Schedules that build themselves
Staff send availability from a QR code, and your rules do the rest. You get a finished schedule to approve, for as long as you schedule ahead, not a blank grid to fill.
Scheduling & call-offs for bars
Stop building the schedule. Start running the bar.
Swigs Flow builds your staff schedule from availability and your house rules, then keeps every shift covered when someone calls off. Your managers approve. The system does the rest.
No app for staff to download
You choose what it decides alone
Ready for game days and holidays
A week to a monthof shifts, built and ready to approve
Every call-offlogged, scored and covered the same way
One tapto approve the ask for cover
Every changerecorded, with a name on it
The problem
Running the bar is the job. The schedule shouldn't be a second one.
Sunday night is schedule night.
Somebody sits with last week's sheet, a pile of texts about availability and a list of who can't work with who, and rebuilds the next schedule by hand. Game week or a holiday, and it starts over from scratch.
The 4:52pm call-off.
A bartender can't make tonight. Now the manager is scrolling contacts, texting five people one at a time, and hoping someone answers before doors.
Rules that depend on who's asking.
Attendance policy lives in a manager's head, so two people who called off the same way can end up treated differently, and staff notice.
Nobody's sure which schedule is real.
A shift moved on Tuesday. Half the staff are still holding the old copy, and somebody turns up for a shift that isn't theirs anymore.
Swigs Flow takes all four off your plate. Here's how.
How it works
From your house rules to a covered week, in five steps.
Set up once. After that, the system does the building and the chasing, and your managers make the calls.
1
We set up your venue with you
Your roster, your shift times, what a normal night looks like, who can lead, and your attendance policy. You start from a standard week and we shape it to yours, once, together, as your settings.
2
Staff send their availability
A QR code in the back of house and a link in the group chat. Staff tell the system when they can work and ask for time off. You can see at a glance who hasn't answered.
3
Your next schedule builds itself
A week, two weeks or a month. Each night is laid out from its usual shape, or from the event you put on the calendar, then every shift is filled by your rules: leads, on-call order, seniority, nights in a row. Anything it can't fill cleanly is flagged, not guessed.
4
You review and publish
Look it over and change anything: add a shift, move a start time, close a night. Then publish. Staff get a printable schedule or a link, and the system keeps a record of exactly what went out.
5
The week runs itself
Call-offs, cover, time-off requests and changes are handled as they happen, and every message waits for a manager's yes before it goes out.
A call-off, start to finish
What happens when someone can't make their shift.
The moment that eats a manager's evening, handled in the time it takes to read this.
1 tapis all your manager does: approve the ask for
cover. Everything around it is done for them.
- Jordan calls off Friday 9PMBy the call-off form, or by email. A form is logged by itself. A message written in words is put in front of a manager rather than guessed at.
- It's logged and scoredAgainst your attendance policy: how much notice, whether it's a busy night. The same answer every time, whoever is on shift.
- Cover is rankedOn-call staff first, then whoever is free and allowed to work that bar, with anyone close to overtime pushed down the list.
- The ask is written for you"Can you cover Friday 9PM at The Anchor?", drafted to the right person and waiting for your manager to tap approve.
- CoveredPriya says yes. The schedule updates, the change is recorded with a name on it, and the attendance record is already done.
The week that isn't normal
Game days, holidays and closures, planned before the week is built.
Every venue has a normal week, and then it has the other ones. Tell the system about them once and the schedule is ready for them.
Put it on the calendar
A game day, a holiday, a private party, a week you are closed. Give it how busy it will be and how the night should look, and the build lays it out that way.
Know what a normal night is
Your usual Wednesday and your usual Saturday are saved as shapes. Change one and every schedule after it follows. Keep a night that worked as a shape for next time.
Any length
Build a week, two weeks or a month at a time, starting whenever you like. A Monday you are normally closed can be opened for one night.
Change one night
Add a shift, move a start time, swap two people or close the day. If the schedule has already gone out, the people affected get a note you approve first.
You set the controls
Approve everything, or let it run the bar's paperwork on its own.
