Pouring Success: How Third Space Brewing Tapped into Better Payroll and Workforce Management

OVERVIEW

Third Space Brewing has grown steadily since its founding in 2016, driven by a passion for traditional craft brewing and a deep commitment to its people. As a testament to its momentum and consistent quality, it was named one of the 50 fastest-growing craft breweries in the nation by the Brewers Association in 2018.

“Consistency in our products has been the number one thing that made us stand out,” shares John Wynne, Taproom GM at Third Space Brewing. “We don’t make a lot of gimmicky products. We try to just focus on things that we know are seasonal and fresh without adding a bunch of artificial flavorings or colorings. We brew beer in a very traditional style. Being able to do that consistently with the help of distribution partners and a great sales team has really allowed us to continue to grow,” he added.

What began as a local taproom in Milwaukee has since expanded to a second location in Menomonee Falls, featuring a full-service restaurant, as well as a seasonal beer garden in Elm Grove. Additionally, their brews are now widely distributed throughout Wisconsin.

“I would say what sets us apart is we have a smart and talented team making award-winning beers and selling them,” shares Scott Passolt, Controller at Third Space Brewing. The same commitment to quality applies equally to how they manage their teams. As the business grows, they’ve made it a priority to ensure that every employee is scheduled efficiently and paid correctly, no matter the shift or location.

CHALLENGE

As Third Space Brewing continued to grow, so did the complexity of managing its workforce. With a mix of full-time and part-time staff, varying pay rates, and multiple locations, they needed a system that could keep up. Ideally, one platform to handle scheduling, time and attendance, and payroll.

“Almost overnight, the number of our employees doubled,” shares Scott. “The way we run the business just got more complex. One of the most, if not the most, important things I don't want to screw up is paying employees. There are people working at different pay rates and different positions. Our previous setup used one system for time and attendance, and scheduling and another for payroll. That just got too hard to manage.”

An all-in-one system became a clear priority to save time, ensure accuracy, and eliminate the bottlenecks caused by juggling separate platforms. “We were already working on two separate systems, so we saw the problems that it created for us,” Scott added.

But finding the right fit wasn’t easy. “We had made an attempt to switch to another provider. And it did not go well,” Scott recalls. “It seemed like they were good in time and attendance and scheduling, but as for payroll, they were paying another company to bring in some software that plugged in with theirs. So, it sounded similar to the setup we had.”

SOLUTION

But Third Space Brewing didn’t give up on the search. That’s when they discovered Workforce.com, the system they’d been looking for that brings scheduling, time tracking, and payroll together in a single platform.

What made the partnership work wasn’t just the software. It was shared values. Both teams are deeply committed to supporting people on the ground.

“Third Space Brewing is dedicated and cared a lot for their employees to make sure that the whole setup process went smoothly,” shares Sam Johnson, Senior Solutions Consultant at Workforce.com.

RESULTS

Since implementing Workforce.com, Third Space Brewing has benefited from having one centralized system for payroll, scheduling, and time tracking.

“It’s the ability to do everything under one roof and not have to import and export data out from separate pieces of software,” John says. “It’s been extremely easy to view everything under one umbrella and explain to users the capabilities of the platform.”

100% time saved on verifying payroll data

With Workforce.com, Third Space Brewing eliminated the need to double-check payroll inputs across separate systems. Now that scheduling, time tracking, and payroll are housed in one platform, there’s no more cross-checking exported timesheets or manually confirming that pay rates align.

“We definitely saved time from not having to reconcile numbers between two different platforms all the time,” Scott shares. “Everything flows really easily. If we know the timesheets are correct, we know payroll is correct. I certainly have more confidence in the accuracy of the numbers. It has given us a lot of peace of mind that we didn’t miss something in moving numbers between systems.”

Better employee scheduling across roles and different locations

Third Space Brewing has staff working across multiple locations, job roles, and pay rates, which posed scheduling challenges. With Workforce.com, they can now zoom out for a full team view or go granular when building shifts across departments.

“A lot of it comes down to the little things. One of the first things that stood out to me was how easy it is to view the schedule in different ways,” John shares. With Workforce.com, John can expand the view to see team-wide availability or compress it to focus on just the employees working that day, making it easier to fill gaps or plan ahead.

Unlike their previous setup, Workforce.com shows employee availability before assigning shifts and displays payroll hours directly in the schedule. This visibility helps avoid accidental overtime and makes planning easier, especially for staff working across locations.

“We have an employee right now working in three different locations with four different job titles,” John adds. “So particularly for him, it’s great because I can see his total hours and make sure he maintains full-time status and doesn’t go overtime. It’s really helpful to be able to just click on a person’s name and see how many hours they’ve worked that week and how many they’re scheduled for.”

