Labor scheduling has quietly become one of the most fragile pressure points in restaurant operations. Will Stewart, founder and CEO of rightwork, draws on his experience inside Starbucks to show how labor targets, human behavior, and unpredictable demand collide at the store level. He breaks down why traditional scheduling fails in real-world conditions and how forecasting, labor modeling, and AI-supported tools can help managers build schedules that reflect actual demand while keeping decision-making in human hands.

Interview Takeaways:

• Operational Experience Driving Calmer Teams – rightwork was shaped by Will Stewart’s years inside Starbucks, where small labor decisions carried massive consequences at scale. Seeing how schedules, targets, and human behavior collided in real stores formed his belief that hospitality depends on calm operations. 
• Technology That Supports Human Judgment – Rather than replacing managers with automation, rightwork was built to support how people actually work. Forecasting and labor modeling handle complexity, while AI-assisted scheduling acts as a co-pilot managers can guide and override. The result is better schedules without sacrificing local knowledge or control.
• Trust Built Through Better Systems – Labor breaks down when expectations and reality drift apart. rightwork creates shared visibility between leadership and store teams by grounding labor targets in data and operational context. When systems are clear, managers stop guessing, teams operate with consistency, and hospitality improves naturally.

Episode Links:

• Will Stewart LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/will-stewart-23339b66/
• rightwork: https://right.work/
• rightwork LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rightwork-inc/

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