My experience scheduling workers was not in restaurants, but I assume my biggest pain point is still relevant: Gaps.

Scheduling is easy when all the availability lines up, but most of the time there are gaps where people's availability simply doesn't match the needed shifts. You need to make some people unhappy. Balancing the human side of spreading the unhappiness fairly is the biggest challenge.

Thanks — the gap issue was one of the first problems I wanted to solve with “smart” shift updates when someone cancels. Your comment made me realize I might be prioritizing the wrong MVP.

If I pivot the product on shift coverage management instead, would that be more useful? Would you pay monthly for a tool that reliably finds coverage when someone cancels?