Club canteen roster
The canteen roster, sorted before Saturday
Add the families once, set the game days and the shifts, and FairTurns hands the canteen turns out across the season. One link in the club chat shows every family when they’re behind the counter.
Free, with no limit on people or dates. No card.
It’s Thursday night and Saturday still has two gaps
The canteen keeps the club afloat: the urn on at 7:30, sausage rolls in the pie warmer, the float counted into the tin, coffee for the cold parents on the sideline. It also runs on goodwill. One parent keeps the roster in a spreadsheet, posts a screenshot in the chat, and spends the week answering “are we on this Saturday?”
By round five the same handful of families are doing most of the shifts. Nobody remembers who swapped with whom. A gap turns up on Thursday night and the coordinator ends up behind the counter again, or the canteen opens an hour late.
A roster everyone can open on their phone fixes most of that. Families see their turn weeks ahead, the coordinator can see the gaps early, and the count of who has done what is kept for you.
How FairTurns runs the canteen
Families as one name
Add “Patel family” or just a parent’s name. Nobody needs an email address or an account to be put on the roster.
Shifts as positions
Make “Open, 2 families” and “Close, 2 families”. Every game day then has four places waiting to be filled.
Game days set once
Click the first Saturday of the season, set 7:30 till 10:30, and choose “Every week on Saturday”. The dates stay 3 to 12 months ahead.
Fill shares out the turns
Press Fill and each empty place goes to the family who has had the fewest turns at that shift. Families already on stay put.
Away weekends
A family heading away for a carnival weekend marks it, and Fill leaves them off. You see them greyed as Away, with no reason given.
One link for the chat
Switch on the public roster link. It opens as a list or a calendar on any phone, with nothing to install and no sign-in.
Set it up
- 01
Create the club
Create your organisation and a team called Canteen.
- 02
Add the shifts
Add positions for each shift with how many families it needs.
- 03
Add the families
Paste a list of family names, or invite parents by email or with a join link.
- 04
Set the game days
Click the first game day, set the times and choose “Every week on Saturday”.
- 05
Fill and share
Press Fill for the season, look it over, and post the public roster link in the club chat.
When you want it to run itself
Pro emails each parent who has accepted an invitation a reminder before their shift, and the coordinator gets an email when a family can’t make it. FairTurns then puts the next family in line on and asks them, so a Friday-night gap is often filled before you’ve read the message.
A$1 a month per organisation, paid 1 to 5 years at a time. See Pro and pricing
Good to know
- A good rule of thumb: two people for a small kiosk, three or four on a busy home round, and shifts of no more than three hours so nobody misses their own child’s game.
- Roster the whole season at the start and post the link before round one. Families who can see their date in February plan around it.
- Families don’t book their own shifts: you press Fill, they see the result on the link, and anyone can tell you if a date doesn’t suit.
- For a bye round or a washed-out Saturday, cancel that one date. It can be brought back if the game is rescheduled.
- Reminder emails reach parents who have accepted an invitation; families added by name only see the roster on the link. There are no text messages.
Questions
How do I make a canteen roster for the season?
Create a Canteen team, add your shifts as positions with how many people each needs, add the game days as a repeating Saturday, add the families, then press Fill for 3, 6 or 12 months. Share the public roster link and you are done.
Do parents need an account to see the canteen roster?
Parents can open the public roster link on any phone without signing in. Invite the ones who want reminders or want to mark their own away weekends.
What about families with kids in two teams?
Add the family once. Inside your club, Fill never puts the same family in two places at overlapping times, even across different teams.
Can a family that can’t make it get someone else to cover?
They tell you, and you move the turn by hand in the calendar in a few clicks. On Pro they say “I can’t make it” from the email and the next family in line is asked automatically.
Can keen families do more shifts?
Yes. Put them on by hand whenever you like, and Fill counts their turns. On Pro you can set a family to More often or Less often for each shift.
What does it cost to run a canteen roster?
Running the roster is free, with no limit on families, teams or dates. Pro, with the reminder emails and automatic cover, is A$1 a month for the whole club, paid 1 to 5 years at a time.
Free templates and guides
Canteen roster template
Game-day canteen shifts with two families each, a BBQ spot and a float handover column.
How to run a canteen roster
Shift lengths, how many on, roster by family, the float and the first-timers: a canteen roster that works.
Free roster maker
Type the names, pick the dates, get a fair roster. No sign-up.
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