Shift Desk

Shift Desk is where managers end the service day with evidence. Opening an operational shift starts service; Shift Desk checks that orders, money, stock, and staff activity match what actually happened before the shift is closed.

It runs on web, tablet, and phone. The same rules apply everywhere; only the layout changes.

The focus card

The desk is built around one card that carries whatever the shift needs right now. It is not a form to fill top to bottom — it is a queue of work that changes as you clear it.

Depending on where the shift is, the focus card holds:

• opening checks, if the branch is not open yet
• unpaid bills, each with its token and table
• closing work
• the blind cash count
• the card and UPI confirmation
• the handover note

Rows on the card act. A row naming an unpaid bill takes you to that bill rather than telling you a bill exists somewhere.

Beside the card

Opening and closing the branch

Branch open and close live on Shift Desk. The web header pill and the mobile staff panel both send you here rather than writing the shift themselves — they used to, which meant a branch could be closed without the readiness gate, the cash count, or the channel confirmation.

Clocking in and out is separate and stays where it is.

The blind cash count

You count the drawer before Zesty shows you what it expects. That is the point of a blind count: seeing the expected figure first turns counting into confirming.

Enter what is physically there. Zesty then shows the variance.

Card and UPI: assumed to match

Card and UPI start as assumed matched to what Zesty expected, so a normal close needs no taps here. If your terminal batch or UPI app shows a different total, tap Differs and enter the real figure. That figure is what is saved.

What happens automatically

• Opening float is prefilled with the branch default.
• Closing checks appear on their own shortly before closing time (set under Advanced). Begin closing is still how you start the cash count, and you can press it early.
• Staff still clocked in are clocked out when you close the day. The close confirmation tells you how many.
• Orders still in progress are shown in the close confirmation but do not stop the close.
• Reminders go to managers' phones before closing time. If the day is still open at closing time, an alert also appears in the alerts bell on web and mobile (and goes to your alert email channels), and it clears itself when the day is closed.
• The close report is emailed, with the CSV attached, to the addresses under Advanced. If sending fails, Zesty keeps retrying for a few hours.

Blocking issues

An issue is anything holding the close open. From either app you can:

• Report an issue — at branch level, or against a station
• Resolve it
• Carry it forward into tomorrow's opening

A blocking issue ranks above "service is on track" so it is visible from the moment it is raised, rather than surfacing only once you start closing. Outlets without stations raise branch-level issues; those count against the close and are shown like any other.

Setting up a store

Shift Desk Settings is one short card:

1. Opening and closing checklist: No checklist, One checklist, Cafe stations or Restaurant stations. The cafe and restaurant options come with ready-made tasks.
2. Store hours: when the store opens and closes. A close earlier than opening means after midnight.
3. Opening float: the cash normally in the drawer at opening.

Everything else sits under Advanced: hours by day, holiday hours, when closing checks appear, reminders, report emails, cash thresholds, whether staff may open and close the day, the counter-PIN requirement, the reopen window, checklist tasks and a temporary shift lead. Web and mobile show the same fields.

Operational checklists

Templates stay editable during an open shift. Changes apply to the next shift, because released tasks keep their original wording as audit evidence. Each item can be required or optional. During a shift, a manager marks an item complete, or marks it not required for that day with a recorded reason. Safety and security checks cannot be skipped.

Turning checklists off does not remove order, payment, cash, staff-shift, or reconciliation blockers.

Taking a close back

Two ways to undo, both on web and mobile:

• Resume service mid-closing, if the day is not actually over
• Reopen a closed shift with a reason, while it is still inside the branch's post-close window

The close report stays readable alongside, so you can see what you are reopening.

For a small fix that does not need the day reopened — a late card slip, a miscount found in the morning — add a correction on the closed day instead. The signed-off figures stay as they were; the correction is recorded beside them with your name and reason.

If the branch requires it (under Advanced), skipping a checklist task, ending someone else's shift, reopening a close and adding a correction all ask for your counter PIN.

The handover note

The close ends with a note for whoever opens next. Both apps have it — the mobile desk previously confirmed a close with nothing left behind for the next opener.

Exports and accounting handoff

Close exports summarise payment mix, refunds, and shift boundaries. Before sending one outside the organization, confirm the branch name and date, confirm the cash and UPI rows, and attach expense notes if your accountant expects them.

Zesty exports support operations review. Your accountant may still need provider settlement reports for card and UPI reconciliation.

Common mistakes

• Leaving open table bills "for tomorrow"
• Marking UPI as matching without checking, because "it usually works out"
• Ignoring a carried-forward issue until it has been carried three days
• Two managers closing the same shift on different devices — agree on one closer

Related guides

• Operational shift — opening rules and gates
• Orders, KDS, billing and refunds
• POS register — counter totals at close
• Inventory — stock notes at close