous data. It tells you the days you make the most sales, days with the most demands, and it creates ways to utilize labor to satisfy demand without, of course, causing overtime and labor violations.  
• Shift pooling: 7Shifts allows you set shifts which your employees can then bid for. If bids are approved, the schedule would be automatically updated. 
• In-app messaging and communication: 7Shifts makes it possible for users to communicate via 1-on-1 messaging or in group chats. The mobile app notifies employees of upcoming shifts and tells them when they need to take a breather with the automated break alerts. Managers also get real-time updates when tasks are completed or for pending and outstanding assignments. 
• Manager logbook: To further help managers organize and oversee activities, 7Shifts have made available a virtual manager logbook. With the logbook feature, managers will be able to document important shift details and track issues if need be. It is also a great reference material as the logbook can be archived for future use. The most interesting thing about this feature is that you can synchronize data from integrated third party tools or the time tracking system on the platform to give more context to documented operations.     
• Hiring and candidate tracking: With 7Shifts, you also get an applicant tracking system. You will be able to recruit, track, and hire candidates from online job boards. The good part of this is, the recruitment interface is not as complicated as the ones professional agencies use. It features a simplistic UI that allows you create job postings by filling out a couple of fields on the job post builder. Hiring stages can also be tracked to keep things organized for you and your candidate.  ‍
• Time tracking: If you want to keep track of your employees’ time, you can do so with 7Shifts’ proprietary time tracking software — 7Punches. 7Punches is a clocking system that allows your employees clocking in and out during shifts. The timesheet generated with the system can be synced with payroll systems for swift payments.

7Shifts integrates with about 50 third-party platforms to further streamline your restaurant operations. Some key integrations include ADP Workforce Now, Ceriian Powepay, Clover, Gusto, Paychex, Paycor, Quickbooks, and Square POS.

7Shifts offers three plans with fixed pricing and one with custom pricing. You can also purchase add-ons as needed. The plans are as follows:

• Comp: This is their free plan and it comes with basic scheduling and ATS features. The plan supports only 30 users per location. 
• Entree: This plan costs $34.99 per location per month, but you can save about 10% if you pay annually. It is a little upgrade from the comp plan with reporting and budgeting added to the mix. It also supports only 30 employees per location.
• The Works: This plan costs $76.99 per location per month ($69.99 when billed annually). It offers all 7Shifts features to give you an all-in-one restaurant team management platform.
• Gourmet: The Gourmet plan is their custom plan. What separates this plan for the previous ones is that it comes with a dedicated account manager.

7Shifts also provides some add ons including:

• Task management: Costs $12.99 per location per month
• Tip pooling: Costs $24.99 per location per month
• Operations overview: Costs $6.99 per location per month‍
• Manager logbook: Costs $14.99 per location per month

7Shifts is a great choice for restaurants that want a little bit of human resource management together with the scheduling.

7Shifts will assign a dedicated account manager to help you through your onboarding process. You also have the option on their custom plan to keep the account manager at your beck and call, even after the implementation process. You also get several resource articles including blogs, articles, and support how-to videos to get you acquainted with the software. To make their customers perform even better in their restaurant businesses, they have put in place a ree online restaurant and hospitality management courses which they offer through the 7Shifts academy.

Jordan Boesch, founder and CEO of 7Shifts, got the idea for 7Shifts when he realized how painful it was for his father to manage the chain of Quizno’s businesses he owned at the time. To lighten the workload, Jordan wrote a simple program that allowed his father to upload schedules on worksheets, which could be downloaded by his employees. 7Shifts later became an iteration of that idea on a massive scale.

The software debuted in 2014 and at the time, started as a simple tool to help simplify team management and improve performance for restaurants. Today, it has helped restaurant owners schedule over 1 billion hours, published 200 million shifts, and raised a total of $131 million in funding. Their recent round was an $80 million Series C funding led by a London-based venture capital firm — Softbank Vision Fund. 7Shifts is trusted by 700,000+ restaurant pros across 27,000 locations around the world.

Does 7Punches come together with 7Shifts?

7Shifts does not come out of the box with their time tracking app, 7Punches. It is a free, companion app to 7Shifts that syncs time data to the scheduling tool.

Does 7Tasks come together with 7Shifts?  

No. It does not. It comes as an add-on that costs $12.99 per location per month.