The agent is the same either way: it reads the call-off, ranks the cover, writes the order. What changes is who says yes. The owner chooses, one kind of decision at a time.
Default
Manager approves
The agent does the work and drafts the decision. A manager reads it and taps yes. This is where every bar starts.
Owner approves
For the calls you want to make yourself: the liquor order over a set amount, a price change, the schedule going out. Your managers see it; only you can say yes.
Fully automatic
The agent decides and acts on its own, and tells you what it did. Every action is still recorded with the reasons, and you can turn it back to approval at any time.
One bar's settingsExample
| Decision | Manager approves | Owner approves | Fully automatic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ask for cover when someone calls off | |||
| Send the next schedule to staff | |||
| Approve a time-off request that breaks no rule | |||
| Place the weekly liquor order | |||
| Accept a new par from the buying history | |||
| Change a drink price the Margin Advisor suggests |
Set by the owner, per decision. A manager can always see what the agent did and why, whichever setting is on.
What you get
Everything between “who's working Friday” and “we're out of limes.”
Every call-off, covered faster
Logged, scored and ranked the moment it comes in, with the ask to the next person already written. You pick a name.
Nothing goes out without you
Every text and email waits as a draft until a manager says yes. It does the scheduler's work and leaves the decisions to people.
One schedule everybody trusts
The published schedule is kept on record. Change a shift afterwards and it is recorded with a name, and a note to each person it affects is written for you to approve.
Counts and orders from a phone
Count the bar in the order you walk it. Pars show what is short, and the order to each vendor is drafted for you to check.
OperationsWhat the schedule costs, before you publish
Labor by night and by bar, and overtime caught while you build, even when someone's hours are split across more than one bar.
Owner tierOne bar or a group
Run one bar or several. Share a crew across them or keep them apart: each bar keeps its own rules, and hours split between bars are still added up.
Your house rules, not a template
Your leads, your on-call order, your busy nights, your attendance policy. Set up for how your bar already runs.
Ready for the week that isn't normal
Most tools give you a grid to fill in. This one fills it, plans around your game days and holidays, then keeps it filled.
Tiers
Start with the schedule. Add the rest when you're ready.
Three tiers that stack, each one adding to the last. Pick a tab to see what each one does.
Tier 1 · the foundation
You stop building schedules.
Availability comes in, your rules get applied, and your next schedule comes out ready to approve, event nights included. Every call-off is handled the same way whether or not you're in the building.
Best forAny bar with more than a handful of staff and a manager who is tired of doing the schedule on a Sunday night.
Where every venue starts.
- Availability collected from staff by QR code, and a list of anyone who hasn't answered
- A full schedule of any length, a week to a month, built from your rules: leads, on-call, seniority, nights-in-a-row and shift limits, bar-by-bar separation
- An events calendar and day shapes: game days, holidays, private events and closures planned before the schedule is built
- Change any single night: add a shift, move a time, swap two people, close the day, or keep it as a shape for next time
- Publish as a printable PDF or a link, with a record of exactly what staff were given
- Call-offs from a form or email, scored automatically on your attendance policy
- A ranked cover list for every open shift, and the ask drafted for you to approve
- Time-off requests with your notice rules and blackout nights
- New hires add themselves to the roster
- Manager override on any shift, recorded rather than silent, with a note to each person affected drafted for your approval
Tier 2 · includes everything in Schedule
Your stock, counted and ordered.
The same system that runs your staff runs your shelves. Counts get done because they are quick, and orders get placed because they are already written.
Schedule+stock=Operations
Best forVenues that want one system for the staff and the stock instead of three spreadsheets and a group chat.
Adds to Schedule. Nothing to set up twice.
- Everything in Schedule
- A count list sorted in the order you physically walk the bar
- Count entry built for a phone at close
- Pars per item, with what is short worked out for you
- Orders to each vendor drafted from the count, waiting for your approval
- Invoices checked against what was ordered
- For kitchens: every delivery and prep batch dated, a use-today list, first in first out by shelf, and a printed label for every container
- A prep list worked out from your pars, a waste log in dollars, and plate cost for every menu item from live ingredient prices
Tier 3 · includes everything in Operations
The owner's view of the money, with an advisor.
