Built for independent restaurants

Run your restaurant.
Not your spreadsheets.

Try Helm Shift free for 30 days, no card. Scheduling, inventory, and an AI-powered operations assistant, unified in one platform built for the pace of a working kitchen.

Start free for 30 days, no card required Book a 30-min walkthrough
Same day Guided setup
From $49 CAD/mo Independent restaurant pricing
Free · 30 days No card required

Set up in minutes, not weeks.

A small restaurant team working the evening pass
Helm ShiftRun the whole restaurant from one login.
One system for the whole restaurant. This is the real product.
See it in action

The whole thing, in about a minute.

Prefer the full tour? Watch the complete walkthrough →

The problem

Independent restaurants run on gut instinct.

Scheduling happens in texts and notebooks
Hours wasted every week building the schedule, handling last-minute changes, and chasing confirmations from staff.
Inventory is managed by memory
No simple way to know what's actually on the shelf before the next order goes in. Counts live in someone's head, or on a clipboard.
Labour costs are invisible until payroll runs
No way to see what you're spending on staff until it's already happened. No comparison to revenue. Just a number at the end of the week.
The platforms that solve this aren't priced for independents
Most operations software costs $500–$2,000/month and assumes you have a dedicated IT team. Out of reach for most owner-operators.
Before Helm Shift
×Schedule built in a notebook every week
×Inventory counted by walking the kitchen
×Labour cost only visible after the fact
×No alerts when stock drops dangerously low
×Operations questions go to Google, or nowhere
With Helm Shift
✓AI-drafted weekly schedule in minutes
✓Inventory your staff flag from their phones
✓Labour cost estimated before you publish
✓Low-stock flags routed to the manager + an AI cart
✓AI assistant built for restaurant operations
The platform

Three modules. One login.

Scheduling, inventory, and AI, designed for the pace of a working kitchen, not a corporate office.

Smart Scheduling

Build your weekly schedule in minutes, not hours. Manage availability, time-off requests, and labour cost estimates, all from one screen.

Weekly drag-and-drop schedule builder
AI-generated schedule recommendations
Staff availability and time-off management
Labour cost estimator built for Nova Scotia
Explore Scheduling →
Inventory & Alerts

Track 500+ items, plus your menus and recipes. Staff flag what's low from their phone, and the AI assistant organizes your supplier cart.

500+ items, plus menus & recipes
Low/critical flags from staff phones
AI-organized supplier cart by vendor
Full order history per item & supplier
Explore Inventory →
Core feature
AI Assistant

An AI assistant for your whole operation. Ask it anything, scheduling, costs, suppliers, operations, and it works through it with you.

Scheduling and labour cost advice
Inventory levels and reorder timing
General Nova Scotia operations guidance
Answers as fast as you can read them
Explore the AI Assistant →
How it works

One connected system, not eight apps.

Set up from any spreadsheet
Bring your staff, inventory, and supplier lists in whatever format you already keep them. The AI reads any layout, no rigid template to match. Set up personally while we're small, so you're running the same day.
Build the week, cover the gaps
AI drafts a full schedule from availability, then finds cover when someone calls out. A last-second sick call raises an alert, so a gap never slips past you.
Read next week, control the cost
The forecast puts next week first, with a staffing suggestion per day. Low stock builds your supplier order cart for you, and every dish carries its real food cost.
See the savings in real dollars
Analytics turns each covered sick call and accurate forecast into a dollar figure, so the value is visible from day one. No training period, no waiting.
Inventory, The Coast Kitchen
Atlantic Salmon
2.1 kg
Critical
35% Whipping Cream
3 L
Low
Sourdough Loaves
6 pcs
Low
Chicken Breast
12 kg
In stock
Arborio Rice
8 kg
In stock
HELM ASSISTANT
Your last count has Atlantic Salmon at Critical, heading into a busy Friday. I've added 8 kg from Clearwater to your order cart with the other low items. Want to review and send it?
Take the full walkthrough, every screen, and how they connect →
Explore the platform

Go deeper on each piece.

Full walkthroughs of every module, and straight answers to the questions independent owners ask most.

Scheduling
AI-drafted weekly schedules with live labour cost, built around staff availability.
Explore →
Inventory
Staff flag what's low; the AI builds your supplier cart. Plus menus & recipes.
Explore →
AI Assistant
An assistant for the whole operation, ask it anything, from staffing to suppliers.
Explore →
FAQ
Pricing, setup, POS compatibility, data privacy, the questions owners ask before booking.
Explore →
Pricing

Simple pricing. No surprises.

