AI-powered restaurant operations
Run your restaurant.
Not your spreadsheets.
Helm Shift gives independent restaurant owners scheduling, inventory, and an AI-powered operations assistant — unified in one platform built for the pace of a working kitchen.
Same day
Guided setup
$99 CAD/mo
Independent restaurant pricing
Free · 30 days
No card required
Built in Halifax by Tyler MacDougall, a former line cook. Email support and you're emailing the founder, who answers the same day.
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
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
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
How it works
Up and running the same day.
Say hi, get your setup code
Book a free 30-minute walkthrough or email Tyler. While we're small, every restaurant is set up personally, so you'll have your code and your account the same day. 30 days free, no card required.
Bring your lists, not your evenings
Paste your staff list and stock list straight from a spreadsheet, no retyping. On the walkthrough we can load them together, so you never enter anything twice.
Build your first schedule with AI
Open the scheduling module, hit generate, and your AI-drafted schedule is ready to review. Edit anything, publish, done for the week.
Insights start immediately
Labour cost estimates, inventory alerts, and AI-powered recommendations appear 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
Your last count has Atlantic Salmon at Critical, heading into a busy Friday. I'd order at least 8 kg from Clearwater today to be safe. Want me to add it to your supplier cart?
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.
Starter
For a single location with up to 15 staff, getting off spreadsheets for the first time.
$
99
$149
CAD · per month · month-to-month
Includes
Smart scheduling with AI generation
Staff availability + time-off management
Inventory & low-stock alerts, menus & recipes
Labour cost estimator
Up to 15 staff · 1 location
Email support + guided onboarding
Most popular
Professional
For owner-operators who want the full engine — unlimited staff, the complete AI assistant, room to grow.
$
199
$249
CAD · per month · month-to-month
Everything in Starter, plus
Multi-location support (up to 3)
Full AI Assistant access
Supplier ordering cart
Consolidated labour costs across locations
Unlimited staff members
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
Priced for the independent restaurant.
$99 CAD/month covers scheduling, inventory, and an AI assistant 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 — $500–$2,000/month with implementation teams and required integrations. Helm Shift is built for an owner-operator running one to three locations: $99 CAD/month, set up in a day, scheduling and inventory and an AI assistant in one login. 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.
Starting at $99 CAD/month
30-day free trial
Independent restaurants