SubWorks started with one practical problem: shuttle reservations done by pen and paper. What began as ShuttleSub grew into a wider hospitality ecosystem built from real operational experience.
Jorick Ritsema worked in a large hotel with shuttle transport to and from the airport. Reservations were still handled with pen and paper, which created corrections, unclear handwriting and booking confusion.
That daily chaos led to the first idea for a digital alternative: the earliest version of ShuttleSub.
The first ShuttleSub was a simple HTML website built for a single hotel. It ran on a subdomain of Jorick’s former hobby-company name Apple Bird — not officially registered, but a starting point for building and experimenting.
Apple Bird no longer exists today, but it helped make the first product version possible.
ShuttleSub started to feel like a real product. Jorick decided to go all-in: he founded the name ShuttleSub, secured the domain and rebuilt the app to support multiple hotels.
A small fun detail stayed part of the story: Sub is Bus upside down.
Liam ten Brink, Jorick’s co-worker in the same hotel, saw the potential and pushed for an official launch. Together they registered the company and became business partners.
The vision expanded beyond one app. Jorick did not want to spend all energy maintaining a single product, so the idea grew into a broader set of hospitality tools: DeskSub, then HotelSub, and later WaiterSub.
Instead of spreading multiple products across separate companies, everything was brought together under one umbrella brand: SubWorks. One company, multiple hospitality products, one clearer story.
Today, SubWorks combines hospitality software, custom websites and practical product thinking under one brand.
ShuttleSub, DeskSub, HotelSub and WaiterSub are designed to reduce chaos and keep teams aligned.
Explore apps →Premium websites and portals for hotels, restaurants and hospitality operators — fast, clean and custom.
View services →Jorick and Liam still develop continuously with a practical mindset and a premium UI standard.
Book a call →We design and build premium websites, portals and hospitality workflows tailored to real operations.
