Free Restaurant Schedule Maker

Q: How do I schedule staff around busy meal services?

Schedule to the service rather than a flat day: add a prep shift before opening, stack your most experienced servers and cooks on dinner and weekend rushes, and use staggered start times so people arrive as covers ramp up. Thin out the slow mid-afternoon window with split shifts to avoid paying for idle time.

Q: Can I plan front-of-house and back-of-house on the same schedule?

Yes. Group FOH roles like servers, hosts and bartenders separately from BOH roles like chefs, line cooks and dishwashers. Keeping them in two blocks on one grid makes it easy to confirm both the floor and the kitchen are covered for every service.

Q: Is the restaurant schedule maker free?

Yes, it is free with no sign-up required. You build the rota in your browser and can export it to PDF as often as you need to print or share with the team.

Plan your restaurant staff schedule — servers, chefs and managers, any day of the week.

Employee	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Hours
Server 1	+	Evening 16:00–00:00	Evening 16:00–00:00	Evening 16:00–00:00	Evening 16:00–00:00	Afternoon 14:00–22:00	Afternoon 14:00–22:00	48h Overload
Server 2	+	Evening 16:00–00:00	+	Evening 16:00–00:00	Evening 16:00–00:00	Evening 16:00–00:00	Morning 08:00–16:00	40h Rest < 11h
Server 3	+	+	Afternoon 14:00–22:00	Afternoon 14:00–22:00	+	Evening 16:00–00:00	Evening 16:00–00:00	32h
Chef	+	Morning 08:00–16:00	Morning 08:00–16:00	Morning 08:00–16:00	Morning 08:00–16:00	Morning 08:00–16:00	Morning 08:00–16:00	48h Overload
Manager	+	Morning 08:00–16:00	Morning 08:00–16:00	Morning 08:00–16:00	Morning 08:00–16:00	Morning 08:00–16:00	Afternoon 14:00–22:00	48h Overload
Daily Total	0h 0 active	32h 4 active	32h 4 active	40h 5 active	32h 4 active	40h 5 active	40h 5 active

This schedule is a visual planning tool. Compliance with applicable labor laws (FLSA, EU Directive 2003/88/EC) is the sole responsibility of the user.

How to schedule restaurant staff efficiently

Running a restaurant means juggling servers, kitchen staff, and managers across lunch and dinner services — often seven days a week. This free restaurant schedule maker lets you plan each role for every service period in a single grid. Add staff members by name, click any cell to assign a shift (Afternoon for lunch service, Evening for dinner), and adjust exact times in the editor.

The PDF export produces a clean schedule you can post in the kitchen or share in your team chat. Because the schedule saves automatically in your browser, you can refine it throughout the week without starting over each time.

Tip: use the Note field to add role reminders like "Floor manager" or "Bar cover" so staff know their responsibilities at a glance, even when two people share the same shift block.

Frequently asked questions

How do I schedule split shifts for restaurant staff?

Use the Custom shift type to enter a split start and end time, and add a note such as "Lunch + dinner cover" to clarify expectations for that employee.

Can I track total hours worked per employee?

The current version displays shift times visually. For automatic hour totals, you can export the PDF and tally hours manually, or note them in the shift's Note field.

Is this tool suitable for scheduling kitchen and front-of-house together?

Yes — simply add each role (Server 1, Chef, Manager, etc.) as a separate employee row. The grid handles any mix of roles across the same week view.

Can I reuse the same schedule next week?

Your schedule is stored in the browser. Navigate to the next week with the arrow buttons; the grid starts blank so you can quickly reassign shifts without overwriting the previous week.

How to Create a Restaurant Staff Schedule Online

A restaurant rota has to flex with the rush: lunch and dinner services demand more hands than the quiet mid-afternoon. Schedcraft’s free restaurant schedule maker lets you staff front-of-house and back-of-house around each meal service, balance hours and export a PDF for the staff board — no sign-up, and your data stays in your browser.

1. Separate front-of-house and back-of-house

Group your team by where they work so coverage gaps jump out instantly:

Front-of-house (FOH): servers, hosts, bartenders and bussers who handle guests and the floor.

Back-of-house (BOH): head chef, line cooks, prep and dishwashers who run the kitchen.

Listing them in two blocks keeps the schedule readable and makes it obvious if you have plenty of servers but no one on the grill.

2. Staff around meal services, not flat days

Demand is spiky, so schedule to the service rather than a uniform 9-to-5:

Build a prep shift before doors open so the kitchen has stock ready for lunch.

Stack your strongest team on dinner and weekend services, when covers and check averages peak.

Use split or staggered shifts to thin out the quiet 15:00–17:00 lull instead of paying for idle hands.

3. Balance tips, breaks and export

Rotate the lucrative dinner and weekend slots so the same servers are not always getting (or missing) the best tips, and make sure every shift has a clear break. When the week reads well, export to PDF to pin by the pass or share in the team chat.

Restaurant Schedule Maker — Frequently Asked Questions

How do I schedule staff around busy meal services?

Schedule to the service rather than a flat day: add a prep shift before opening, stack your most experienced servers and cooks on dinner and weekend rushes, and use staggered start times so people arrive as covers ramp up. Thin out the slow mid-afternoon window with split shifts to avoid paying for idle time.

Can I plan front-of-house and back-of-house on the same schedule?

Yes. Group FOH roles like servers, hosts and bartenders separately from BOH roles like chefs, line cooks and dishwashers. Keeping them in two blocks on one grid makes it easy to confirm both the floor and the kitchen are covered for every service.

Is the restaurant schedule maker free?

Yes, it is free with no sign-up required. You build the rota in your browser and can export it to PDF as often as you need to print or share with the team.