Case Studies

How CODE Catering Replaced Deputy and Manual Rostering with Connecteam

CODE Catering provides corporate café and catering services for New South Wales government facilities, combining on-site hospitality with efficient workforce management.

Industry

Food & Beverage

Location

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Products used

Rostering Time Clock & Timesheets Task Management Xero Integration

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“It’s one of the first companies that I’ve been with that I feel like has been by my side the whole time. I have a lot of confidence in Connecteam.”

Andrew Elias, Owner & Operator

Key Results

Predictable, flat-rate pricing that scales with the business without punishing growth or event-driven staffing spikes
Rostering and time tracking in one place, replacing Deputy and eliminating the cost of paying for features separately
Delegation that actually works, with managers running their own teams independently inside the platform

The Challenge: A Pricing Model That Punished Flexibility

Running a corporate cafe with a fluctuating headcount is not a problem per-seat pricing handles well. Events at Sydney Olympic Park could push staffing from 10 to 20 people overnight, but adding those workers to Deputy triggered costs that were hard to justify for a single shift.

Deputy charged separately for rostering, making the combined cost of rostering and time tracking difficult to justify for a small operation
Event-driven staffing spikes meant adding temporary workers was costly, so managers avoided it and the system stopped reflecting reality
Paper rostering and text messages were the fallback when software costs climbed too high, creating gaps in visibility and accountability

“I was only using it for time tracking and payroll exports to Xero. If I wanted rostering too, I had to pay extra, and I just didn’t see the value in that.”

Andrew Elias, Owner & Operator

How Andrew’s Team Uses Connecteam to Run a Leaner Operation

The team adopted Connecteam to “bring rostering and time tracking into one platform״, with payroll data exported to Xero. The pricing structure, tiered by team size rather than per seat, made it possible to roster event staff without financial risk.

Managers plan rostering ahead of time in the app, covering front of house, back of house, and admin teams independently
Staff clock in and out through the app, with time data exported directly to Xero for payroll processing
The archive feature lets Andrew add event workers temporarily without permanently inflating headcount or subscription costs

“I loved that you have tiers. If I have 10 more people join, I’m not going to have a heart attack thinking about what bill I’m going to get.”

Andrew Elias, Owner & Operator

Results That Affect the Bottom Line

Rostering Without the Manual Workaround

Managers build and update rosters in the app instead of relying on text messages or paper
Role-based team structure keeps front of house, back of house, and admin on separate rosters that can be cross-referenced
Each manager owns their section, reducing the time Andrew spends in the weeds of day-to-day rostering

A Platform the Team Actually Adopted

Staff familiar with Deputy found the interface intuitive, which shortened the learning curve significantly
Managers trained each other, removing Andrew from the onboarding chain
The archive function resolved the core friction that made Deputy unworkable for event-based staffing

“I taught my managers and now they’re teaching other people. That’s what made it easy for people to adopt.”

Andrew Elias, Owner & Operator

Before vs. After Connecteam

Aspect	Before Connecteam	After Connecteam
Pricing Model	Per-seat fees. Rostering charged as a separate add-on	Flat-rate tiers. Rostering and time clock included.
Event Staffing	Adding temporary workers triggered extra costs. Managers avoided it.	Archive feature lets the team roster event staff and remove them without cost penalties.
Rostering	Paper and text messages when costs got too high	Managers build and publish rosters in the app ahead of each shift
Time Tracking	Clock in and out via Deputy. Xero export required manual review steps.	Time data exports to Xero timesheets. Pay run sync in progress.
Team Accountability	Owner managed most decisions	Managers run their own teams. Owner checks progress from the platform
Platform Adoption	Staff resisted separate tools for separate functions	Familiar interface. Team adopted quickly. Managers now training each other

Why Connecteam Was the Right Move

Andrew had already built a system on Deputy before it became too expensive and too rigid for his event-driven staffing model. When he launched his second business, he used that experience to research a different approach. Connecteam was the platform that covered rostering, time tracking, and Xero integration in one subscription without charging per person or locking features behind separate tiers.