“What's good tonight?” is a sale. Your crew only make it if they know the answer.
ShiftBites briefs every crew member when they clock on and teaches them your menu one question a shift. A season in, your newest server sells the wine list like your best one.
Pre-shift briefings and menu training for restaurants and bars. Nothing to download. Set up free, in person, by Paul.
Where the turnover goes missing
Not in the kitchen, and not at the till. It goes missing at the table, in the moments your crew weren't ready for.
“Everything's good.”
The table asks for a recommendation. The new starter can't make one, so they order the safe thing and skip the entrée.
The special nobody mentioned
It was on the whiteboard at three. Half the floor started at five. It's still in the fridge at close.
The wine that didn't get poured
Your best pinot by the glass, offered by nobody, because nobody on the floor could say what it tastes like.
The dessert menu that never arrived
Plates cleared, bill dropped. Nobody asked, so nobody ordered.
None of that is a bad crew. It's a crew nobody had the time to brief and train, every single shift. That's the job ShiftBites does.
The aim: your newest server sells like your best one.
Every venue has one. They know the menu cold, read the table and always have a recommendation. ShiftBites closes the gap between them and everyone else, a little every shift. That gap is where the return comes from.
More on every bill
A side with the steak. The second glass. Dessert offered, not skipped. A crew who knows the menu suggests it without being told to, and spend per head follows.
Fewer costly mistakes
The allergy that gets missed. The dish that's off but still gets ordered. The wrong wine on the table. Remakes, comps and refunds come straight off your margin.
New starters selling sooner
With turnover the way it is, someone is always new. The quicker they know your menu, the sooner they're selling instead of just carrying plates.
Managers back on the floor
Less time repeating the same briefing and retraining the same basics. More time with your guests and your crew during service.
Upload your weekly sales report and ShiftBites shows what moved, per 100 covers, against your own 4-week average. No promises from us. Just your numbers.
How ShiftBites fixes it, every shift
Briefed
Tonight's notes land on each crew member's phone when they clock on. The special, the booking, what's off, the allergy on table 4. Whether they start at three or at seven.
Trained
Every catch-up ends with one question from your own menu and drinks. What's in the chowder. Which gin is local. How to describe the pinot. A little every shift adds up to a crew that can sell.
Checked
You see how many have read tonight's briefing, and who's keeping up with training, by name. Pick what you want pushed this week and the questions lean that way.
One app, three ways in
Your crew, your managers and you each get your own view of the same shift.
For your crew
Everything they need for tonight, on their own phone. Nothing to download.
They clock on. Tonight is already on their phone.
What's off, the specials, the big booking, the coeliac on table 4. One tap-through, in the order they need it, whether they start at three or at seven.
- A link and a PIN on their own phone. Nothing to download.
- A changed procedure gets read and signed, not skimmed.
- It ends with one question about your menu, every shift.
Your menu, learned one question a shift.
What's in the chowder. Which gin is the local one. What to write on the docket for a coeliac. Set a starter course and new starters get the basics first. A few weeks in, they're talking a table through the wine list without looking round for you.
The questions come from your own menu and drinks, and from the courses your managers build.
“Is there shellfish in the chowder?”
During service, one tap and they have the answer: every dish that contains it, every dish that doesn't, and the ones to check with the kitchen. Only allergens a manager has confirmed, under the NZ names. Nothing guessed.
Search covers the whole menu, on every phone and on a tablet at the host stand.
For your managers
Post tonight's notes, build a course from what you already have, and see who's keeping up.
Posting it is quicker than the whiteboard.
Tap what it's about. Tap what's off straight from the menu. Type the rest, or say it. It lands first in every crew member's catch-up, and the manager sees how many have read it before doors open.
- How many have read tonight's notes, before doors open.
- Who's keeping up with training, and who needs a word.
- Pick what to push this week and the questions lean that way.
Building a course is the easy part.
Your manager hands ShiftBites what they already have. ShiftBites turns it into a short lesson with questions, in the venue's own words, and it's in the crew's catch-up that night. A few of the things managers build:
For owners
Every venue on one screen, and what your till says to push next.
Every venue on one screen.
