We're officially open for business.
Today's the day.
After six months of building — and a lot of test runs at Fat Tommy's Grill & Sports Bar in Chicago, where the staff was kind enough to be our first quiz audience — ShiftTrained is officially live. Any restaurant in the country can sign up today, upload a menu PDF, and have an AI-generated training quiz ready for their team in about ten minutes.
What ShiftTrained does
You upload your menu — drink list, dinner menu, brunch specials, anything. The AI reads every item, every ingredient, every price, every allergen. It writes a hundred-plus training questions tailored to YOUR menu. You hit send. Your team takes the quiz on their phone in five to ten minutes. You see scores immediately, drill into who's struggling on what, and a live leaderboard pushes the friendly competition.
Why I built it
I've spent 30+ years in the restaurant industry — over 20 concepts, every role, every market. The one thing that never changed: pre-shift meetings don't work. Fifteen minutes of a manager talking, ninety percent of it not sticking. A guest asks about the risotto and the answer is "it's like rice, only more fancy."
Quizzes do something pre-shifts can't — they put each person on the spot, they prove what's actually in someone's head, and they create a baseline for who needs more coaching before they hit a table.
I wrote a longer version of this in Why I Built ShiftTrained: A Founder's Story if you want the full origin.
Three plans, free trial on every one
Basic — $29/month. One menu, two quizzes, fifteen employees. Perfect for a single small concept.
Pro — $49/month. Five menus, unlimited quizzes, forty employees. Most operators land here.
Max — $99/month. Unlimited menus, ninety-nine employees, up to three locations, cross-location reporting.
No credit card to start. Sign up, upload your menu, decide whether it's worth paying for after you've seen the quiz the AI builds.
What's coming next
Back-of-house kitchen training. Recipe cards and service cards in, AI-generated questions on cooking temps, portion sizes, plating standards, build order, allergens, shelf life, and food safety procedures out. Same quiz engine as the front-of-house menu training, different input documents. I posted a feature-request thread last week — Coming Soon: Back of House Training — if you're a kitchen manager, please go vote on it and tell me what should make the cut.
Where to find us
Online: shifttrained.com. Or reach out at hello@shifttrained.com — I read every message.
A huge thank-you to everyone who tested early, broke things, gave feedback, and patiently waited for us to fix bugs. You shaped this product as much as I did. Today wouldn't exist without you.
Have a great day! — Terry