Month-to-month billing. No long-term contracts. Cancel anytime.

Schedule & team
Lite

For the smallest kitchens, up to 10 staff and one location, who just need the schedule and team handled.

$ 49
CAD · per month · month-to-month
Includes
AI weekly schedule + drag-and-drop editor
Staff phone view: schedule, availability, time-off, pool
Live labour cost as you build the schedule
Sick-call cover suggestions, AI-ranked
Shift notes + Ask Helm assistant (scheduling & staff)
Up to 10 staff · 1 location

Everything a small team needs to run the week. Outgrowing it? Starter adds inventory in one click. Compare plans

Book a demo
Adds cost control
Starter

For one location adding inventory and cost control on top of the schedule, up to 25 staff.

$ 99 $149
CAD · per month · month-to-month
Everything in Lite, plus
Inventory management, low-stock alerts, supplier ordering
Menus & recipes
Labour cost reports
Up to 25 staff · 1 location
Email support + guided onboarding

The most common starting point. Running more than one room? Professional adds locations and forecasting. Compare plans

Book a demo
Most popular
Professional

For owner-operators growing past one location, with consolidated costs, analytics, and unlimited staff.

$ 199 $249
CAD · per month · month-to-month
Everything in Starter, plus
Multi-location (up to 3)
Consolidated labour & food cost
Forecast & analytics
Payroll CSV export
Unlimited staff

Unlimited staff, three locations, and the analytics to run them by the numbers. Compare plans

Start free for 30 days, no card required →
For groups
Enterprise

For restaurant groups running many rooms, with a dedicated human on call.

$ 349 $399
CAD · per month · month-to-month
Everything in Professional, plus
Unlimited locations
Dedicated account manager
Custom onboarding + white-glove setup
SLA guarantee + phone support
Works alongside any POS, no swap required

Unlimited rooms with a dedicated human on call. Single location? Professional covers you for less. Compare plans

Contact us
Compare all four plans in detail →
Priced for the independent restaurant.
$49 CAD/month gets your schedule and team handled. $99 adds inventory and cost control, all in one login. Month-to-month. Cancel anytime. No card required to start.

I built Helm Shift because I watched too many restaurant owners burn out on spreadsheets, paper schedules, and software priced for chains. Independent kitchens deserve the same tools, at a price that respects a 4% margin.

Tyler MacDougall Founder, Helm Shift · Halifax, NS
FAQ

Honest answers, before you book a call.

How long does setup actually take?
Most kitchens are live the same day. We import your staff list, your top-50 inventory items, and your supplier contacts during a 30-minute guided onboarding. You're scheduling shifts and tracking inventory before service that night.
Do I have to switch off my POS?
No. Helm Shift sits alongside whatever you use to ring sales, Toast, Square, Clover, Lightspeed, whatever. We don't compete with your POS; we replace the spreadsheets, group chats, and sticky notes around it.
What happens after the 30-day free trial?
You pick a plan or you walk. No card required to start, so there's nothing to cancel. If you stay, billing is month-to-month, cancel anytime, keep your data export.
Will my staff actually use it?
Staff get a phone-friendly link to view their schedule and request time off, no app to install today (a dedicated app is coming soon), no password to forget. Managers run the rest from a tablet or laptop. We design for the pace of a working kitchen, not for desk workers.
How is this different from other restaurant software?
Most operations software is priced and built for chains, at $500 to $2,000 a month with implementation teams and required integrations. Helm Shift is built for an owner-operator running one to three locations: plans from $49 CAD/month, set up in a day, scheduling and your team in one login, with inventory and an AI assistant as you grow. We're not trying to replace your POS, we replace the spreadsheets and group chats around it.
Is my data safe? Who can see it?
Your data is encrypted both in storage and when it moves across the internet. Each restaurant's data is walled off, one restaurant can never see another's. You own it. Export anytime as CSV. We never sell or share it, and we never use your operational data to train AI models. The companies that host our database and serve our app meet industry-standard security certifications. Read our full privacy policy.
What if I have multiple locations?
Professional supports up to 3 locations. Enterprise is unlimited and includes a dedicated account manager. Each location has its own staff, inventory, and supplier list, but you see consolidated labour % and food cost across all of them in one view.

See it running on your restaurant.

Book a free 30-minute demo. We'll walk through scheduling, inventory, and the AI assistant, live, using your operation as the example.

Start free for 30 days, no card required Book a 30-min walkthrough
Starting at $49 CAD/month
30-day free trial
Independent restaurants

What do you want to know?

Quick answers about Helm Shift.

How much is it? How does it work? What can it do? FAQ