What Is ShiftComplete? A Plain-English Guide

ShiftComplete is the everyday operations and team-scheduling app for UK pubs, restaurants, cafés, bars and hotels. It puts the jobs that usually live on clipboards, in spreadsheets and in WhatsApp groups (the rota, fridge temperatures, allergen information, opening and closing checks, incident reports) into one app the whole team uses on their phones. Its line is "Built for hospitality, by hospitality."

This page is a factual overview of what it does, who it's for and what it costs.

ShiftComplete at a glance

What ShiftComplete does

Staff rotas

• Availability from staff phones. Staff set their availability weeks ahead: available, partial or off, with a note ("can't do after 6pm, college").
• Events. Managers add events that change staffing, for example a Friday match that needs two more on the bar.
• A draft rota in seconds. Managers weight the people they want on, and ShiftComplete builds a draft rota that's fair across the team.
• Drag, then publish. Move shifts around, then publish. The rota appears on every staff member's phone under "My rota" and can be emailed.
• Split shifts. Up to 4 time blocks per person per day.
• Custom staff areas. Set up areas like Bar, Kitchen, Floor, Café or Gym, so each block shows where someone is working.
• Day notes on the rota ("Brewery delivery 10am", "Wedding party, 80 covers").
• Labour cost shown while you build the rota.
• Holidays recorded, so you don't rota someone who's off. If you switch it on, staff can request holiday from their phone for a manager to approve.
• Fixed weekly schedules for people who always work the same shifts.
• Staff across venues. In a group, one person can work at more than one venue.
• Rota emailed on publish, as well as appearing in the app.

Clocking in and out

• Time tracking is a setting you switch on.
• Staff clock in and out on their phone or the shared tablet.
• Managers see hours worked against the rota.
• Download hours as a spreadsheet with a total per person, for example to hand to payroll.
• No GPS geofencing or facial recognition: it's simple clock in and out.

Temperature logs

• Every fridge, freezer, hot-hold and ambient point set up with its own minimum and maximum.
• Staff log readings in seconds on a phone or the tablet behind the bar.
• Out-of-range readings are flagged on the dashboard.
• Optional photo evidence.
• Every reading named and timestamped.
• A 7-day rolling view, handy when the EHO visits.

Allergens

• Every menu item mapped to the 14 UK allergens.
• Grouped by course.
• Searchable by front-of-house staff from the floor.
• Only managers can edit.

Checklists and the daily routine

• Opening, closing, cleaning and due-diligence checks that can differ by weekday.
• One-off priority tasks.
• Every tick named and timestamped.
• Photo evidence optional or required, check by check.
• A 2am close still counts as "today".

Incidents and maintenance

• Logged in seconds with a photo.
• Severity and status (open or resolved), with resolution notes.
• Visible on the dashboard until dealt with.

Risk assessments

• Create, keep and print your risk assessments in the app.

Team announcements and messages

• Post updates to the team so they don't get lost in WhatsApp groups.

Reports and audit log

• A weekly rollup: task completion percentage, temperature breaches, incidents and maintenance backlog.
• A full audit log with CSV export.

Multi-site

• Switch between venues.
• A group dashboard across sites.
• Area-manager roles.
• Unlimited managers.

What ShiftComplete doesn't do

To be clear about scope: ShiftComplete doesn't run payroll and doesn't integrate with tills or EPOS, payroll or accounting software; hours are exported as a spreadsheet instead. Clocking in has no GPS geofencing or facial recognition. It isn't approved, accredited or certified by the Food Standards Agency, environmental health, HSE or any other body. It helps you keep the records an EHO asks to see, but it doesn't promise a hygiene rating, and the operator remains responsible for food safety and legal compliance.

Who uses ShiftComplete

ShiftComplete is designed for the people who run UK hospitality venues day to day:

• Owners and general managers who write the rota and want it to stop eating Sunday nights.
• Head chefs who want temperatures, cleaning and allergens recorded properly, without the paperwork.
• Front-of-house teams who need to answer "is there nut in this?" from the floor.
• Area managers looking after several sites from one dashboard.

It suits a 6-person café as well as a hotel with a restaurant, bar and housekeeping team, because the staff areas, checklists and fridges are all set up to match the venue.

What a week looks like with ShiftComplete

Take a 25-person pub with a kitchen, a bar and a beer garden.

• Monday: staff have already marked their availability for the next fortnight on their phones. One has asked for a weekend off, and the GM approves it in the app.
• Wednesday: the GM adds an event, Saturday's local derby, which needs two more on the bar. They weight their strongest closers, ShiftComplete builds a draft rota in seconds, and they drag a couple of shifts around. Labour cost is on screen the whole time. They publish, and the rota lands on every phone and in every inbox.
• Every morning: the opener ticks off the opening checklist on the tablet behind the bar, logs fridge and freezer temperatures, and clocks in. A walk-in reading of 9°C is flagged on the dashboard, so the chef checks the door seal straight away.
• Friday night: a customer trips on a loose mat by the toilets. The duty manager logs it as an incident with a photo and marks it high severity. The mat goes on the maintenance list.
• Saturday close: the closing list is finished at 1.40am and still counts as Saturday.
• Sunday: the GM looks at the weekly rollup (task completion, temperature breaches, incidents, maintenance backlog) and downloads the week's hours as a spreadsheet for the bookkeeper.

When the EHO calls, the 7-day temperature view, cleaning records and allergen matrix are all on one screen.

A customer story: Kirkham Hospitality

Kirkham Hospitality runs The Lounge in Oswestry and Knock & Snitch. Owner Graeme Kirkham said:

"The rota stopped being a Sunday-night argument the week we switched over. The chef stopped being the only person who knows what's in the kitchen. And the EHO turn up to a screen, not a box file."

Graeme Kirkham, Owner, The Lounge Oswestry & Knock & Snitch

Read the full Kirkham Hospitality story.

How much ShiftComplete costs

ShiftComplete costs £1.49 per staff member per month. Every feature is included: there are no tiers, no add-ons and no per-site fee. There's no contract, and you can remove staff at any time.

See pricing for the latest details.

How to start

1. Sign up for the 60-day free trial. No card needed.
2. Add your venue and team. Set-up takes about five minutes.
3. Add your fridges, checklists and menu at your own pace.
4. Invite staff. They open a link on their phone and log in. Nothing to install.
5. Publish your first rota.

If you'd rather have help, book a free 15-minute set-up call.

How ShiftComplete compares

ShiftComplete sits between simple rota apps and larger workforce platforms. Its difference is putting rotas and food-safety and venue records (temperatures, allergens, checklists, incidents) in one app, at one flat per-staff price. For a fair look at the alternatives, see our roundup of the best rota apps for UK hospitality.