Daniel Halpern is looking for 800 employees, which has not been easy.
Halpern is CEO of Jackmont Hospitality, an Atlanta-based food service company that offers approximately 45 franchised restaurants, including TGI Fridays nationwide.
Diners return. But Halpern hopes that in the coming weeks his locations will have enough staff to ensure that the customers he’s been waiting for will have the experience they’ve come to expect.
Currently Jackmont employs approximately 1,200 employees. Before the pandemic hit, the workforce was 2,700, more than double.
“For those of us in the service industry, staffing is paramount to success. As we emerge from the crisis, we want to be able to open up and provide our guests with a quality experience,” said Halpern. “We’re constantly trying to staff – it’s the number one issue on our phone calls with our general managers.”
The average wage at his restaurants is about $ 13 an hour, not including tips. He also offers benefits, but says he wants to boost servers by paying them daily tips on cards and discussing additional benefits such as sign-up bonuses.
Additional incentive through both direct payments to individuals and improved unemployment benefits is a potential double-edged sword for restaurants. Consumers have more money on hand and return to eat out. But some operators like Halpern believe it encourages employees to stay at home. In addition, large retailers such as Amazon have hired hundreds of thousands of employees over the course of the pandemic, likely impacting the labor supply of the services industry.
Tropical Smoothie Cafe sees the labor shortage at the company’s nearly 1,000 owned and franchised locations, which typically employ 16- to 22-year-olds. CEO Charles Watson said hiring is currently the company’s biggest headwind.
“There is a labor shortage in the restaurant and service business unlike anything we’ve seen before … There just isn’t a labor force in many of most of the markets where we have cafes – simply put, people would rather stay home and get paid than go to work, ”he said. “That’s causing major problems for us in terms of our most important thing, which is customer service.”
A Now Hiring sign was placed in front of a Taco Bell restaurant in Novato, California, on February 5, 2021.
Justin Sullivan | Getty images
In March, nonfarm payrolls rose 916,000 for the month, while the unemployment rate fell to 6% – this was the highest overall job growth since August 2020, a sign that the economy is recovering.
The National Federation of Independent Business said the challenge of finding qualified workers is tough on small business owners. Although sentiment picked up in March, 51% of owners reported few or no “qualified” candidates. In addition, 42% of all owners reported vacancies they could not fill – a record high and 20 points above the group’s historical average over the past 48 years of 22%.
“Main Street is doing better as state and local restrictions are relaxed, but finding a skilled workforce is a critical issue for small businesses across the country,” NFIB chief economist Bill Dunkelberg said in a statement. Small business owners are competing with the pandemic and increased unemployment benefits that keep some workers out of the labor force. However, the owners remain committed to hiring employees and growing their businesses. “
Domino’s CEO Ritch Allison also acknowledged the labor shortage on CNBC’s “Power Lunch” Monday. The company has hired tens of thousands of workers, including delivery personnel, over the course of the pandemic.
“It’s a very competitive market. So we see ourselves as competing for customers and also for drivers, for team members – we have to be good at both,” he said.
Major restaurant companies have recently announced recruiting events for tens of thousands of job openings. Through Thursday, McDonald’s will host an event in the state of Texas alone to fill 25,000 roles, Reuters reported. The fast food giant hired 260,000 people last year when restaurants reopened for dinner.
Owned by parent company Dine Brands, IHOP said it would hire 10,000 employees to fill positions for part-time and full-time employees in 1,600 locations across the US.
And Yum Brands’ Taco Bell is renewing its recruiting parties across the country on April 21 in nearly 2,000 locations. The company plans to hire 5,000 employees and convert parking lots and patios into job fairs to keep job applicants safe in the ongoing pandemic.
“It’s no secret that the job market is tight, so we are excited to host our fourth round of recruiting parties in conjunction with our franchisees,” Kelly McCulloch, Taco Bell’s Chief People Officer, said in a statement.