A customer interview. Coffee Molly Coffee Houses

Greetings to our subscribers and everyone who came to the Shifton company page by chance. Today we offer an interview with one of our customers - the owner of a cafe chain, who has been using Shifton online service for quite a long time.

Shifton: Hello. Let's get acquainted!

Irina: Hello! My name is Irina Uskova, I own and manage a chain of coffee shops called Coffee Molly in Nizhny Novgorod (Russia).

Shifton: Tell us a bit more about your business.

Irina: By the start of 2021, the company had over 20 baristas with varying levels of engagement. Coffee Molly has been operating in the city since 2014, developing the concept of coffee shops for office workers. Today, there are seven coffee houses in Nizhny Novgorod with an annual turnover of 25 million rubles.

Shifton: Why did you decide to partner with Shifton?

Irina: The market's nature is such that our employees are generally quite young, so they often change jobs. For most of them, it's their first job. As a result, managing staff takes a significant amount of time and includes selecting candidates, training, mentoring, and professional development.

It’s been long clear to me that this process should be approached with ease, as the main goal is to maintain the core group of baristas - 5-6 people. They help newcomers adapt quickly and easily.

All this lively activity affects the work schedule daily, so it should be closely monitored, and in case of changes, everyone must be notified immediately.

Shifton: How have you dealt with these issues before?

Irina: Previously, we sent updates in a general chat, and sometimes we had to call employees personally to ensure they were aware of the changes. But the more coffee shops we opened, the more we needed to automate the entire routine.

Shifton: Does your company need an automated online scheduling service?

Irina: Absolutely, those who follow the trends are aware that the food services market is increasingly adopting IT technologies. Working on schedules is part of the daily routine for the administrator and senior baristas. Within scheduling, they have to consider employees' preferences (personal matters, second job, etc.), the efficiency of the bartender at a particular coffee shop, and the specifics of the day (weekend or weekday). Additionally, we need to organise training for new staff, conduct inventory or general cleaning, find replacements for the sick, or split the shift between two employees. And of course, we need to account for all possible delays and overtime.

We had automated this process for a long time, but as the company grew, I wanted something more than just a program to set work schedules. I was searching for partner developers who could make it so the program could also serve as payroll for each employee. There were even more ideas...

Shifton: Did your expectations come true as the cooperation with Shifton expanded?

Irina: Yes, I'm thoroughly satisfied with it! Honestly, when I stumbled upon Shifton, it took me a while to realise how adaptable this product can be.

During the testing phase, I asked many questions about what else is planned to be implemented and what functions Shifton offers, so that employees can be confident in their schedule at any given time and know in advance the amount they will receive at the end of each month. I wanted the payroll to be processed without delays, in real time and accessible to a person on their smartphone at any moment, not just on payday.

Shifton: Did you manage to fulfill your requests? How satisfied are you with the support from Shifton developers?

Irina: All my requests were met, and I also realised the program can be further modernised according to our needs. I had close communication with the developers for 6 months, discussing what we liked and what else we hoped to see. We implemented the program quickly and instantly wanted to use it more and customise it to our needs.

Shifton: Have you succeeded so far?

Irina: We managed to achieve several things: we automated the roster for each employee, accommodating their preferences, assigned baristas to branches, and adjusted the calculation of bonuses and fines. We also eliminated errors in salary calculations, where some shifts were missed or paid for twice. We installed the application on all employees' smartphones, where they instantly receive updates and payroll notifications. We reduced the time spent on rostering by 10 times, and decreased turnover, as employees see their shifts/salary and can influence them, overall improving the time planning process for all staff.

Shifton: For sure you have more suggestions on the customization of the Shifton tool?

Irina: Yes, certainly. We're waiting for a more user-friendly interface for making changes to schedules. Currently, not all details can be changed, and to adjust certain settings, you need to recreate everything from scratch. We're hoping for more flexible options in salary reports for general periods, and the ability to leave comments on work. As for the service functions, we need an option for employees to leave comments and draw up reports on completed tasks in the application. I'm also interested in the automatic calculation of bonuses based on sales figures or KPI fulfilment, and more flexible settings of the application interface for the convenience of employees: what to display on the main screen, which notifications to send, and what to report on.

Shifton: Thank you for your detailed and informative feedback, Irina. Can you recommend the Shifton online service to owners of other companies?

Irina: I already recommend the tool to my clients, whom I help launch their coffee shops, as Shifton helps save money, is easy to use, and my staff enjoy it. Before starting to use Shifton, I thoroughly tested over 10 different applications and programs. By the time I found Shifton, I had already agreed with a developer who was ready to create a similar program for us. And Shifton entirely solved all my issues with scheduling and payroll automation.