Sector · Restaurants and cafés

Restaurant staff scheduling: part-time, split shifts and busy service

A waiter comes in for lunch, leaves in the afternoon and returns for dinner. A student working 25 hours on weekdays adds 12 at the weekend. In a restaurant the timesheet means correctly adding up several clock-ins a day and contracted hours that differ by person.

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Split shiftsPart-time contractsTablet behind the tillShift swaps

What confuses the timesheet in a restaurant?

In food and drink, working hours follow the flow of customers: lunch and dinner rushes, quiet afternoons, late weekend closings. A tracking method that assumes one clock-in and one clock-out either counts the gap between services as work or never sees the second service.

A large share of staff work part-time (Law 4857 art. 13), each with different contracted weekly hours. Hours a part-timer works beyond the contract, up to 45 a week, are extended working time and carry a separate uplift.

How the system is used during service

Split shifts

With the company setting on, staff clock out after lunch and back in for dinner; net time is the sum of the two records and the gap is not counted as work.

Contracted hours per person

Contracted weekly hours go on the employee record; with a contract below 45 hours, hours above it are split out at +25% and hours over 45 at +50%.

Shared tablet behind the till

The phone stays in the locker during service; staff pick their name on the tablet and enter a PIN.

Exam-week swaps

A student wants to swap a shift with a colleague; the colleague and the manager approve, and both follow the stage on their phones.

Open shift postings

A weekend shift that cannot be filled is posted; staff who want it apply and the manager chooses.

Planned breaks

The break between services is tied to the shift; planned and actual breaks are kept apart, and a forgotten break ends by itself when its time is up.

The night rule for late-closing venues

If closing time passes midnight, a shift may count as a night shift.

Criterion — if more than half of the work falls between 20:00 and 06:00, the shift is a night shift. A 17:00–01:00 shift (30-minute break) meets it.
7.5 hours — night work as a rule may not exceed 7.5 hours (art. 69). In work listed by law, such as tourism, there is an exception with the worker’s written consent; the system warns rather than blocks.
No overtime — overtime cannot be worked on a night shift (art. 41); the request stops at request stage.
Rest breaks — at least 30 minutes for 4 to 7.5 hours of work, at least 1 hour beyond 7.5 hours (art. 68).

When restaurants and cafés ask

How are the two clock-ins of a waiter working lunch and dinner counted?

Several clock-ins a day are enabled in the company setting. The waiter clocks out after lunch and in again for dinner; the timesheet adds the net time of both records and the gap is not counted as work.

What if someone on a 30-hour weekly contract works 36 hours?

The 6 hours above the contract and up to 45 a week are extended working time at +25% (Law 4857 art. 41). The employee may choose 1 hour 15 minutes of time off for each hour instead of the uplift. Extended working time does not count toward the 270-hour annual limit.

Phones are not used during service; how is attendance taken?

Staff pick their name on the shared tablet behind the till and enter a personal PIN. Scanning the QR code posted at the kitchen entrance at the start of the shift is another option; the QR code is tied to the restaurant’s location.

For a restaurant closing at 01:00, is the closing shift a night shift?

In most cases, yes. On a 17:00–01:00 shift with a 30-minute break, net work is 7.5 hours and more than half falls after 20:00. Night work should not exceed 7.5 hours and no overtime can be worked on this shift; the system stops an overtime request that breaks the rule.

Tell us how your service runs

How many part-time and full-time staff, and when do your services start? We define the shifts with you during free onboarding.

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+90 541 454 25 24 bilgi@medyajans.com.tr