The challenge: Managing bikes and baristas across two shops.

At Fix Coffee + Bikes, the team manages two businesses under one roof: one-part cafe, one-part coffee shop.

And the managers manage more than shifts! They coordinate baristas working the morning rush (where they do more than half their daily business), kitchen staff baking in-house, bike mechanics completing repairs, and service writers assessing bikes and preparing customer estimates. Each role requires different skills, different scheduling patterns, and different coverage needs.

While Fred’s team has used Homebase since the shop opened, he's seen how other business owners lost time doing tasks by hand.

"My mother-in-law did scheduling with pen on paper," Fred says, recalling his wife's family's restaurant. "Every time you want to make an adjustment, you're scratching out or erasing." 

And Fred knew he didn't want that kind of chaos.

This became increasingly important when Fix Coffee + Bikes opened their second location at The Well in 2024. Now, two-thirds of the team splits time between both locations. A barista might work shifts at both Gladstone and The Well. A mechanic might cover service appointments at both shops.

Fred needs visibility into who was scheduled where, when, and in what role—without drowning in administration. "I do pretty much all the backend administrative stuff," Fred says, "including scheduling and payroll."

With a team of 15 people working across two locations in multiple specialized roles, there's no shortage of admin to carry.

The solution: Two shops, one schedule builder.

When Fix opened, Fred didn't waste time shopping around.

"Since the day we opened, we've been using Homebase for scheduling and timesheets," Fred says. "I came across it right in time before we opened. I haven't even looked at the competitors, to be honest. I'm happy."

Early adoption paid off. While other new business owners might end up scratching out pen and paper schedules, Fred built schedules in Homebase and published them to the team instantly—and was always able to make changes with a couple clicks.

The time-off request feature alone eliminated hours of back-and-forth. "In the early days, people would email me or text me or tell me verbally, hey, I'd like to take these days off," Fred says. "I soon realized, I'll just tell the employee, can you make the request in Homebase?"

Now team members submit PTO requests directly in the app. Fred and his managers see it immediately, approve it, and the system automatically blocks off those days when building the schedule. No sticky notes required, and no forgotten conversations that can stress employees out.

As the team grew and roles became more specialized, Homebase's department sorting feature became essential. "You can sort by department. As our team grew and we had more differentiated functions and roles, that was really helpful," Fred says. In a click, he can view just the service writers, just the mechanics, or just the baristas—making it easy to spot gaps in coverage before publishing the schedule.

For Louis, the Coffee Program Manager who's been with Fix since the beginning, that functionality is a life saver. "I can literally just repeat a schedule to the following week, and then if I need to make tweaks, it's super simple," Louis says. "I can publish just the coffee side of the business without affecting the bike side of the schedule, and it's done in half an hour or less."

Then came the second location.

"It was a simple option on our plan to add a second location. Homebase obviously thought it through and made it pretty easy to go from one to two."

— Fred Sztabinski, Owner of Fix Coffee + Bikes

The multi-location view became essential immediately. "I like how you can see two locations at once on the scheduling side," Fred says. "The location you're not editing will be grayed out. So that's helpful to know like, okay, I've scheduled this person for four shifts. If they're full-time I can use them for one more."

That visibility is critical when managing what Louis calls "very challenging" logistics—a minimum of a dozen employees across two locations and two departments. Fred can see immediately if a worker's shifts are balanced between Gladstone and The Well, if they're scheduled in multiple roles, or if they're approaching full-time hours.

"We have crew that's available for the two locations and the two departments of the business," Louis says. "Using Homebase, seeing it all laid out, helps us plan for when we need more people on staff, and whether or not that aligns with the demand."

For team communication, Homebase messaging replaced what would have been endless group texts. Fred set up different groups for different departments: the kitchen team, all the baristas, the bike shop sales team, the bike shop service team. When a shift changes or coverage is needed, managers can message the right group instantly.

Now, the  whole system runs efficiently, giving everyone the predictability they need to plan their lives. 

"I also have other responsibilities in my life, and I go on vacation," Fred says. "We needed a way to get a lot more efficient and maintain workflow and consistency, even when I’m not at the shop.”

The result: 2-3 manager hours back every week.

Scheduling 15 employees across two locations with specialized roles in both coffee and bikes now takes 30 minutes or less per week. Louis can duplicate the previous week's schedule, make adjustments, and publish to just the coffee team or just the bike shop without affecting the other. Fred reviews it, makes any final tweaks, and it's done.

“Homebase has cut down the time I take scheduling by half. Like 50%, easily."

— Louis Pereira, Coffee Program Manager of Fix Coffee + Bikes

For a manager who's worked food service for 15 years, that's not a small gain. That's hundreds of hours saved per year that are now used to train new baristas, perfect recipes, or refine day-to-day operations.

And when it's time to pay the team? Inputting Homebase’s scheduling data into Quickbooks for payroll now only takes 20-40 minutes every two weeks. Fred reviews timesheets from both locations in Homebase, adds up hours, and manually transfers everything into QuickBooks.

"With Homebase, we're saving at least two or three hours of manager time per week," Fred says.

But the real impact goes beyond time savings.

The team gets schedules 2 to 3 weeks in advance. That predictability matters when you're juggling school, second jobs, and relationships. The time-off request system means no more forgotten vacation requests or double-booked holidays. The available shifts and preferred shifts features lets part-time employees communicate their needs without constant back-and-forth.

"We do try to create a bit of a family atmosphere," Fred says. "I try to create an environment of caring and support."

That atmosphere is easier to maintain when your team keeps their schedule in their pocket, can make the changes that matter to their lives, and have a direct line to the managers that have the time to make care a core part of every day.

Building something with “staying power.”

From Amsterdam inspiration to Toronto institution, Fix Coffee + Bikes has stayed true to its founding philosophy: bikes and coffee together make neighborhoods better. It shows up in the community they've built.

"There's a vibe. It's in a neighborhood. We have our strong community of regulars," Fred says. "I just feel good when I'm here."

“We do see that Homebase is constantly looking to add functionality. It just makes the rest of our job a little easier.”

— Fred Sztabinski, Owner of Fix Coffee + Bikes

Building something with staying power—whether it's a neighborhood café, a trusted bike shop, or a team that's been together for years—requires the right foundation. For Fix Coffee + Bikes, that foundation includes tools that scale without breaking, teams that show up, and a commitment to the community that keeps coming back.