New Wichita business designed to help bars, restaurants find gig workers, fill shifts

Bethany White has been in the bar business for years — she and her former husband once owned a small bartending and catering service — and nothing was more frustrating than having a bartender call in sick right before a big event.

There had to be a better way, she decided, than frantically calling every bartender she knew and begging them to pick up a last-minute shift.

White decided to create a better way. The Wichita woman has just started a new business called Lunar, and its centerpiece is apps that will allow bars and restaurants to easily find bartenders and servers to “moonlight” and fill in shifts when they need help.

White said that her concept, which she’s been working on for three years, is likely to be particularly helpful now, when so many businesses are struggling to find enough employees..

“And I feel like nowadays, the younger generation is leaning toward gig jobs,” she said. “Also, many businesses want to provide part-time work but they don’t want to pay benefits and they don’t want someone there when they don’t have income coming in. So it makes sense for both sides.”

The new Lunar apps, which were designed by Dave Cunningham with Flint Hills Group, launched last week and can be found in the app store by searching Lunar - Bar Manager and Lunar-Bartender. The apps ask both bartenders and bar owners to fill out profiles and indicate what they’re looking for. After that, it works sort of like Uber, she said, and matches available shifts to workers. The establishment pays Lunar, and once the shift is completed, Lunar releases the money to the worker and keeps a percentage. Both sides of the transaction then are asked to rate the other.

So far, White said, she’s had dozens and dozens of workers sign up. Now, she’s encouraging bars, restaurants and catering companies to sign on. Though the apps were designed with bars and bartenders in mind, they also will work for restaurants looking for servers or coffee shops looking for baristas.

“It could be used by anyone from a small hole-in-the-wall bar to a huge event to a private party,” she said. “If a restaurant is having a Super Bowl party and knows it’s going to have a line out the door but doesn’t want to hire someone full time, they can use it.”

The service is designed only for businesses looking for contract workers — not for those in search of full-time employees, White said.

But it should be a big help to people who just need a bartending or serving shift filled.

“For me, I was trying to solve my own problem,” White said. “But I’m very excited to be able to solve other peoples’ problems here in Wichita and in other areas.”