Staff scheduling for hospitality teams
Hospitality Rota Software for Restaurants, Cafés, Pubs and Hotels
Service never runs to a fixed timetable. WorkPilotAI helps hospitality managers keep on top of shifting cover, staff availability, holidays, swaps, clock-ins, labour-cost estimates and the hours that end up in payroll — from one place.
Card required to start. Nothing charged for 30 days. Your selected plan begins automatically unless cancelled.
The Copper Kettle · Thu–Sun
| Staff | Area | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leo C. | Kitchen | Morning | Evening | Evening | Off |
| Maya T. | Kitchen | Off | Closing | Closing | Morning |
| Ben A. | Front of house | Evening | Evening | Off | Morning |
| Zara H. | Front of house | Morning | Off | Evening | Evening |
| Finn O. | Bar | Off | Closing | Closing | Evening |
| Coverage | Covered | Covered | Bar 1 short | Covered | |
Hospitality scheduling challenges
Hospitality rotas are planned around trading patterns, not office hours. A quiet Tuesday lunch and a sold-out Saturday night need very different teams, and the plan can change an hour before doors open. Familiar pressures include:
- Opening, mid and closing shifts that change daily
- Breakfast, lunch, dinner and late-night cover
- Busy weekends and seasonal peaks
- Balancing kitchen and front-of-house cover
- Last-minute absence before service
- Availability scattered across messages
- Staff working from an outdated rota
- Swaps agreed between staff without approval
- Early clock-ins
- Missed clock-outs after late finishes
- Overtime noticed only at payday
- Each venue planned in isolation
- Timesheets prepared by hand
Organise different hospitality roles
Group people into teams — kitchen, front of house, bar, housekeeping — and give each shift a job title. Each team's cover is planned in its own section, so a short-staffed pass doesn't hide behind a full floor.
WorkPilotAI handles people and hours. It doesn't manage bookings, orders, stock, tips or food-safety records.
- Restaurant manager
- Duty manager
- Chef
- Kitchen assistant or porter
- Waiting staff
- Bar staff
- Barista
- Reception staff
- Housekeeping
- Events staff
- Security or door staff
Build and publish rotas
Start from availability and approved holidays, add shifts for each service, and keep an eye on hours and gaps as the week takes shape. When it looks right, publish — staff then see their own latest shifts rather than an old screenshot.
- Collect staff availability
- See approved leave on the rota
- Create shifts for each role
- Reuse saved rota templates
- Check scheduled hours
- Spot coverage gaps
- Review potential overtime
- Use manager-reviewed AI suggestions
- Publish the final rota
- Staff see their latest shifts
AI suggestions are drafts. They need a manager's approval and are never published automatically. More on our staff rota software.
Manage changes without losing control
From their own account, staff can view their shifts, submit availability, request leave and ask to swap a shift, and they always receive the latest published rota. Every request comes to a manager to approve or decline — staff can't edit a published rota directly.
Requests this week
- Ben A. · Available Sat eveningNoted
- Zara H. · Unavailable FriNoted
- Leo C. · Approved leave Mon–TueNoted
- Finn O. · Swap requested: Sat closing → Maya T.Manager review required
Track attendance
Late finishes and busy changeovers make clock times easy to forget. Matching each clock-in to the rota lets managers review:
- Scheduled start and finish times
- Clock-ins and clock-outs
- Early clock-ins
- Late arrivals
- Missing clock-outs
- Unusually long shifts
- Attendance exceptions
- Manager-authorised corrections
- Approved final hours
Read more about the employee clock-in app.
Monitor hospitality labour costs
Wages are one of the biggest costs in most venues. While planning and before approving hours, managers can see:
- Scheduled hours
- Estimated labour cost from entered pay rates
- Potential overtime
- Weekly labour-budget comparison
- Scheduled vs recorded hours
- Attendance exceptions before approval
WorkPilotAI provides clearer staffing and attendance information to support management decisions. Actual savings depend on each organisation’s staffing arrangements, pay rules and decisions.
Learn about labour cost management.
How it works
- 1
Add staff availability and approved leave
- 2
Build shifts for each role and service period
- 3
Review hours, coverage and estimated labour costs
- 4
Publish the rota and track attendance
- 5
Approve final hours and export payroll-ready information
Product demonstrations
Fictional data for a made-up venue. All values are examples, not guaranteed savings.
