Saskatoon-based 7shifts has raised $4.5 million in funding from Tandem Capital and existing investor Relay Ventures.
7shifts’ platform allows restaurants to schedule employees more effectively by automatically pulling employee availability and eliminating scheduling conflicts, while also giving employees texts or emails with upcoming shifts and the ability to switch shifts and make schedule changes. The platform also provides detailed analytics that help with employee development, and gives workers a performance indicator for future job prospects.
The funding will be used to build out infrastructure in response to increasing demand from restaurateurs. The company last raised a round of funding May 2016, when it raised $1.2 million.
“We’ve intentionally focused on restaurants since the beginning, on solving problems that go beyond just addressing the pains of the hourly worker,” said founder and CEO Jordan Boesch. “By taking what we’ve witnessed around restaurant employees and managers, we’ve been able to fulfill our mission of empowering those working in the food service industry while helping operators better manage and reduce labor costs.”
Boesch founded 7shifts in 2013. He began developing the technology during high school, when he wanted to help his family’s Quiznos franchise. Boesch taught himself to code, and developed an app that over the years that evolved into the 7shifts platform.
“7shifts delivers more than just a highly effective, time-saving scheduling solution for restaurants to manage their staff,” said Tandem Capital partner David Wagonfeld, who was part of a group that owned 40+ Jamba Juice locations. “The platform also helps managers better connect and coordinate their employees and gives workers a performance indicator for future job prospects. On top of that, any restaurant operator that signs up for the platform is up and running in minutes.”
The company also has an office in Toronto, and is used by 150,000 restaurant workers across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia.