7shifts Raises $21.5M Led by Enlightened Hospitality Investments

7shifts, a leading labor management platform for restaurants, announced it has raised $21.5 million in Series B funding led by Enlightened Hospitality Investments (EHI), the growth equity fund affiliated with Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG). Founded by restaurateur and industry visionary Danny Meyer in 1985, USHG operates some of New York City’s most beloved restaurants including Gramercy Tavern and Union Square Cafe. EHI was formed in 2016 to make strategic investments in best-in-class companies that have excellent management teams and corporate cultures. EHI’s investment follows a very successful implementation of 7shifts across USHG’s portfolio of cafes, bars and restaurants and will add EHI to 7shifts’ Board of Directors. The round also includes participation from existing investors Ten Coves Capital, Relay Ventures, and Conexus Venture Capital.

7shifts is experiencing record new client onboarding, as restaurateurs seek out tools to simplify team management and increase profitability, all of which has become even more critical during the global pandemic and as their businesses begin to rebound. 7shifts’ network now comprises more than 500,000 restaurant professionals across 18,000 locations around the world.

“We are deeply appreciative of our partnership with USHG and EHI, both as a restaurant partner and now as an investor, and believe it is a testament to the value 7shifts provides to restaurateurs and their team members,” said Jordan Boesch, CEO of 7shifts. “As the industry rebuilds, there has never been a more important time for restaurants to get more visibility into labor to improve long-term performance and profitability. Engaging with restaurant staff through data-driven, reliable shift scheduling will be critical to providing meaningful job satisfaction while simultaneously controlling costs, improving performance, and rebuilding the bottom line.”

“The restaurant and hospitality industry is about to experience one of the biggest periods of growth and hiring we’ve ever seen, and having the right technology in place to manage this process will be a crucial component to succeed,” says Danny Meyer, founder and CEO of USHG and a co-founder and Managing Partner of EHI. “Our business leaders have been uniformly impressed and inspired by the staff management platform 7shifts has built, and we look forward to our work together to help further propel 7shifts into becoming our industry’s gold standard.”

7shifts will use this latest round of funding to further fuel its mission to provide restaurant operators with best-in-class workforce management tools, a priority for restaurants now more than ever as they rebuild from the devastating impact of COVID-19. The proceeds will be used to continue scaling its passionate team and expand its product offering, including deepening its capabilities in the core areas of scheduling and employee communication, accelerating technology integrations to provide a more holistic view of the business, and rolling out the next generation of tools purpose-built for restaurateurs and their teams.