Who handles HR for cafes and coffee shops? Beagle HR does, for independent cafes and hospitality businesses across Surrey and the South East: hospitality contracts for casual and variable-hours staff, tips policies that meet the law, under-18 working rules and pay bands, zero-hours holiday pay, right-to-work checks and kitchen conduct issues. Ad-hoc advice is £125/hr + VAT billed in 15-minute increments, with fixed-price projects and retainers available.
The problems that land on a cafe owner’s counter
Hospitality has HR problems a generalist adviser rarely sees twice. We see them every week.
Staff who vanish mid-shift
Hospitality turnover is the highest of any sector, and every leaver takes their training with them. Good contracts and a decent induction cut the churn and the cost of it, and they take less time than another round of re-hiring.
Tips, done legally
The law now requires all tips to be passed to staff in full and allocated fairly, with a written tips policy and records to prove it. Get the allocation wrong and any worker can take you to tribunal.
Young staff, different rules
Under-18s have their own working time limits, break rules and minimum wage band, and the rules change again at 18, 21 and beyond. Age-band pay mistakes are the kind HMRC names employers for publicly.
Casual and variable hours
Zero-hours and casual staff still accrue holiday, and their holiday pay has its own calculation rules. This is the most common back-pay claim in hospitality, and it builds quietly for years before it lands.
The right-to-work trap
Busy hiring, high turnover and a cash-in-hand culture make hospitality the sector most fined for illegal working. Civil penalties run up to £60,000 per worker. A five-minute check done properly is your full defence.
When the chef and the barista fall out
Small teams in hot kitchens generate conduct issues, and sacking someone on the spot after a blow-up is how owners end up at tribunal. A fair process is quicker and cheaper than it sounds, if you follow it from the start.
What we do for cafes
Practical work with a clear price, delivered by consultants who know how a food business actually runs.
Contracts built for hospitality
Casual, part-time, variable-hours and salaried contracts that handle rotas, overtime, tips and lay-off properly, so the deal is clear before the first shift, not argued about after the last one.
A tips policy that holds up
A written allocation policy that meets the law, the records that back it up, and troncs explained in plain English so you can decide whether one is worth having.
Staff handbook for food businesses
Conduct, hygiene responsibilities, phones behind the counter, social media, and alcohol and age-verification duties where they apply. Not a generic template with your logo on it.
Day-to-day advice
A consultant on the phone when someone no-shows, walks out or kicks off mid-service. £125/hr + VAT billed in 15-minute increments, or a monthly retainer if you would rather budget for it.
Guides written for cafe owners
Plain answers to the questions cafe and coffee shop owners actually ask us. New guides added monthly.
The tips law explained for cafe owners
What the tipping rules require and how to comply without a payroll headache.
Read the guide ›Zero-hours holiday pay: the calculation that catches everyone
How to work it out for irregular hours, and where the claims come from.
Read the guide ›Hiring 16 and 17 year olds: the rules in one page
Hours, breaks, pay bands and what changes on each birthday.
Read the guide ›The no-show problem: what you can and cannot do
Deductions, warnings and when a no-show becomes a resignation.
Read the guide ›Your first kitchen disciplinary, step by step
A fair process for a small team, from first concern to outcome.
Read the guide ›Seasonal staff without the January headache
Fixed-term hiring that ends cleanly when the season does.
Read the guide ›The Cafe HR Checklist
The documents and records every food business should have in place before the next busy season, in one printable checklist.
- Covers contracts, the tips policy, right-to-work records, young worker rules and holiday pay
- Written for independent cafes and coffee shops, not head offices
- Used by hospitality businesses across Surrey to tidy up before the rush, not after it
Send me the checklist
How exposed is your cafe?
Take the 3-minute HR Risk Score. Fifteen questions, an instant traffic-light result, and a clear view of where the gaps are.
Questions we hear a lot
Short answers here. Longer ones on a call, which costs you nothing.
We are based in Surrey and most of our clients are within an hour of us, but we work with cafes and coffee shops across the South East and remotely. Contracts, tips policies and handbooks travel well. For anything that needs a site visit, we will tell you honestly whether the distance makes sense.
Yes, and that is completely normal in hospitality. Most cafes we meet have a mix of handshake deals, inherited contracts and nothing in writing at all. We standardise the paperwork without levelling anyone down, so nobody loses out and every deal is finally on paper.
If your customers tip, yes. The law requires tips to be passed on in full, allocated fairly, and backed by a written policy and records that staff can ask to see. It is a legal requirement, not a nice-to-have, and we can write yours in a week.
Ad-hoc advice is £125/hr + VAT, billed in 15-minute increments so a ten-minute question costs a quarter of an hour, not a full one. Fixed-price projects (contracts, tips policies, handbooks) are quoted up front. Or take a monthly retainer sized to your team, agreed before we start.
Talk to someone who knows hospitality
Fifteen minutes, no charge and no follow-up chase. Bring the staff issue that is bothering you and leave with a clear next step.
Book a free 15-minute call