Canadian FoodTech startup 7shifts raises $21.5 million in Series B funding to grow its labor-management platform for restaurants

The coronavirus pandemic has forever changed our ways of life. Millions of people lost their jobs and thousands of businesses were decimated. Some of the sectors most impacted by this deadly virus are the foods and the travel industry.

Thanks to vaccines, businesses, and especially restaurants, have started to reopen again. And restaurants are beginning to hire new staff to cope with growing demand. Coming to the rescue of these restaurants is 7Shifts, a Saskatoon, Canada-based FoodTech startup that offers an easy-to-use labor management platform, built just for restaurants. 7shifts helps restaurants easily manage their teams’ schedules, timesheets, communication, tasks, tips, and more—all in one place.

As restaurants rebuild, 7shifts is experiencing record new client onboarding, as restaurateurs seek out tools to simplify team management and increase profitability, all of which has become even more critical during the global pandemic and as their businesses begin to rebound. 7shifts’ network now comprises more than 500,000 restaurant professionals across 18,000 locations around the world.

Today, 7shifts, announced it has raised $21.5 million in Series B funding led by Enlightened Hospitality Investments (EHI), the growth equity fund affiliated with Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG), with participation from existing investors Ten Coves Capital, Relay Ventures, and Conexus Venture Capital.

Founded in 2014 Jordan Boesch, with offices in Toronto and New Jersey, 7shifts is simplifying labor management, one shift at a time. It is used and trusted by over 500,000 restaurant pros across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia. More than a scheduling platform, 7shifts provides an end-to-end labor management platform to help restaurateurs improve operating performance.

“We are deeply appreciative of our partnership with USHG and EHI, both as a restaurant partner and now as an investor, and believe it is a testament to the value 7shifts provides to restaurateurs and their team members,” said Jordan Boesch, CEO of 7shifts. “As the industry rebuilds, there has never been a more important time for restaurants to get more visibility into labor to improve long-term performance and profitability. Engaging with restaurant staff through data-driven, reliable shift scheduling will be critical to providing meaningful job satisfaction while simultaneously controlling costs, improving performance, and rebuilding the bottom line.”

7shifts will use this latest round of funding to further fuel its mission to provide restaurant operators with best-in-class workforce management tools, a priority for restaurants now more than ever as they rebuild from the devastating impact of COVID-19. The proceeds will be used to continue scaling its passionate team and expand its product offering, including deepening its capabilities in the core areas of scheduling and employee communication, accelerating technology integrations to provide a more holistic view of one’s business, and rolling out the next generation of tools purpose-built for restaurateurs and their teams.

“The restaurant and hospitality industry is about to experience one of the biggest periods of growth and hiring we’ve ever seen, and having the right technology in place to manage this process will be a crucial component to succeed,” said Danny Meyer, founder and CEO of USHG and a co-founder and Managing Partner of EHI. “Our business leaders have been uniformly impressed and inspired by the staff management platform 7shifts has built, and we look forward to our work together to help further propel 7shifts into becoming our industry’s gold standard.”