Most restaurants are still short-staffed even as demand recovers
Thirty percent of restaurant owners said business has returned to pre-pandemic levels, according to survey by Popmenu, while 25% said it has surpassed them.
A majority (51%) of restaurateurs surveyed said their businesses lacked the staffing to meet on-premise dining levels this summer.
Popmenu’s survey of consumers indicates staffing challenges and rising foot traffic are impacting customer experiences, with 59% of respondents increasing their digital ordering due to long waits and lack of tables. Operators are missing out on on-premise sales as a result of low staffing levels, Brendan Sweeney, Popmenu’s CEO, said in the press release.
3 Tips for Finding Restaurant Workers—Fast
If you invest upfront to craft job descriptions carefully, you’ll save time later.
When looking for employment, most young people turn to online job boards and social media outlets like Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok.
10 ways to improve restaurant employee retention
Many restaurant employees have quit lately because of low pay, lack of benefits, burnout, etc. The pandemic exacerbated existing problems and added more issues to the mix, including the fear of contracting COVID-19, additional safety protocols to manage, and dealing with irate customers who oppose mask-wearing and other COVID precautions. As restaurant employees take on additional responsibilities and shifts due to ongoing staffing shortages, operators are looking for ways to boost their happiness to maximize retention.
Offering competitive salaries and attractive benefits is a good start, but not the only things your employees want. To maximize employee retention, operators should:
Reduce Training Time by Switching to Digital Checklists
In a tough labor market, here’s how restaurants can boost their team accountability and performance.
Faced with the ongoing labor shortage, restaurant operators and their managers have had to get creative. Staff are often rotated across functions and locations, and new employees are presented with a “sink or swim” scenario of being asked to contribute immediately. Training has frequently taken a back seat to more urgent needs. In today’s environment, with staff already stretched so thin, managers simply can’t spare the time.