Resources · Template · 4 min
A weekly rota template for cafés and small shops
The spreadsheet layout our café customers used before they switched, cleaned up and free to copy — with the three rules that stop it breaking.
Not everyone is ready to move their rota into software, and a good spreadsheet is far better than a bad one. This is the layout our café and shop customers used before they switched, cleaned up and free to copy.
The layout
One row per person, one column per day, and a final column for weekly hours. Each cell holds a start and end time written the same way every time — 07:00–13:00, never 7-1. Underneath the people, add one row per role showing how many you need each day, and a row that counts how many you have.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | Hours | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rosa (bar) | 07:00–13:00 | 11:00–18:00 | 07:00–14:00 | 10:00–18:00 | 27 | |||
| Deniz (bar) | 08:30–15:00 | 07:00–13:30 | 11:00–18:00 | 20 | ||||
| Bar needed | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
Three rules that keep it from breaking
Write times one way. A formula can add up 07:00–13:00. It cannot add up “7ish till close”.
Never edit a published week in place. Copy it to a new tab first. When someone disputes their pay in six weeks, the rota they were sent is the only evidence you have.
Keep holiday out of the rota cells. Mark leave in a separate row. Mixing “HOL” into time cells is how weekly hours quietly go wrong.
When a spreadsheet stops working
Usually at around 15 people or a second site. The signs are familiar: more time answering “what time am I on?” than building the week, swaps you find out about after the fact, and a Monday spent retyping hours for payroll. That is the point where the Starter plan pays for itself — and it will import this exact spreadsheet in one step.
