Grooming Salon Software Built for Shops With More Than One Groomer
When you're managing a team, every double-booking, missed appointment, and payroll mistake costs you twice.
Running a grooming salon isn't the same as grooming solo. You're scheduling multiple groomers across the same day, figuring out who's covering when someone calls out, tracking commissions for groomers with different pay structures, and trying to keep the front desk from accidentally giving away sensitive payroll data. Your software needs to handle all of that without making things worse.
The multi-groomer scheduling nightmare
Your Tuesday is packed. Three groomers working, appointments stacked back to back. Then the receptionist books a golden retriever full groom into a slot where Sarah already has a matted doodle. Nobody catches it until the client shows up and there's no table. Double-bookings don't just waste time -- they lose clients.
And that's just scheduling. When payday comes, you're pulling out a calculator to figure out who earned what. Alex gets 50% commission, but Jordan gets 40% because she's still a junior groomer. Then there's the shared groom where both of them worked on the same dog -- who gets what? You're tracking all of this in a spreadsheet, hoping you don't make a mistake that costs you a good groomer.
Meanwhile, you want your receptionist to handle scheduling and client calls, but you definitely don't want her seeing everyone's pay rates. Most grooming software either gives employees full access or almost none. There's no in-between.
BarkBook handles the complexity so you can manage the team
See every groomer's day at a glance
The Day view shows groomer-specific columns with 15-minute time slots. You can see exactly who is doing what and when, across your entire team, on one screen. Click an empty slot to start booking. Drag and drop an appointment to reschedule it. The calendar handles Week, Month, and Agenda views with groomer filtering, so you can zero in on one person's schedule or see the whole shop.
Conflict detection that catches mistakes before they happen
Before any appointment is booked or moved, BarkBook automatically checks for overlapping appointments, time-off conflicts, and scheduling outside working hours. Hard conflicts block the booking. Warnings let you decide. Your receptionist never accidentally double-books a groomer again.
Staff coverage you can actually visualize
The coverage calendar shows you four views -- daily shift timelines, weekly grids, monthly scheduled-vs-off counts, and a color-coded heatmap showing staff count per hour with automatic gap detection. Spot understaffing at a glance before it becomes a problem.
Roles that match how your shop actually works
Four employee roles -- Manager, Groomer, Receptionist, and Assistant -- with 19 individual permissions covering every part of the system. Receptionists can manage appointments and clients without ever seeing payroll. Groomers can view their schedule and check their own earnings. Managers get full access. And you can customize permissions per person -- give a trusted senior groomer client management access without promoting them to manager.
Commission tracking that handles every pay structure
Set up each groomer with Commission, Hourly, or Hybrid compensation. Create named commission tiers -- Junior at 40%, Senior at 50% -- and assign groomers to the right level. Override rates for specialty services. When two groomers share a groom, assign a secondary groomer with a configurable split (flat dollar or percentage). BarkBook calculates each groomer's earnings automatically at checkout.
Payroll in a few clicks, not a few hours
Select a pay period, review each employee's breakdown -- service revenue, commissions, hourly, tips, adjustments, and gross total -- approve it, and export. BarkBook supports weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, or monthly pay frequency. Export to CSV for your spreadsheets, QuickBooks IIF format for one-click QuickBooks import, or a professionally formatted PDF. Minimum wage compliance checking warns you before anyone is underpaid.
Automatic client notifications for the whole shop
Appointment confirmations, day-before reminders, cancellation alerts, ready-for-pickup texts, and thank-you messages -- all sent automatically via SMS and email. Each client gets notified through their preferred channel. Your front desk stops being a call center.
Plans that scale with your team
Shop Plan
$79/month
For 2-5 groomers. Every feature included.
Studio Plan
$129/month
For unlimited groomers. Same features, no ceiling.
Both plans include every capability in BarkBook -- scheduling, payments, notifications, expense tracking, payroll, permissions, all of it. The only difference between plans is how many employees you can add. Start at Shop and upgrade to Studio when you grow. No features locked behind higher tiers.
Households, not scattered records
Client records are organized by household. The Garcia family with their three dogs? One record, all pets grouped together, complete appointment history across every pet, scheduling preferences stored so you know they prefer Tuesday mornings. Search by client name, phone, email, or pet name and find them instantly.
Start Your 14-Day Free Trial
Full access to every feature. Set up your groomers, configure their schedules and compensation, and see how it all works together before you commit.