When coffee shop owners start looking for ways to organize their growing team and operations, it’s common to turn to general project management tools like Trello, Asana, or Notion. After all, these platforms are designed to manage tasks, projects, and communication, right?
But for coffee shops—especially those juggling multiple locations, rotating staff, and daily tasks—these tools often fall short. Here's why general project management software doesn't work for cafés and what you really need instead.
Most general project management tools are designed for knowledge workers who sit at desks, working on long-term projects. Coffee shops operate on a completely different rhythm—fast, physical, and shift-based.
☕ What happens: Tasks get buried, updates get missed, and baristas don’t have time to open an app mid-rush.
Coffee shop reality: You need tools that work during a shift, not ones designed for office teams working on multi-week projects.
Assigning tasks like “Clean grinders” or “Dial in the espresso” shouldn’t require creating cards, tags, and due dates. General tools add unnecessary complexity to tasks that need to be completed quickly and repeatedly every shift.
✅ Coffee shop tasks are repetitive.
✅ They require checklists, not projects.
✅ Baristas need simplicity, not cluttered dashboards.
General tools often assume one person owns a task until it’s done. But in a coffee shop, tasks are shift-based and cyclical.
Example: Cleaning the espresso machine is a task done by whoever’s on closing—every day.
☕ There’s no single assignee.
☕ The task repeats every shift.
☕ The entire team needs visibility.
General tools struggle with this. Coffee-specific task management platforms build around shifts—not individuals.
A coffee shop task list is deeply connected to recipes, brewing standards, and operational SOPs. General tools don’t support this nuance.
✅ Baristas need instant access to recipes while performing tasks.
✅ SOPs should be linked directly to specific tasks for training and consistency.
With general tools, you’re stuck pasting links or uploading docs that no one opens.
Managing two or more coffee shops adds another layer of complexity. You need visibility over:
✅ Which locations completed their tasks
✅ Consistency across stores
✅ Real-time updates from every team
General project management tools don’t offer location-specific task tracking or reporting without heavy workarounds. Coffee shop owners often find themselves micromanaging instead of scaling.
You need a system designed for coffee shops:
✅ Built around shifts, not projects
✅ Simple, repetitive checklists
✅ Connected to recipes and SOPs
✅ Multi-location support with real-time visibility
Brewspace was built specifically for coffee shop owners and managers facing these challenges:
No more repurposing office tools. No more missed tasks or frustrated teams.
General project management platforms are great—for offices. But your coffee shop isn’t an office. Your tools should reflect the pace, structure, and reality of café life.
Systemizing your operations starts with choosing software designed for specialty coffee. That’s how you scale without losing quality, consistency, or control.
