What’s the best restaurant workforce management software? It’s the one that gives you time back and keeps labor costs in check. Look for one connected platform built for restaurants, with scheduling, time clocking, communication, tips, and payroll in one place.
That’s how 7shifts, the HR platform for restaurants, is built, so your managers aren’t stitching apps together.
The role of a restaurant manager is always in motion. There’s always something else to get done, a new fire to put out, and broken things to fix.
All of that on top of the everyday tasks from scheduling to payroll to reporting can catch up to you.
But there are several different tools to help you manage your restaurant—from single shifts and tasks to top-level overviews showing your business’s health. These tools can help you start spending more time doing what you love and growing your business for the future.
What is restaurant workforce management software?
Restaurant workforce management software helps you run your hourly team in one place. It covers hiring, scheduling, time tracking, tips, payroll, and retention. Think of it as restaurant HR software built for shift work.
Restaurants need a purpose-built tool because restaurant work doesn’t fit a 9-to-5 template. Shifts change every week, and servers and bartenders earn tipped wages. Staff turnover means you’re often hiring and training someone new. In August 2026, the monthly quits rate in accommodation and food services was 3.5% (preliminary), according to the BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.
Some cities and states also have predictive scheduling laws. For example, NYC’s Fair Workweek Law requires fast food employers to post schedules 14 days ahead, and Oregon’s predictive scheduling law covers large food service employers. And when you add a second or third location, each of these challenges multiplies. Spreadsheets and generic scheduling apps weren’t built for that much change.
Tom Schmidt of Salt + Smoke wrote schedules by hand for years before he made the switch:
“I’d just been writing schedules with pen and paper for so long that I was like, ‘Ah, I don’t need this’… I didn’t get how incredible it was to give your staff the autonomy to block out their availability to offer up shifts and have other people get them covered, rather than calling me and saying, ‘Tom, I’m sick.’ And then I’m going around scrambling… I’m spending so much of my time when I’m busy doing a million other things managing other people’s schedules for them individually.”
Workforce management tools for your restaurant team
The first 10 tools cover your team, and the last four are operations tools that should connect to them.
1. Employee scheduling software
Say goodbye to frustrating spreadsheets, paper schedules, and confusing text message chains. Creating analog schedules is time-consuming, and you also won’t collect any scheduling data.
There is a better way—employee scheduling software. With cloud-based scheduling tools, you can easily make schedules, edit them as needed, and track your labor overtime to make smarter decisions.
Good restaurant employee scheduling software builds schedules around your sales forecast and labor targets. You’ll see projected labor costs before you publish, so you don’t overstaff a slow Tuesday night.
Your team can set their availability and ask for time off in the app. Managers approve shift swaps from their phones, so nobody has to chase a group text.
Running more than one location? Reusable templates let you copy a proven schedule to every store. That way, your restaurant labor scheduling software works the same way for every GM.
2. Time clocking
Time-clocking software is a must-have tool for your restaurant. With time-clocking software, employees clock in and out with the touch of a button. Plus, the software syncs directly with your restaurant’s payroll to automatically calculate hours worked.
Restaurant time clocking software can also help prevent early clock-ins, cutting back on labor costs.
And compliance? Not a problem with enforced break times and shift lengths. The software will quickly calculate overtime and keep secure records of your team’s hours.
3. Employee communication tools
When it comes to employee communications, texting and phone calls get the job done. But the constantly moving and shifting nature of the restaurant industry deserves a dedicated and agile tool.
Having a secure, business-centric communication tool allows you to share schedules and announcements instantly. It also makes it easier for your employees to request time off and address payroll concerns like missing punches.
General chat apps can connect your team online, but they lack restaurant features like shift-linked announcements and read receipts.
4. Task management software
The best way to keep your restaurant running smoothly is by making checklists of all of the little things. From cleaning flat tops to refilling sanitizers, it’s easy for tasks to get lost in the shuffle.
Paper checklists work well enough for the occasional list, but when you have to print them off every day, it becomes yet another thing to do. And the laminated paper and dry-erase method just gets messy.
That’s where task management software comes in. It’s a great way to streamline your tasks, with separate checklists for each role and shift. It also allows you to track your team’s productivity.
Not sure if something got done earlier in the week? Task management software maintains historical data of tasks completed.
5. Manager log books
Even if it’s just a shared cloud document, you need a centralized place for your managers to exchange information. This keeps information from getting lost in the text and email shuffle. It also gets rid of those frustrating sticky notes all over your POS.
