The Palm Coffee Bar left 7shifts—And came back one month later: Here’s why

 

Meet The Palm Coffee Bar and its founder, Joanna Heart

Nestled in Burbank, California, lies a coffee shop full of pink, playful vibes, inspired by its founder’s Cuban Heritage. Seven years ago, Joanna Heart opened The Palm Coffee Bar as a way to bring together three of her favorite things: design, people, and (naturally) coffee.

Joanna explains that the shop brings together people from all walks of life. From Disney executives to folks who ride horses for a living, everyone is welcome. And with her background in design, it’s impossible to step inside without noticing the carefully curated interior.

We sat down with her to talk about her experience stepping away from 7shifts… and why she decided to come back just one month later.

Moving away from 7shifts: ‘The worst experience of my life’

When the coffee shop first opened, Joanna used Homebase to build schedules. But eventually, she made a move to 7shifts because it was easier to use: “7shifts worked for my brain […] [The platform is] very intuitive, and I felt like I already could figure out how to use most things.” And as we expanded into payroll, she adopted that function too. 

While she didn’t have many complaints, Joanna did have hopes to consolidate her tech stack further. So, after more than five years with the platform, she moved away from 7shifts for scheduling and payroll to an all-in-one provider that also offered POS. But that change didn’t last long.

 ”When I went to [the other provider’s] scheduling and payroll, my life became a living hell […] The functionality was there, but it was so unintuitive that I was on the phone for hours, trying to figure out how to do everything.”

“It was the worst experience of my life.”

She explains that as a designer, nothing made sense with the new platform, visually: “It just baffled everybody.” Even a simple task like changing an employee’s profile details warranted a phone call for help, only for Joanna to find out she was clicking in the wrong place. 

And Joanna recounts more specific challenges after leaving 7shifts, including:

• Time-clocking confusion: With time-clocking, her employees were punching in and out at the register without knowingly doing so. “ So, time cards were screwed. And in order to fix the time cards, I had to call them […] I’m like, ‘This is chaos.’” 
• Difficulty tracking documents: Her employees weren’t happy, either. “ My staff were like, ‘We don’t know where our stuff is.’ They were getting pay stubs, and they’re like, ‘Where are our pay stubs? We can’t see anything.’ And I’m like, ‘I can’t see it either.’”
• Inaccessible customer service: She also notes that the provider would suggest calling them for help. But with the day-to-day chaos of running a coffee shop, “No one has time to call. It should just work. You should just be able to look at it. Simplify it.”

“They’ve overcomplicated it to the point that it’s unusable.”

So, about one month in, Joanna was ready to come back to 7shifts. 

Back to the future (of restaurant technology)

After coming back to 7shifts, Joanna doesn’t plan on leaving again. She explains, “For most people, I think this would be enough to take over and be the only app that you need in your business.”

 

She especially highlights how quick and easy it is to run payroll and manage tips, and points to the labor reporting tools as a key resource to keeping everything in check:

Intuitive payroll & tip management

When asked about her experience with 7shifts payroll, Joanna says, “ Payroll’s super easy. It’s very intuitive. It’s super smooth.” On Mondays, she sits down to approve time cards, which gives her a few days to call employees if any misunderstandings or disputes come up. As a visual person, she also calls out how easy it is to see all the disputes at once.

Then, after pulling in tips and reviewing time in, time off, and PTO, she just plugs away: “It takes me 10 minutes.” Joanna explains that it’s a huge improvement compared to the previous provider—where the same process used to take her an hour and a half, sometimes even longer. 

 

 

And again, Joanna recounts how unhappy her team was with the other provider: “They hated [them] too […] Their pay stubs were not in the app. They had to log in to a website to get their pay stubs.” Now with 7shifts, pay stubs can be accessed through their phone, directly on the app, and Joanna no longer receives calls from her staff every day, asking where things are.

 

At the coffee shop, Joanna also exclusively pays out tips through direct deposit, no cash involved. She calls out how easy it is to do so with 7shifts:

“The tip management is super simple. It’s easy to understand. It’s easy to set up. If I were setting it up for the first time, I could still understand what I’m supposed to do—and there’s a walkthrough.”

Robust labor reporting

For labor reporting, Joanna says, “[The 7shifts] budget and your labor tool are very simple to use […] I check the numbers on 7shifts every day. 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.”

She adds, “It’s just enough information on exactly what I need—and then I can see the hourly breakdown very simply. I’m using that tool every day, non-stop.” This allows her to make better decisions throughout the day, keeping her labor costs in check.

The final sip

Since switching off of 7shifts—and then coming back—Joanna has become a big advocate for the platform to others: “I wish people could see how it could simplify their lives.”

And for some final words, Joanna says, “ I’ll never leave again. I’ve learned my lesson.”