25 Years. Still Saying Yes.
How a Lean Toronto Creative Studio Uses FunctionFox to Track Time, Protect Scope, and Estimate with Confidence
Snack is a boutique creative agency based in Toronto, Ontario, with over 25 years of experience and a team of eight. They work across branding and identity, print, infographics, environmental installations, digital, and internal communications — serving clients in pharmaceutical, finance, private education, transportation, and non-profits.
For over two decades, Snack has relied on FunctionFox as the backbone of their operations. What started as a solution to an out-of-control paper timesheet problem has grown into something far more central: a real-time system for tracking scope, pricing new work accurately, and keeping a lean team organized across multiple active jobs.
By using FunctionFox as their single source of truth for time and project data, Snack has built a studio model rooted in accuracy, accountability, and the confidence to take on any brief — no matter how unusual the request. Read their full story here!
Summary of Challenges Prior to FunctionFox
- Lack of accurate time records: Without a centralized time record, hours were written by hand or reconstructed from memory at the end of each workday, then passed to an accountant to tally manually.
- No visibility into scope creep: When clients added tasks mid-project, that extra work often went unlogged — and unbilled.
- Billing without a paper trail: Without accurate job records, it was nearly impossible to invoice with confidence or defend scope decisions to clients.
- Estimating on intuition: With no historical data to reference, pricing new projects meant relying on gut feel rather than real job history.
- No real-time priority system: The team had no shared, live view of what was most urgent across concurrent jobs.
Summary of the Benefits of FunctionFox
- Real-time time tracking from anywhere: Team members log hours against specific jobs throughout the day — or catch up in the evening — keeping records accurate without slowing down creative work.
- Scope documentation that protects revenue: Every task gets logged against the original job brief, giving Snack a clear record of added work to reference at invoice time.
- Data-driven estimating: FunctionFox’s historical job data lets Snack look up past projects of similar scope and price new work with confidence — not guesswork.
- Customizable priority management: A custom job-status dropdown (Hot / Ongoing / Coming Down the Pipe) surfaces the day’s most urgent work on every team member’s home screen.
- Automated accountability: FunctionFox sends reminders when timesheets are incomplete, keeping the whole team on track without manual follow-up.
- Simple enough to stick for 20+ years: Snack has been a FunctionFox customer for over 20 years — growing into new features as the studio evolves, without ever needing something more complex.
Accurate Time Tracking Is How Small Studios Stay Profitable
For small creative agencies, the biggest risk isn’t losing clients — it’s quietly doing more work than you’re being paid for. Without a reliable record of where time goes, scope creep becomes invisible, billing becomes a negotiation, and margins disappear without anyone noticing.
Snack has been using FunctionFox for over 20 years — not because they set it and forgot it, but because the platform has grown with them. It started as a replacement for paper timesheets and evolved into the studio’s operational backbone: the tool that connects a new job brief to an accurate invoice delivered on time.
For Art Director Samantha Murray, the value shows up in small moments every day. A quick time entry between meetings. A check of the priority list before diving into the morning’s work. A look at a past job’s hours before quoting the next one. None of it is dramatic — and that’s the point. FunctionFox doesn’t interrupt creative work. It quietly makes sure the business behind that work stays on solid ground.
From paper timesheets to 20+ years of digital job history, FunctionFox gives agencies like Snack the data they need to protect margins, build trust with clients, and scale sustainably.
“If every extra hour is logged and every scope change is documented, you’re never left guessing when the invoice is due.”
Read the full story below
Discover how FunctionFox helps boutique creative studios stay profitable, stay organized, and take on any brief with confidence!