What the schedule costs before you approve it, what it cost against what you took, and an AI advisor that reads your sales, your costs and your prices and tells you what it would change. It covers every bar you run, because comparing bars side by side is the point.
Operations+money=Owner
Margin AdvisorExample suggestions
- Raise well cocktails about 5%Your well vodka costs 13% more than it did in the spring and your well prices have not moved. Comparable bars nearby already charge more for the same pour.
- Feature the espresso martini on SaturdaysYour best-margin cocktail sells fastest on Saturdays but sits fifth on the menu.
- Drop two slow bottles from the next orderNeither has sold a pour in six weeks, and together they tie up shelf space and cash.
Suggestions only. You decide what changes.
Best forOwners who want the money picture, for one bar or several, and someone to think it through with them, without chasing their managers for it.
Sales comparisons and the Advisor read the sales export your POS already gives you. Managers see hours and headcount; only the owner sees dollars.
- Everything in Operations
- The Margin Advisor: an AI agent that reads your sales, what each drink costs you and what you charge for it, then researches what similar bars charge and where your vendors' prices are heading
- Suggested changes with the reasoning behind each one: a price to raise, a special to run, a slow seller to cut, a pour cost creeping up
- Suggestions only. Nothing on your menu, your prices or your orders changes without your OK
- The cost of the schedule when you approve it: total, by bar, by night
- Overtime and near-overtime flagged while the schedule is being built, even when the hours are split across more than one bar
- Labor percent and sales per labor hour, by night and by bar, from the sales export your POS already gives you
Devin SwidergalFounder
A note from the founder
As a bartender, I watched my owner fight the same battle every week: getting the schedule out, chasing call-offs, and getting inventory counted. So I built one system that handles all of it, and automates as much as it can.
The goal was simple: give my boss back the time to run the bar instead of drowning in the busywork.
It asks before it sends anything, because the people on the schedule are coworkers, not ticket numbers.
Book a walkthrough with meIf that sounds like your Sunday nights, I'd like to show you.
Questions
What bar owners ask first.
How long does it take to get started?
About two weeks. Setup is one conversation about how your bars run. Staff then send availability, and your first schedule is built from it. You can keep your current process running alongside until you trust it.
Do my staff need to download an app?
No. Staff use a link and a QR code from their phone. Managers use this website from a phone or a laptop.
Will it send messages to my staff on its own?
Only if you tell it to. Out of the box every text and email is a draft until a manager approves it. An owner can let it act on its own, one kind of decision at a time, and can take that back whenever they like.
How much does the agent decide by itself?
You choose, decision by decision. Keep manager approval on everything, send the big calls to the owner, or let it run fully automatic and read what it did afterwards. Whichever you pick, every action is recorded with who or what made it and why.
Can I still change the schedule myself?
Any shift, any time. Changes are recorded with who made them, and the system tells you when staff are holding an older copy than the one you changed.
What about the weeks that aren't normal?
Put the game day, the holiday, the private party or the closure on the events calendar, and the build lays that night out the way you set it. Schedule a week, two, or a month at a time. After it's built you can change any single night, and if it has already gone out, the people affected get a note you approve first.
Does it work for one bar, or for several?
Either. One bar gets its own week. Several bars can share a crew or keep separate ones; each keeps its own rules, and overtime is caught when someone's hours are split between them.
What does it cost?
A flat monthly amount for each bar, by tier, plus a one-time setup that covers the rules conversation and your first schedule built together. No per-employee fees, and nothing longer than month to month. We go through the numbers on the walkthrough.
What happens to our data if we leave?
It's yours. Your roster, schedules and attendance history export whenever you ask.
Does it work with our POS or payroll?
For labor cost it reads the standard sales export every POS can produce, so there is nothing to integrate. It doesn't run payroll.
See your next schedule built for you.
Tell us how many bars you run and how you schedule today. We'll walk you through what your first schedule on Swigs Flow looks like.
Or write to hello@swigsflow.com