Café roster
A café roster that covers the 6 am open
Someone has to turn the machine on at 5:45 and someone has to mop at close. FairTurns hands out the opens, closes and market mornings across your crew and puts the week on one link.
Free, with no limit on people or dates. No card.
The opener texts in sick at 5:20
Plover Coffee is a hole-in-the-wall café with a stall at the farmers market every second Saturday. Six people work there, most of them students. Only three can run the machine on their own, so the 5:45 open has to go to one of them, and the market needs one barista plus one person on the till and the pastry cabinet. The owner, Ayesha, wrote the roster on the back of a supplier invoice each Sunday night.
In a small café the rules are simple but they matter. Openers must be baristas. Nobody wants every close. Students’ exam weeks come round twice a year. Once those rules are in the roster itself rather than in Ayesha’s head, the Sunday night job takes minutes, and the crew can see the next month instead of the next four days.
How a café crew runs on FairTurns
Baristas only on the machine
Limit the Barista position to the people who can run the machine alone. A new starter stays on floor and till until they’re ready.
Closes passed around
Fill gives each close to whoever has had the fewest, so the person who lives closest isn’t on every afternoon.
Market every second Saturday
Click the first market day and choose “Every second Saturday”. The stall has its own colour on the calendar.
Exam weeks and uni days
Students mark exam weeks as Away for a stretch, and a regular uni day as Away regularly. Fill works around both.
Short-notice changes
Move someone by hand on one date and only that date changes. A closed public holiday is one cancelled date.
The crew’s link
Share the public roster in the staff chat. It works on a cracked phone on bad reception, with nothing to install.
Set it up
- 01
Create the café
Make an organisation, then teams for Open, Close and Market stall.
- 02
Add the positions
Barista on the open, Floor on the close, and Barista and Till at the market, one each.
- 03
Add the crew
Invite each person by email or share a join link in the staff chat.
- 04
Set the trading week
Click Tuesday, set 5:45 till 11:30, choose “Every week on Tuesday”, and add the rest.
- 05
Fill and share
Press Fill for the next month and share the link on Sunday night.
When you want it to run itself
Pro emails the crew the week’s roster on the day you choose and a reminder before each shift. When the opener can’t make it, they reply from the reminder, the team’s moderator is emailed, and the next barista in line is put on and asked. Emails go to people who have accepted an invitation.
A$1 a month per organisation, paid 1 to 5 years at a time. See Pro and pricing
Good to know
- Keep two people who can open on every week’s roster, even if one of them is only the reserve. A sick opener at 5:20 am is the most common gap a café has.
- The crew don’t pick their own shifts; you or Fill put them on, and they mark the days they’re away. It’s a roster, not a shift-swap board.
- Marking away doesn’t take someone off a shift they’re already on. For a sick day, move them by hand, or on Pro they reply “I can’t make it”.
- Pay and hours worked stay in your payroll or POS system. FairTurns shows who is on and when.
Questions
Can I make sure an experienced barista is on every open?
Yes. Limit the Barista position to your baristas and Fill will only put them there. Add a Floor position to the Open team if you want a trainee alongside them.
The market stall runs every second Saturday. Can it repeat like that?
Yes. Choose “Every second Saturday” when you add the first market day, and the dates are kept up to 12 months ahead.
Can I roster myself as the owner?
Yes. Put yourself on the dates you always work, and Fill shares the remaining shifts out around you.
Does it work for a small shop with no café?
Yes. Name the teams for your shop, such as Open, Close and Stocktake, and the rest works the same.
What does a café roster cost?
The roster is free for any number of staff. Pro is A$1 a month for the business, paid 1 to 5 years at a time.
Free templates and guides
Weekly roster template
Names down the side, Monday to Sunday across: the one-page weekly roster for a small team.
Fortnightly roster template
Two weeks on one page, Week 1 and Week 2, for teams that work alternate Saturdays or late nights.
When someone can’t make it
What to do when someone drops out of a shift: who to ask, what to say, and how to stop it every week.
Similar rosters
Small business roster
A free, simple staff roster for a small business: who’s on, when, shared with the team on one link.
Venues and events
Bar, floor, door and pack-down for every function, handed out across your casual pool and shared by link.
Front desk and reception
Opening, closing and Saturday reception shifts handed out by turns, with the week on one page.