Management log books also cut down on confusion. When customer complaints or employee concerns come up, each manager can get up to speed just by reading the log book. Managers can also use the book to prepare for shifts on their own time and keep track of wins and losses.
6. Tip management
At many restaurants, servers need to complete tip pools and tip payouts at the end of each shift. In a tip pool, employees combine their tips and split them evenly among tipped staff. With tip payouts, servers share portions of their tips with other staff members, such as bartenders, hosts, and food runners.
Tip management software takes that end-of-shift math off your team’s plate. It calculates pools and payouts automatically from hours worked and sales.
Automated tip pooling can handle layered tip-outs, like servers tipping out runners and runners tipping out the kitchen. It also keeps a record of every payout, so you can settle disputes fast and back up your numbers.
7. Payroll automation
Using payroll software is a great alternative to hiring a payroll specialist or agency. The benefits of using payroll software are substantial and become even more powerful with integrations.
Payroll software syncs directly with your time clock and scheduling software. This automates wage calculations, overtime pay, and tax and benefit withholdings. There’s no relying on manual calculations, so you’ll have fewer payroll errors and spend less time at the computer.
Good restaurant payroll software also handles tipped wages, multiple pay rates for one employee, and tips that flow straight into payroll.
8. Labor management reporting
When synced with your sales data, labor management reporting tools give you full insight into your restaurant. This helps you make informed staffing decisions by tracking where your labor dollars are going, identifying reliable employees, and comparing projected vs. actual hours.
The most useful reports run in real time. You can track your labor cost percentage against sales while the shift is still running.
You can also compare scheduled hours to actual hours and spot overtime before it hits payroll. So you can send someone home early before a slow night turns into a costly labor week.
Joanna Hart of Palm Coffee Bar checks these numbers every day:
“I check the numbers on 7shifts every day. ’Cause I can see who’s clocked in, who’s working. I can estimate how much labor I have left for the day and what that number’s actually gonna look like… It’s just enough information… I’m using that tool every day nonstop.”
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9. Labor compliance
Labor laws vary from city to city, and missed rules can lead to penalties. In 2025, NYC enforcement under the Fair Workweek Law resulted in $300,000 in civil penalties and costs for four companies. In California, a missed meal period means one additional hour of pay for the employee. Labor compliance tools flag issues before you publish a schedule, so you can fix them first.
Fair workweek rules, also called predictive scheduling laws, require advance schedule notice in some cities and states. Break, meal, and minor labor rules vary by location, too. Look for software that can:
- Flag schedule changes that break fair workweek notice rules.
- Remind managers when an employee is due for a meal or rest break.
- Catch shifts that break minor labor rules on hours and times.
- Warn you before someone goes into overtime.
Felice Ekelman of Jackson Lewis explains why the rules depend on where each location operates:
“In New York, you could have a single franchise of a national franchise, and you could be subject to the laws that require scheduling notice and penalties if you change schedules without notice…California has meal and rest break legislation on the books which requires excellent record keeping and you have to know when penalties are to be paid for a missed meal and rest break.”
Set compliance rules for each location, and your managers won’t have to memorize every local law.
10. Hiring, onboarding, and training
Turnover means you’re hiring often. Restaurant HR software helps you fill open shifts faster and get new hires ready sooner.
With hiring software, you can post jobs and track applicants in one place. New hires then move straight into onboarding paperwork they can finish on their phones.
Digital training gets new staff up to speed before their first shift. And a smooth first week gives them a reason to stay.
Operations tools that connect to your workforce platform
These tools run the guest side of your restaurant, and they’re most useful when their data flows into scheduling and labor reporting.
11. Point-of-sale (POS) system and kiosk ordering
Your point-of-sale system, or POS, is the technology that your team uses to process customer orders quickly and send them directly to the kitchen. POS systems also accept a variety of contactless payment methods, including debit cards, credit cards, and mobile payment systems.
It’s important to note that your POS system is not a comprehensive restaurant management tool, but rather one piece of the overall puzzle. A well-designed restaurant POS system will integrate directly with other tools you’re using, such as task management, tip management, and restaurant inventory management.
Many restaurants add kiosk ordering as an extension of their POS.
Your busy customers don’t always have time to wait in line. Kiosk ordering tools speed up the ordering process, making it easier to keep up during a mealtime rush. Many customers are comfortable with self-serve ordering. A solid majority of consumers say they’d be comfortable ordering and paying through kiosks and other digital channels, according to the NRA’s 2026 State of the Restaurant Industry.
