The Challenge: Running a modern business with an old-school whiteboard

But with growth comes challenges, including staffing, scheduling, and keeping the team, including the owners themselves, motivated. “It's difficult to hit the mark 100% every day, “Jamila says. “And so you're left with just kind of that feeling of ‘I tried my best.’ But sometimes your best doesn't feel good enough, not even to yourself. And that's a hard thing to try to navigate emotionally.”

A heavy administration burden is the last thing you want to deal with as a busy founder, but that’s where Jamila found herself spending most of her time. “Everything in terms of time off requests or shift trades, I was handling that via text message,” Jamila says. “I was writing the weekly schedule on a dry-erase calendar in the kitchen. And the words were smearing and smudging, and names were stuck on top of each other, and people didn't know when or where to show up.”

And if a team member didn’t arrive on time, Alfonso and Jamila didn’t have all the information needed to make informed decisions or have constructive conversations. “When you’re in a business, doing a million things, you kind of notice things, but you don't have it written down,” Alfonso says. They couldn’t tell if an employee’s late arrival was a one-time occurrence or part of a larger pattern.

It was clear the owners needed a better scheduling system and more visibility into what was happening at their stores throughout the day. But with multiple locations, and without a central spot to track attendance or communicate with the team, Jamila and Alfonso were often left in the dark. 

That all changed when one of their store managers introduced Jamila and Alfonso to Homebase.

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“Scheduling and communication is always one of the hardest parts as a leader. Homebase makes it easier so you can get back to blending your tea or making your muffins or whatever it is you do in business.”
— Jamila Wright, Co-Owner

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The Solution: Synced schedules that strengthen the team

Homebase puts scheduling, time tracking, and messaging all in one place, making it easier for Jamila and Alfonso to see what’s happening across their three shops. “Homebase was the beginning of us systematizing our business and getting our staff on accord,” Jamila says. 

Now, team members can make shift and time off requests, right in the Homebase app, without blowing up Jamila’s phone. And Jamila can take that information and create a complete schedule in just minutes using templates and auto-scheduling. 

Employees also receive notifications when the schedule is updated or when new shifts are available to claim, so everyone knows where to be and when. 

Homebase also helps the owners make sure the schedule fits the needs of the business. “When you know you need less labor on Tuesday because it’s your slowest day, then you schedule accordingly and you put a little bit of money back into the business,” Jamila says.

In addition to automatic schedule alerts and reminders, Jamila and Alfonso can include shift notes that help ensure teammates are prepared before their shift even begins. “It helps them to understand what they're getting into,” Jamila says. “Also, each team member sends an update after their shift. So we know exactly what was done, what wasn't done, and how the day went.”

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The Impact: Chaotic, smudged whiteboard out; organized, motivated team in

The everything app has powered up the team at Brooklyn Tea. Every employee can communicate their availability and problem-solve shift swaps right through the app, without relying on the owners or managers. And the owners don’t have to worry about mistaking a scrawled name on a messy whiteboard. 

“They have their schedule set and they know who is coming up and who has availability and what open shift looks like,” Jamila says. “When you’re not stuck to that very analog calendar, they have more agency and they have more empowerment to problem solve on their own. It allows us to step back and let them kind of run the show.” 

For Jamila, it’s made schedule management easier than ever — and given her more time back in her day. “[Requests] not only show up for approval on Homebase, but the calendar's blocked out, so I can't even make the mistake of scheduling over a vacation or time off request,” she says.
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“I would say Homebase saves me about six hours of work per week [from scheduling alone]. It would probably take me two days, three hours each day to really look at everyone's schedules that they would text me or email me. Now, I don't have to try to remember people's time off requests. Avoiding all those inaccuracies and those errors allows me to just let go and be comfortable with it.”
— Jamila Wright, Co-Owner

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And that extra time? It goes right back into growing the business. “When I'm freed up from having to do scheduling, the more we can do those revenue-generating opportunities, like social media content, to drive more people to the shop online, or do pop-ups in different markets and festivals,” Jamila says.

Plus, it’s helped the owners address issues like attendance in a more objective, data-driven way, particularly through reports like the on-time arrival report. “When we're doing a check-in and showing our employee, 'hey, you're on time 37% of the time, we need to fix this,’ it's way better than saying 'you're always late,’” Alfonso says. “It’s helpful to get some of the emotion out of it and put facts into it.”

With Homebase supercharging scheduling, communication, and performance tracking, Jamila and Alfonso can focus on what makes Brooklyn Tea special: great tea, a strong sense of community, and genuine connection.

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