Smalti for restaurants
Shift scheduling software for restaurants, without the group text
Smalti gives restaurant managers a week grid that shows which services are covered, a shift marketplace where servers and cooks trade inside rules you set, a time clock that records breaks as they were taken, and the opening, closing and temperature checklists that usually live on a clipboard by the back door.
iPhone and Android apps · Browser console for managers · Hosted for you or on your own server
Week of Nov 2 — Main StCentral Time
Fully staffed
Partly filled
Unfilled
The schedule
Build the week around your services
Lunch, dinner and the late close each need different people. In Smalti you place shifts on a week grid and set how many people each one needs; the grid shows coverage at a glance — green full, amber partly filled, red unfilled — so Saturday dinner being two servers short is obvious on Tuesday, not at 5 PM on Saturday.
Set up the shifts that repeat every week once, copy last week forward, and work on next week as a draft. When it is ready, publish it in one step and everyone is notified.
- Positions you name. Server, line cook, host, dish — each person carries the positions they’re cleared for, and the assignment list shows who is qualified and free, with the reason for anyone who isn’t.
- Availability and time off, in view. Staff keep their usual hours up to date and request time off from their phone. You get a warning before scheduling someone outside it; the warning doesn’t block you — you decide.
- Overtime seen before it happens. Assigning a shift that would take someone past 40 hours warns you first. On the marketplace you choose: let the pickup through and tell their manager, or refuse it.
- Nobody on two stations at once. Smalti will not save an assignment that overlaps a shift the same person already holds. How Smalti stops double-booked shifts.
Shift trading
Let the crew trade shifts without losing control
A swap agreed in a group text often never reaches the schedule. In Smalti, staff post a shift they can’t work as a give-away or a swap, and eligible coworkers take it — or offer one of their own in exchange — and both schedules update together. Open shifts can be picked up straight from the app.
Every trade is checked: the person taking the shift must be qualified for the position, work at that location, be free at that time and be within your trade window. Trades settle instantly by default, or you can require manager approval for the whole restaurant group, one location, or one position. More on the Smalti shift swap app.
Time clock
A time clock at the door, and hours that match the schedule
Staff clock in, take breaks and clock out from the app, or at a shared tablet by the door — tap your name, enter a PIN. Punches are kept when the wifi drops and sent later, and the tablet shows a code phones scan to prove they were there.
- Breaks as they happened. Meal breaks — and paid rest breaks, if you track them — are recorded by the person taking them. Nothing is rounded, and nothing is deducted automatically.
- Missed punches are chased for you. A forgotten clock-out reminds the member first, then their manager. A shift nobody clocked in for is offered to you as a no-show to confirm.
- Told when someone isn’t in. Fifteen minutes into a shift with no clock-in — or after however long you choose — the manager on duty hears about it.
- Corrections leave a trail. Managers fix time with a reason the member is shown, and the member can dispute it. Each pay period’s timesheets are approved by a manager, closed by an admin and exported with overtime worked out and your payroll IDs.
- Labor cost before the week starts. With pay rates entered once — by position, by location or for one person — the schedule shows what each day and the week will cost, overtime included. It is wages from the schedule, not a percentage of sales: Smalti doesn’t connect to your point of sale.
Checklists
Opening, closing and the walk-in temperature, on record
Put the opening and closing lists and the temperature log on everyone’s phone and on the tablet. Each list opens and is due at the times you set, at one location or all of them. A number can carry an acceptable range — a walk-in fridge at 0 to 5 °C — and a reading outside it can’t be saved without a note on what was done. The manager is told at once, and also when a list is overdue.
Every answer is kept with who gave it and when; a changed answer adds to the record instead of replacing it. A report shows each list done on time, late or missed, with every reading exported in one file. The shift log carries notes from the close to whoever opens.
Fit
Where Smalti fits in your restaurant
Smalti is built for organizations of roughly 10 to 100 people across one or more locations. Each location carries its own time zone, and staff who work at more than one site still can’t be double-booked across them. Every position at a location gets its own message group, so the kitchen can talk without sharing phone numbers, and announcements reach a whole location with a record of who has read them.
What Smalti doesn’t do
Smalti doesn’t run payroll or work out tips. It exports each pay period’s hours, overtime worked out, for whatever you use for payroll. It isn’t a point-of-sale or reservations system either — it is the schedule, the time clock, the checklists and the team’s messages.
Questions
Restaurant scheduling questions
Can a server work lunch and dinner on the same day?
Yes. Smalti only refuses shifts that overlap one the person already holds, so a lunch shift and a dinner shift that don’t overlap can both be assigned. If the second shift would take them past 40 hours for the week, you’re warned first.
Does Smalti run payroll or calculate tips?
No. Smalti records hours worked and breaks taken, lets managers review and correct them with a reason, and exports each pay period’s timesheets with overtime worked out and your payroll IDs. Payroll and tips stay with the system you already use for them.
Can kitchen staff without a smartphone clock in?
Yes. Put a tablet at the door and set it up as a shared clock for that location: people tap their name and enter a four-digit PIN. It keeps working when the wifi drops. Staff can also use Smalti from any web browser at usesmalti.com/app.
Can we keep fridge and freezer temperature logs in Smalti?
Yes. A checklist item can be a number with an acceptable range, such as 0 to 5 °C. A reading outside the range can’t be saved without a note on what was done, the manager is told at once, and every reading is kept with who took it and when.
Keep reading
More about Smalti
Already use Smalti at work?
Staff accounts come from your employer — sign in with the invitation they sent you; there’s no sign-up in the app. Run the team? Start a free trial for your business.
Bring Smalti to your restaurant
Tell us how many people you schedule, how many locations you run, and how you schedule today — we’ll show you Smalti against your own week.
Already a customer? Sign in to the admin console · Support