With kiosk ordering, your customers place orders digitally, rather than talking to a cashier. They receive a number, and the order is sent directly to the kitchen.
This allows your team to focus entirely on fulfilling orders when it’s busy, rather than payment processing. Kiosk ordering also makes it easy for customers to browse the entire menu at a glance and request order modifications as needed.
Many fast food chains already have successful kiosk setups, with McDonald’s being one of the most prominent. Kiosks can support a positive customer service experience. As of 2022, large chains also said kiosks helped them handle front of house (FOH) labor challenges.
12. Inventory management and food cost tracking
Inventory management software helps you monitor your restaurant’s stock levels. It integrates with your POS system and other restaurant tools to keep track of your stock and let you know when you’re running low. This helps prevent stockouts, which are frustrating for customers and back of house (BOH) and can hurt your restaurant’s bottom line.
Additionally, inventory management tools can help you prevent unnecessary waste. You’ll be able to track how much of each item you’re consuming and adjust future order quantities as needed. Examples of restaurant inventory management platforms include MarginEdge and MarketMan.
Your POS ties these tools to your team, too. When sales data flows into both inventory and scheduling, you can plan prep and staffing from the same forecast.
Knowing what’s on your shelves is half the picture. The other half is what those ingredients cost you.
The cost of food changes regularly based on supply and demand. Food cost tracking tools integrate with your inventory management to monitor the cost of your ingredients.
You’ll get detailed daily reports on price changes and even price forecasting. You can then use this information to adjust your menu, make purchasing decisions, or change your pricing. Examples of food cost tracking tools include Meez and MarginEdge.
13. Restaurant analytics software
Restaurant analytics software takes your sales, inventory, and employee data and analyzes it, looking for trends and patterns. These analytics will help you identify key customer patterns.
For example, analytics can help you identify which shifts are most lucrative and which menu items are most popular with customers. This information can then influence your marketing initiatives.
Analytics will also give you a closer look at your restaurant’s operations, letting you track labor costs and other internal expenses to determine the profitability of specific spending decisions. Margins are tight: 42% of operators said their restaurant wasn’t profitable in 2025, according to a National Restaurant Association analysis. That makes these financial analytics especially important for long-term planning.
Labor analytics from your workforce platform pair well with POS sales reporting, giving you a fuller view of your restaurant data.
14. Reservation tracking
If your restaurant accepts reservations, you’ll need a tracking tool to manage them. Reservation-tracking tools allow customers to make and edit reservations online. Your team can also adjust reservations directly.
Reservation-tracking tools use your dining room’s capacity and floor plan, which helps prevent overbooking. These tools also send email and text message reminders to customers who have upcoming reservations.
This helps prevent expensive no-shows. Popular reservation-tracking apps include OpenTable, Tock, and Resy.
How to choose the best restaurant workforce management software
The best restaurant workforce management software is the one your managers and staff will use every day. Use these seven criteria to compare your options, and ask each vendor the matching question.
| What to look for | Question to ask the vendor |
|---|---|
| Built for restaurants | Does it handle tips, split shifts, and FOH and BOH roles without workarounds? |
| One connected platform | Can I run scheduling, time clocking, tips, and payroll with one login? |
| POS and payroll integrations | Which POS and payroll providers do you connect with? |
| A mobile app staff will use | Can employees check schedules, swap shifts, and clock in from their phones? |
| Built-in labor compliance | Does it flag break, overtime, and fair workweek issues before I publish? |
| Multi-location visibility | Can I see schedules and labor costs for every location in one view? |
| Clear pricing and a free trial | Is pricing published, and can I try it with my team before I commit? |
- Built for restaurants. Tipped wages, split shifts, and FOH and BOH roles should work without workarounds.
- One connected platform. One login and one source of truth save you from apps that don’t share data.
- POS and payroll integrations. Sales data should feed your schedule, and hours and tips should flow straight into payroll.
- A mobile app staff will use. If your team won’t open it, shift swaps end up back in group texts.
- Built-in labor compliance. The software should catch break, overtime, and fair workweek issues before the schedule goes out.
- Multi-location visibility. You should see every store’s schedules and labor costs in one view.
- Clear pricing and a free trial. A hands-on trial shows you what you’re paying for before you sign.
Josh Sharkey of meez suggests one question to ask before you switch:
“The question you always have to ask is… will this be a tool that will require my team in order to be successful, or will this be something that my team will require to be successful? Does the tool rely on the team, or does the team rely on the tool? … If they have to do all this work and it’s a chore for them, then they’re not going to be super happy.”