The Copper Kettle · Thu–Sun
| Staff | Area | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leo C. | Kitchen | Morning | Evening | Evening | Off |
| Maya T. | Kitchen | Off | Closing | Closing | Morning |
| Ben A. | Front of house | Evening | Evening | Off | Morning |
| Zara H. | Front of house | Morning | Off | Evening | Evening |
| Finn O. | Bar | Off | Closing | Closing | Evening |
| Coverage | Covered | Covered | Bar 1 short | Covered | |
Requests this week
- Ben A. · Available Sat eveningNoted
- Zara H. · Unavailable FriNoted
- Leo C. · Approved leave Mon–TueNoted
- Finn O. · Swap requested: Sat closing → Maya T.Manager review required
Saturday · clock-ins
| Staff | Shift start | Clock-in | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zara H. | 11:00 | 10:58 | On time |
| Leo C. | 07:00 | 06:34 | Early clock-in |
| Ben A. | 17:00 | 17:14 | Late arrival |
| Finn O. | 18:00 | 17:59 | Missed clock-out |
| Maya T. | 16:00 | 16:02 | Adjusted · reviewed |
This week · example figures
Scheduled hours
412
Estimated labour cost
£5,180
Weekly budget
£5,300
Potential overtime
2 people
98% of budget (estimate)
Coverage gaps: Sat bar closing
Example values only — not a guaranteed saving.
Suitable hospitality businesses
- Independent restaurants
- Restaurant groups
- Cafés and coffee shops
- Pubs and bars
- Hotels
- Catering companies
- Event venues
- Takeaway businesses
- Bakeries
- Multi-location operators
Running a smaller venue? See rota software for small businesses.
Payroll-ready hours
At the end of the period, managers review attendance exceptions, approve the relevant hours and export payroll-ready information. See how payroll-ready timesheets work.
WorkPilotAI does not calculate tax, process payroll or make employee payments. Exported records are provided for further review and processing by the organisation, accountant or payroll provider.
Plans and trial
New accounts begin with a 30-day trial of a paid plan. A card is required to begin, nothing is charged for the first 30 days, and your selected plan begins automatically unless you cancel before the trial ends.
There is also a limited Free plan for up to five active employees, which an account moves to if a payment fails after the trial, keeping your data until the card is updated. Current pricing is on the pricing page, and the full feature list is on our homepage.
Frequently asked questions
What is hospitality rota software?
It is software for planning and sharing shifts in restaurants, cafés, pubs, hotels and similar venues. WorkPilotAI combines the rota with availability, leave, shift swaps, clock-ins, labour-cost estimates and approved hours.
Can I schedule kitchen and front-of-house staff?
Yes. You can organise staff into teams such as kitchen, front of house and bar, give each shift a job title, and build each team's cover separately.
Can employees view rotas on their phones?
Yes. Staff sign in from a supported phone, tablet or computer to see their own upcoming shifts from the latest published rota.
Can staff submit their availability?
Yes. Employees tell you when they can and can't work from their own account, and you see it while building the rota.
Can employees request shift swaps?
Yes. Staff can ask to swap a shift from their account. The swap only takes effect once it is approved.
Who approves shift-swap requests?
A manager reviews each swap request and approves or declines it. Staff cannot change a published rota themselves.
Can I manage breakfast, lunch and evening shifts?
Yes. Shifts can have any start and finish time, so you can plan breakfast, lunch, dinner and closing cover, and save weekly patterns as templates to reuse.
Can WorkPilotAI identify potential overtime?
Yes. When someone's scheduled hours go above the limits you set, they are highlighted so you can rebalance shifts.
Can employees clock in and out?
Yes. Staff clock in and out on their own supported device, and you can add optional location checks and clock-in windows for each site.
Can managers review missed clock-outs?
Yes. A missing clock-out is flagged as an exception so a manager can set the correct finish time before hours are approved.
Can I estimate hospitality labour costs?
Yes. WorkPilotAI estimates labour cost from scheduled hours and the pay rates you enter, and can compare it with a weekly budget. These are estimates, not payroll figures.
Can I compare scheduled and recorded hours?
Yes. Timesheets show scheduled shifts alongside actual clock-in and clock-out times, so differences stand out.
Can approved hours be exported for payroll?
Yes. Once a manager approves the hours, they can be exported as a CSV file for your payroll provider or accountant.
Does WorkPilotAI process payroll?
No. WorkPilotAI prepares and exports approved hours. It does not calculate tax, run payroll or pay staff.
Can I manage several hospitality locations?
Yes. Multi-site plans let each venue have its own rota, with managers limited to the sites they look after.
Does AI publish rotas automatically?
No. AI can suggest a draft rota, but nothing is saved or published until a manager reviews and accepts it.
Is there a free plan?
There is a limited Free plan for up to five active employees. An account moves to it if a payment fails after the trial, and your data is kept until the card is updated. New accounts start with a 30-day trial of a paid plan.
What happens after the 30-day trial?
Card required to start. Nothing charged for 30 days. Your selected plan begins automatically unless cancelled. You can cancel before the trial ends from your account settings.
Read our privacy notice or contact us with other questions.
Build clearer hospitality rotas and review labour costs before payroll
Try WorkPilotAI with your venue's own rota, or book a live demonstration with our team.
Card required to start. Nothing charged for 30 days. Your selected plan begins automatically unless cancelled.