Free café staff roster template

What's in the template

• One row per staff member, with their role and hourly rate.
• For each day: start time, finish time, and unpaid break in minutes.
• Hours per day, total hours for the week, and estimated wage cost, all calculated for you.
• Daily totals along the bottom, so you can see which days carry the most hours.
• Three example rows to show how it works. Delete them before you start.

How to use it

1. Enter the Monday the week starts and your location at the top.
2. List each staff member once, with their role and hourly rate.
3. Type a start and finish time for each shift, like 6:30 AM or 14:00, and the unpaid break in minutes.
4. Check the totals: hours per person, hours per day and the week's estimated wage cost.
5. For the next week, duplicate the sheet tab and change the shifts.

How to build a good café roster

Start from your trading pattern, not your staff list

Write down when you're busy before you write down who's working. For most cafés that's the morning coffee rush, a lunch peak, and a quiet afternoon. Roster your strongest barista for the rush and your fewest people for the quiet hours.

Roster the open and close first

Someone has to turn the coffee machine on at 6 am and someone has to set the alarm. Fill those shifts first, with people who know the routine, then build the middle of the day around them. A café opening and closing checklist helps newer staff do it the same way.

Know who can't work before you start

Casuals and students change their availability often. Collect it before you build the roster, not by group chat after you've posted it, or you'll end up rebuilding the week.

Watch the wage cost as you go

The template's wage-cost total is the quickest check that the week fits your budget. Compare it with what you expect to take that week. If a quiet Tuesday costs as much as a Saturday, move hours.

Check your award

Minimum shift lengths, breaks, penalty rates and overtime depend on your award, usually the Hospitality Industry (General) Award or the Restaurant Industry Award for cafés. The spreadsheet doesn't check these for you. Use the Fair Work pay guides to check the rules for your staff.

Post it early

Staff plan their week around the roster. Publishing it a week or more ahead means fewer swaps, fewer no-shows and fewer messages at 10 pm.

When a spreadsheet stops working

A spreadsheet roster is fine for a small team with a steady week. It gets harder when you have more than a handful of staff, more than one location, or lots of swaps: staff can't see changes unless you send the file again, and the roster says nothing about the hours people actually worked. Spreadsheet vs rostering software: when to switch.

CrewConnect does the same job on staff phones, adds a time clock and timesheets, and is free for up to 5 staff.

Questions