Got more than one venue? See how each one is tracking without ringing round the managers.
- How many are trained at each venue this week.
- Tap into any venue to see who, by name.
- The top thing still to do at each venue.
Then your till tells you what to push next.
Upload the weekly export from your till and ShiftBites does the sums your managers do by hand before the sales meeting. Wine by the glass and by the bottle, cocktails, sides and desserts per 100 covers, spend per head, lunch against dinner. Functions kept separate.
Then it points at what's slipping. Sides down on your 4-week average? One tap makes sides this week's focus, or puts them in tonight's briefing. The following week's report shows whether it moved.
- Your weekly sales meeting numbers, matched to the till.
- What moved, in plain sentences, against your 4-week average.
- The day a course went live, marked on the trend, so you can see what the training did.
- Idealpos today. On another till? Send Paul a sample export.
“Most of my working life has been in restaurants. I came up through the kitchen of a Scottish golf club, learned volume at Hard Rock Cafe, ran the dining room at Edinburgh's Scotsman Hotel, then spent years on the trade side with a London wine and whisky merchant. In Queenstown I ran restaurants for a decade and opened Sherwood, now one of only three Michelin-starred restaurants in town. I know what a briefing has to do on a Friday, and what a new starter needs to hear in their first week. I set up every venue myself, so we'll meet properly. I'd love to help you grow your place.”
Paul Shipman, founder
How it starts
Send your website
Paul builds a working ShiftBites with your venue's name, colours and menu in it, and sends you the link.
Have a play
Open it on your phone. Tap through a briefing, answer a question from your own menu, see the manager side. Then a chat with Paul if you want to go further.
Set up in person
Paul loads your menu, drinks list and allergens, gets your crew joined with a link and a PIN, and posts the first briefing with your manager. Your crew are reading it that night.
Pricing
One price per venue, set each month by how many of your crew used ShiftBites. A quiet winter costs less than a busy summer, and every venue gets everything.
| Crew who used it that month | Per venue, per month |
|---|---|
| Up to 20 | $149 |
| 21 to 50 | $249 |
| 51 to 100 | $399 |
| More than 100 | Talk to Paul |
NZ dollars, plus GST. Someone counts if they opened ShiftBites at least once that month.
Every venue gets
- The start-of-shift briefing, with how many have read it
- One question a shift from your own menu and drinks
- Courses your managers build from the menu, wine list or procedures
- The ShiftBites library, which keeps growing
- Procedures crew read and sign
- Menu search and confirmed allergens, on phones and a host-stand tablet
- Weekly sales from your till, with what to push next
- All your venues in one view
- Setup
- Free. Paul comes in, loads your menu, drinks and allergens, and gets your crew joined.
- Two or more venues
- Groups save more: 10% off for 2 to 4 venues, 15% for 5 to 9, and 20% for 10 or more.
- Paying yearly
- Pay yearly and get two months free. Groups get whichever saving is bigger.
- First 30 days
- 30 days free. Add a card when you start. Nothing is charged for 30 days, and if you cancel before then, you pay nothing.
- Contract
- None. Monthly, stop any time.
Questions
Do crew need to download an app?
No. They get a link and a PIN and use their own phone.
What does it cost to start?
Nothing for 30 days. Add a card when you start and your first bill comes on day 30. Setup is free and Paul does it in person.
How much work is it for my managers?
About the same as writing tonight's notes on the whiteboard. They can type it or say it.
Who writes the training?
Your managers build courses from what you already have: the menu, the wine list, a procedure. The deeper library courses come from ShiftBites, and we keep adding to them.
How do allergens work?
Search, the briefing and the host-stand tablet only show allergens a manager has confirmed, under the NZ allergen names.
Does it replace our tastings and training days?
No. Crew turn up already knowing the basics, so you get further on the day.
Which tills work with the sales reports?
Idealpos reports work today. On something else? Send Paul a sample export and he'll check it.
Can we leave?
Any month. There's no contract.
Get a demo with your own menu in it
Send your website. Paul builds a working ShiftBites with your venue's name, colours and menu, then sends you the link to try on your phone.
Replies come from paul@shiftbites.app.