It's all in my head. Or the group text.
Who orders the milk. How we close. What we stand for. When it lives in one person, the shop only runs when that person is there.
Cafe LeadSam K.
OwnsSchedule, ordering, the bar
OnBar puts your schedule, time clock, weekly to-dos, stock, team messages and know-how in one place your whole team opens. So the shop runs the way you'd run it, even on the days you're not behind the bar.
For independent coffee shops. Nothing to install.
Sound familiar?
You didn't open a coffee shop to run a group text, three spreadsheets and a whiteboard. Here's what OnBar does about each one.
It's all in my head. Or the group text.
Who orders the milk. How we close. What we stand for. When it lives in one person, the shop only runs when that person is there.
The schedule eats my Sunday night.
Build it, screenshot it, text it, then field the "wait, am I on Thursday?" replies all week.
Things only get done when I'm there.
The deep clean, the stock count, the order that has to go in by Tuesday noon. Nobody skipped them on purpose. Nobody owned them.
We ran out of oat milk. Again.
You find out at 7am with a line out the door, and the vendor's number is in someone else's phone.
Every new hire learns it differently.
Whoever trained them, on whatever day, with whatever they remembered to mention.
I don't know if it was a good week until the month's over.
By the time the books close, the week you could have fixed is long gone.
Your team
Who's who, what they own, and how to reach them, in the same place as the schedule and the weekly list.
Your shop drawn as a family tree you can pan, zoom and tap, with a photo or a drawn likeness for each person. Tap someone to call, text or email them; you decide whether everyone, owners and leads, or only owners can see staff numbers. Teams share responsibilities and weekly tasks, so the opening crew knows what's theirs.
Built · in the demoAnnouncements from owners and leads, a thread for each team, group chats with the people you pick (like the opening crew), and direct messages. Only the people in a chat can read it. Anyone can report or block, and owners can take a message down.
Built · in the demoStart from Owner, Lead and Team member, then make your own: a Shift lead who builds the schedule and starts group chats but never sees payroll. Each role is a plain list of switches, and the database holds everyone to them, not just the screens.
Built · in the demoA task due tomorrow or overdue, a check-in to fill in, a changed shift, a new message, on your phone. Each person picks what they get, and quiet hours keep nights quiet.
Built · in the demoTime and pay
Shifts, hours and approvals in one line, handed to the payroll service you already use.
Everyone sets their availability and asks for time off in the app. Give a shift away, someone claims it, a lead approves. Start from a template or last week, and see projected hours and labor cost before you publish.
Built · in the demoOn their own phone, or on a shared tablet at the bar with a PIN. Late starts, early leaves and overtime are flagged for you, so nothing slips past.
Built · in the demoEach person confirms their week and a lead approves it. Then export the approved hours for the payroll service you already use. OnBar never calculates pay.
Built · in the demoBack of house
Count from your phone, see what's low, and get each vendor the right order before their cutoff. If you roast, that lives here too.
Count while you walk the shelves, against the par level for each item. What's low lands on an order list grouped by vendor, with each one's cutoff and a message ready to send.
Built · in the demoProfiles with every version kept, a log of each roast, and green coffee lots that draw down as you roast. If you buy from a roaster, they're one more vendor and this stays switched off.
Built · in the demoAsk OnBar
Ask the way you'd ask your cafe lead, or start the day with a short morning briefing. When something needs changing, it shows you a card and waits for you to press Run. It only sees what you can see.
Built · in the demoWhat's inside
Here's exactly what's built and what isn't yet. Everything built is in the demo, with a made-up shop, so you can try it before you talk to us.
Moving in
You don't need a new system. You need the one you already run, written down where everyone can see it. Start with what's already true.
Your team list, your vendors and your shifts can come straight from a spreadsheet. No retyping.
Your roles, your tasks, your vendors, your numbers. In your words, not a template's. A setup checklist shows what's done and what's next.
It works in any phone browser, and on a tablet at the bar. Add it to the home screen and it opens like an app. Nothing to install.
OnBar is in a private pilot with its first shop. We're taking a small number of independent shops next.