— Josh Sharkey, meez
We built 7shifts, the HR platform for restaurants, with these criteria in mind.
The impact of restaurant management tools on employees
Proper restaurant management benefits your entire team, from hosts to servers to chefs. More efficient operations and better communication create a less stressful work environment for everyone.
Employee experience
Restaurant management software digitizes tasks like clocking in and out, tip pooling, and training. Speeding up these daily tasks helps your team stay organized on the job. It also minimizes confusion and stress, particularly during busy shifts.
By improving the overall employee experience, your team is more likely to reach its full potential. They’ll also pass that great experience onto your customers.
Employee engagement
Restaurant management tools give your team real-time feedback on their performance, as well as ways to improve. These tools also make it easier for managers and employees to communicate—and help your team feel supported and engaged at work.
Employee retention
Employee turnover is a huge challenge in the current restaurant market. Running your restaurant efficiently shows your employees that you respect their time and value their talent, making them more likely to stay on board. An effective restaurant management system is a key part of building a positive environment.
Employee communication
Juggling emails, texts, and social media messages from your employees quickly gets confusing. This scattered approach to communication can also result in frustrating misunderstandings. Restaurant management tools help you keep communication in one place so everyone’s on the same page, even across multiple locations.
The benefits of using tools for restaurant efficiency
When you look at your restaurant’s current operations, what’s holding you back from growth? Chances are, it all comes down to limited efficiency—and restaurant management tools can help get you over that hump and take it to the next level.
More time for other essential tasks
Routine tasks are what keep your restaurant moving, but they’re also boring and time-consuming. Management tools automate many of these essential tasks for you. This gives your team more time to improve your business strategy.
Use this extra time to improve your menu, develop supplier relationships, and implement new operations strategies. You can also focus on training and team-building, which benefits the entire team.
Enhanced customer service
Your customers will notice when you make your operations more efficient. Your team will have more time to connect with each person and create a memorable customer experience. Restaurant management tools can even help you speed up ordering and collect helpful customer feedback.
Opportunities for creativity and innovation
To stay relevant in a competitive restaurant market, you’ll need to keep innovating. Restaurant management tools save you time, giving you more room in your schedule to be creative. You’ll be able to play around with new menu ideas, test new marketing strategies, or even plan community events.
Proactive problem-solving
If you don’t address problems in your restaurant right away, they’ll spiral out of control. With so much to do in a short period of time, your team needs to be able to adapt quickly when things change.
Management tools provide real-time data and analytics at the touch of a button. This helps your team identify problems more quickly and make informed decisions.
Process optimization
Restaurant processes aren’t set in stone, and there are always opportunities to make your business more efficient. Using restaurant management tools can help you identify and change processes that would otherwise increase costs, cause supply waste, and hurt employee productivity.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best restaurant workforce management software?
Pick one platform built for restaurants that connects scheduling, time clocking, tips, and payroll. That’s exactly what 7shifts, the HR platform for restaurants, is built to do.
What is restaurant workforce management software?
It’s software that helps you hire, schedule, track time, manage tips, run payroll, and keep your hourly team in one place.
What is the best employee scheduling software for restaurants?
Pick scheduling software built for restaurant shifts that connects to your POS and payroll. That way, your schedules follow sales and your hours flow straight into paychecks.
How does workforce management software reduce labor costs?
It helps you schedule to your sales forecast, alerts you before anyone hits overtime, and helps prevent early clock-ins. Those savings add up every shift.
Do I need scheduling software for a small restaurant?
Yes, once spreadsheets and group texts start costing you hours or causing missed shifts. A single location still saves time when the schedule lives in one place.
How much does restaurant workforce management software cost?
Pricing varies by vendor, number of locations, and features. Check each vendor’s pricing page, and try it with your team before you commit.
Using the right restaurant management tools and apps will help your business grow
If you’re still using paper schedules and messy spreadsheets, it’s time to explore what modern restaurant technology can do for you. You can manage and grow your business using platforms designed to improve restaurant operations and make a tangible difference in your employees’ experience.
Restaurant management tools support hiring, scheduling, training, and payroll so that you can streamline your business instead of being bogged down by outdated methods and processes.
One connected workforce platform beats a stack of separate apps. It gives your managers more time for their team and their guests.
7shifts Staff
7shifts Staff
7shifts team of writers and experts in the hospitality industry.