That level of visibility helps John avoid scheduling conflicts. What used to require careful manual checks across spreadsheets is now built into the system, making it easier to prevent overlapping shifts across multiple roles and location

Demand-based scheduling for special taproom events

Private rentals and taproom events are a big part of Third Space Brewing’s business, but they come with different staffing needs than everyday service. Workforce.com enables these events to be integrated directly into the scheduling process.

“The events and private rentals are a huge part of our revenue in the taproom,” John says. “Those events are built into Workforce.com as well, and that allows me to adjust scheduling. It’s also important for staff to be able to see all those details ahead of time, which can really make or break a big event day.”

Streamlined tip management

Tips are essential for businesses like Third Space Brewing, but like many businesses in the industry, they used to manage gratuities through long-standing spreadsheets. With Workforce.com, they have automated tip calculations and integrated them directly into the payroll system.

“I think we’re like every business that has worked with tips. We had some spreadsheet that’s been running for years and years and years, allocating tips. Workforce.com’s tool does all the math for us, and there’s a long-running record of how that math was done. It has saved us a lot of time. Now, it’s in one platform and not just sitting on some spreadsheet somewhere where we had to calculate it manually,” Scott shares.

Faster shift replacements

Third Space Brewing handles no-shows and last-minute absences more effectively. No-shows and last-minute absences are inevitable in hospitality, but with Workforce.com, Third Space Brewing has a faster and more reliable way to find shift coverage. Using the mobile app, managers can instantly offer open shifts to available staff.

“Workforce.com has worked incredibly well for finding a replacement when someone cancels or calls in sick,” John shares. “I’ve used the mobile app to find a replacement and send a blast to everybody on the list. It takes no more than 3 clicks to accept the shift, and that has been pretty seamless so far.”

Better oversight with PTO balances

At Third Space Brewing, employee well-being is a priority, and that includes making it easy for staff to take time off. But without a clear view of how much PTO employees had available, planning for breaks was often a challenge.

That changed with Workforce.com.

“Employees can rely on the PTO numbers they can see in Workforce.com, which can help plan their time off,” Scott says. “It’s important for us as a company that people take time to recharge their batteries.”

“Employees would come and ask how many (leave) hours they have left, especially around the end of the year. And it’s difficult to get the correct number because the information comes from two different places. There was a lot of confusion around that,” John recalls. “It’s a big improvement that people can look at the number in Workforce.com and know that the number is accurate.”

Simplified but better reporting and analysis

Because all information is now centralized, Third Space Brewing can analyze its data more effectively and create more accurate reports.

From a finance and accounting perspective, running reports was once time-consuming. Detailed hour and cost breakdowns lived in one system, while payroll data was summarized in another, making it difficult to get a clear picture without stitching together multiple reports.

“I had to run five reports over here, two reports over there, and tie them together,” Scott explains. “With Workforce.com, that’s been simplified because all the time records are in one place, and they all translate easily back and forth between each other. That level of detail is now in one system".

Implementation and hands-on support

Implementing a new system typically comes with challenges, but Third Space Brewing experienced a surprisingly smooth rollout with Workforce.com, thanks to shared effort and proactive setup.

“I was surprised when Workforce.com spent the time learning what we were looking to try and do,” Scott shares. “I was learning the system, but at the same time, Workforce.com also spent time and effort doing some of the setup instead of the one-time implementation work that I was never going to remember how to do. I was surprised that they specifically took time to do things that needed to be done at the outset, instead of just letting us handle the setup and jumping in only when we had questions. It was a shared effort between us and Workforce.com. They educated us on what mattered, what I needed to know, and what they could do to help me out.”

Sam Johnson, Senior Solutions Consultant at Workforce.com, worked closely with the team throughout the process, ensuring they not only got set up smoothly but continued to uncover value after going live.

“I’m always looking for ways for clients to get the most out of our product,” Sam shares. “I think Workforce.com is deeply layered and has a ton of features that might not be the most obvious at first. After initial implementation, you’re only just scratching the surface of what Workforce.com can do.”

The platform’s ease of use also made adoption easier across the team. “Honestly, I’m surprised at how little feedback (from the staff) I’ve gotten overall,” John shares. “It was an easy transition. I’ve gone through this process in my career, probably a total of five or six times, involving switching between either scheduling platforms or payroll platforms. And this has been the smoothest by far.”

Third Space Brewing is built on craftsmanship and care for people. However, as the business expanded, managing payroll and workforce operations began to consume more time and energy. With Workforce.com, they found a solution that not only supports their growth but also simplifies their day-to-day work.

“I would recommend Workforce.com to anyone in our industry and other colleagues.” Scott shares. “The software sets it apart, but it’s also the people behind Workforce.com who have been really supportive.”

And in true brewery fashion, Scott adds. “If Workforce.com is one of our beers, it would be a well-balanced IPA—flavorful and has a lot of character. It's different, it's unique, but it gives you what you expected and hoped for.”