The solution: A schedule Anabelle can check and change from anywhere.
Moonbridge set up Homebase for scheduling two months before opening day. Today, she's able to delegate and oversee that work. Moonbridge's manager builds most of the schedule in Homebase, then Anabelle double-checks shift times and timesheets to make sure the team is staffed well, especially when an event is coming up.
The team clocks in and out with the Homebase time clock, and their accountant runs payroll in Homebase, too.
Anabelle uses the desktop version to plan. But most days, she checks the schedule on her phone. "I do that very, very often," she says. "It's nice to have it hand-held."
She can see the day at a glance, then switch to the full week. If a shift needs to change, she makes the change right there. "I like that it's easy if we need to adjust people's shift times," she says. "It's so easy to do it just then and there on my phone."
When there's a note for the whole team, it goes out through Homebase team messaging, so everyone gets it at once. And Anabelle uses shout-outs to recognize the team, a natural fit for a shop whose values are gratitude, courage and wonder.
“My favorite feature is being able to see the schedule really easily. I like that I can see the day of, and then there's another feature where we can see the whole week.”
— Anabelle Brown, co-owner and chief creative officer of Moonbridge Doughnut Studio
The results: Staffed for the rush, wherever she is.
When a theme takes off now, Anabelle doesn't need to be at a desk to respond. She checks who's available, asks if they can come in or stay longer, and updates the shift on her phone. The team gets notified as soon as she hits confirm.
That speed is what flexibility means at Moonbridge. "It's being able to make those adjustments quite quickly," Anabelle says.
It also means events and theme drops don't catch the team short. Anabelle and her manager check shift times ahead of events, so the schedule matches what's coming.
The adaptability Moonbridge hires for now runs through its schedule, too. When the team jumps on a new theme, the staffing can move with it.
“It's really easy to just talk: 'Are you available for this? Can you work a full shift or a longer shift?' And I can just adjust it on my phone really quick, press confirm, they get the notification. It's just good.”
— Anabelle Brown, co-owner and chief creative officer of Moonbridge Doughnut Studio
Built for the rush, made for the marvel.
Moonbridge could have played it safe with a fixed menu and a schedule set weeks out. Instead, Anabelle and Kim built a shop that follows its curiosity, and a team that can follow it too.
For Anabelle, the work has always been about the art. "It very much just feels like an extension of being an artist," she says, "because now you're using sugar as a medium." It shows up in a marzipan giant peach, a Chocolate Room scene on a single doughnut, and lineups that tap into "what five-year-old Anabelle really enjoyed."
With the schedule in her pocket, she can stay focused on the next theme and the people who come in to see it: families, 20- to 40-somethings, and an older crowd that still surprises her.
"Whenever we have children come into the shop and you hear the excitement, it's really fulfilling," Anabelle says. "It feels like we're on the right path and we're doing what we want to do in that way."
