Team members
Name, role, minimum hours per week, and any availability rules. Term-time only rules are checked automatically against the school holidays tab.
School holidays
Norfolk term dates. Edit, add or remove as needed — these drive any "term-time only" rules set against a team member.
Opening hours
Food service venues and sessions. Add, remove or edit times and days. Mark a session as variable if it changes by booking.
Shift times
Preset shift start and finish times used as quick-picks when building the rota. You can still type a custom time on any rota cell.
Chef shifts
Kitchen porter shifts
Shift needs
Roughly how many chefs and KPs you need covering each part of the day. Used as a guide — the rota will flag if a day looks short.
Rules
Every rule the rota checks against, in one place. Edit any value below and it applies immediately to breach flags, coverage checks and auto-fill. Add your own rules at the bottom as reference notes for anything not built into the checker.
Holiday & day-off requests
Log booked leave, sickness, or day-off requests here. These are used automatically when you auto-fill the rota — a person on leave that day won't be scheduled.
Shift swaps
Log a swap someone's asked for, then authorise it when you're happy with it — the rota only changes once you tick Authorise. Works for a straight swap between two people, or just handing a shift to someone else.
Special dates
UK public holidays (useful for staffing and pay) and promotional or awareness dates (useful for specials and marketing). Both show as a marker on the rota week label. Add, edit or remove as needed — dates will need checking and updating each year.
UK public holidays
Promotional & awareness dates
Functions
Private dining, weddings and events booked in. Each one shows as a marker under its date on the rota grid, and any extra chefs or KP you enter get added to that day's shift needs automatically \u2014 so shortfalls and auto-fill both account for it.
Hours summary
Actual hours worked per person across all built rotas. Use this to spot anyone consistently over or under their contracted hours.
Weekly rota
Click "+ shift" on any day to assign someone, or auto-fill the week using each person's usual pattern and any booked leave.