A customer interview. Coffee Molly Coffee Houses

Greetings to our subscribers and everyone who popped by the Shifton company page by chance. Today we offer an interview with one of our clients - the owner of a café chain, who has been using Shifton’s online service for quite a while.

Shifton: Good day. Let's introduce ourselves!

Irina: Howzit! 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 early 2021, the company had over 20 bartenders with varying levels of employment. 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 a total turnover of 25 million rubles per year.

Shifton: Why did you decide to team up with Shifton?

Irina: The market is such that our employees are mostly young people, and therefore they often change jobs. For most of them, it's their first job. Therefore, much time is spent on personnel work, including applicant selection, training, mentorship, and professional development.

It’s been a long time clear to me that we should handle this process with ease, as the main point is to keep the core team of bartenders - 5-6 people. They help newcomers to adapt quickly and easily.

All this vigorous activity impacts the work schedule daily, so it needs to be promptly monitored, and in case of changes, everyone must be informed straight away.

Shifton: How did you handle these issues previously?

Irina: We used to send updates in a general chat, and sometimes had to phone employees personally to ensure they were aware of the changes. But as we opened more coffee shops, the need to automate the entire routine grew.

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

Irina: Absolutely, those following trends know that the food services market is increasingly adapting IT technologies. Handling schedules is a daily routine for the administrator and senior baristas. In scheduling, they should consider employee preferences (personal matters, second job, etc.), the efficiency of a bartender at a particular outlet, and the specifics of the day (weekend or weekday). Furthermore, we need to organise training for newcomers, conduct inventories or general cleanings, find replacements for the sick, or split shifts between two employees. And of course, we must account for all possible delays and overtime.

We've automated this process for a long time, but as the company continued to grow, I wanted something more than just a schedule-setting program. I was looking for partner developers to make it function as payroll for each employee, alongside other ideas...

Shifton: Did your expectations prove true as the cooperation with Shifton grew?

Irina: Definitely, I'm quite happy with it! Honestly, when I incidentally found Shifton, it took me a while to notice how adaptable this product can be.

During the testing phase, I asked many questions about what else is planned to be implemented and what features Shifton offers, so that employees at every minute would be confident about their work schedule and know beforehand how much they would earn at the end of each month. I wanted the payroll to be done without delays, operate in real-time, and be accessible on one’s smartphone anytime, not just on payday.

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

Irina: All my requests were fulfilled, and I also realised that the program can be further modernised according to our needs. I closely communicated with the developers for 6 months, telling them what we liked and what more we expected to see. We implemented the program swiftly and realised straight away that we wanted to use it more and customise it to our needs.

Shifton: Have you been successful so far?

Irina: We've managed to accomplish the following: we automated each employee's schedule according to their preferences, assigned bartenders to branches, and adjusted the calculation of bonuses and fines. We eliminated errors in salary calculations, like unaccounted or double-paid shifts. We installed the application on all employees’ smartphones where they receive instant updates and payroll info. We reduced time spent on scheduling tenfold and reduced turnover, as employees can see and influence their shifts/salaries, essentially improving the overall time planning process for everyone.

Shifton: Surely you have more suggestions on customising the Shifton tool?

Irina: Yes indeed. We're awaiting a more user-friendly interface for schedule modifications. Currently, not all details can be changed; to adjust specific parameters, you often have to start from scratch. We hope for more flexible settings in salary reports for general periods and the option to leave work comments. In terms of service features, we need the option for employees to leave comments and draw up task reports within the app. I'm also interested in the automatic calculation of bonuses based on sales indicators or KPI fulfilment, and having more adaptable settings for the app interface to suit employee convenience: 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. Would you recommend the Shifton online service to other company owners?

Irina: I already recommend this tool to my clients, whom I assist in launching their coffee shops, because Shifton is cost-saving, easy to use and liked by my staff. Before using Shifton, I tested over 10 different applications and programmes. By the time I discovered Shifton, I'd already got an agreement with a developer to create a similar programme for us. Shifton completely resolved all my scheduling and payroll automation needs.