Brigad is a fast-growing platform for freelance hospitality work in the UK and in France. That means there'll always be talent or a mission available near you.
Brigad was founded in Paris in 2016 by Florent Malbranche and Jean Lebrument, two entrepreneurs who were passionate about improving the way people work. Noticing that workers of all types needed ways to pursue shifts that fit their schedules, the team began testing ideas of how to match qualified talent with available vacancies. They started testing how they could find extra waiters, chefs, or bartenders to fill gaps in the schedules of local restaurants and bars.
So, after one year of testing, learning, understanding and narrowing down our thoughts on this situation, we developed the first version of Brigad that was a text service where businesses would send us a message with their staffing needs.
The initial idea was to focus on hospitality roles in France. While iterating on the platform, the entrepreneurs developed a minimal-tech process where employers text vacancies, and the Brigad team matches those roles with available talent on their list.
They quickly realized that speed to fill vacancies, flexibility for workers on the platform, and transparency would be critical factors in providing an employment marketplace that would satisfy both sides of the equation. Accordingly, they built a platform centered on these practical aspects while ensuring workers would be valued, respected, independent, and free.
After some success with their initial foray into the space, the team secured VC funding in 2022. Just a few short years later, the team has a presence in three markets: hospitality and healthcare in France and hospitality in the UK.
Their technology platform has matured to include features to assist businesses with invoicing, payments, and hiring paperwork, in addition to matching talent with available shifts. While Brigard started with small and medium businesses, they now work with companies of all sizes, with a platform that can scale to meet the needs of a range of businesses from mom-and-pop businesses to enterprises in any country.
Brigad is focused on helping teams hire quickly with the best talent available. Giving companies the ability to find vetted workers within key talent areas has helped Brigad quickly become a well-known staffing platform in France and the United Kingdom.
Today, Brigad helps more than 20,000 passionate self-employed professionals make a living from their skills, and more than 10,000 companies strengthen teams in just a few clicks.
Brigad’s international DNA has shaped its growth strategy. They have gone from covering only Paris to other cities in France and they are now active in London and have plans to expand to regions throughout the UK.
The Brigad platform gives workers the flexibility to find shifts that fit their career goals, even if those goals are unknown and changing. The platform gives workers and businesses tools to streamline all administrative activities associated with onboarding, role management, and payment.
Brigad’s investment in the talent on their platform goes beyond the short-term placement. Workers on the platform enjoy opportunities to build skills, The app is designed to provide secure income for workers with short-term needs while they explore new opportunities and career paths.
At Brigad, we fill 80 to 90 percent of the positions posted in the platform by connecting employers with vetted workers, and 70 percent of them are connected in less than 20 minutes.
Brigad’s solution significantly accelerates staffing for companies who need to quickly staff projects in hospitality and health care. With full-featured applications for businesses and talent, Brigad ensures a favorable experience for all parties on the platform.
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Brigad facilitates a seamless connection between businesses and qualified talent who are vetted, reliable, and driven self-employed professionals. With Brigad, workers receive all information about the role in one place. from finding the position to actual working instructions, all managed in one app
Workers on the Brigad platform accept most hiring requests in a short period of time, as 80% of shift proposals are accepted in 24 hours. Businesses can connect directly with the talent who accepts the role, without additional steps to further vet selected workers.
Businesses are only invoiced for clearly stated amounts — no hidden costs or additional fees. Businesses do not need to commit to a specific assignment duration or pay upfront charges.
Brigad sees growth in the number and types of roles available on the platform. As more companies become familiar with providing shifts, the need for flexible talent will only increase.
I think it's starting to become mainstream, but it's still very early. We see that any corporation and industry, no matter the size or how traditional, is starting to see that they cannot miss this change.
Lebrument envisions this change stemming from workers’ preferences.
I think there is this ongoing switch of people who want to be able to work in different ways instead of in a single way. People want to have flexibility in their career to say, ‘I want to be in a full-time job for a few years; And at some point, I just want to be very flexible and to work whenever I want’.
Businesses will need to adjust to this new way of work and meet the talent where they are, not only in terms of skills and qualifications but also in terms of where and how. Workers' preferences regarding location, team, and work style will become more important as this new way of working becomes the new normal. Platforms like Brigad will be able to capture these preferences and all other data points relating to shift work to have a pulse on the trends and help companies navigate on-demand hiring during this next phase of growth.
Brigad's market is work that requires some specific skills and that you can’t achieve when sitting at a desk.
In 2019 Florent Malbranche, CEO and co-founder of the French tech startup Brigad, pondered the next growth steps. Founded in 2015, Brigad’s objective was two-fold: to help restaurants and bars find qualified staff for punctual shifts, and to make it easier for blue-collar workers to work as freelancers and benefit from these offers.
