Staffing

  • Survey: What’s driving Ontario’s hospitality labour crisis?

    November 26, 2021
    Ontario’s restaurants and other foodservice, hospitality, and tourism businesses have been dealing with something of a labour crisis in recent months. That has been attributed to a variety of factors, including staff leaving the workforce for good due to the effects of COVID-19, a perceived lack of job security, government benefits offsetting the financial costs ...
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  • The state of play for Canadian foodservice at the end of 2021

    November 23, 2021
    As we close out 2021 and approach another new year for Canadian foodservice, Lightspeed’s State of the Hospitality Industry report has shone some light on the current sentiments from restaurant operators and guests. Chief among the conclusions of the report, based on a wide survey of operators and customers in Canada and beyond, was that operators ...
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  • Labour shortages: How tech, integration & data can help

    November 23, 2021
    By Mo Chaar The ongoing labour shortages continue to affect restaurants across the country. Currently, 80 per cent of foodservice operators are having difficulty hiring kitchen staff and 67 per cent are having trouble filling front-of-house positions. As a result, restaurants across the country are resorting to cutting their open hours short and slimming down menus ...
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  • Offsetting rising restaurant costs in 2021

    November 18, 2021
    Restaurant costs were already a burden for operators even before the pandemic raised the stakes. But particularly in the current climate, operators constantly need to adapt to stay afloat, you’ve got to adapt. Restaurant labour costs are rising amid a staffing challenge, food prices have soared in many industry sectors, and logistics costs keep climbing, among ...
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  • Recognizing her: Female representation in foodservice

    November 18, 2021
    By Sylvia Tomczak Throughout history, food has always been a marker of culture, making the ways in which we preserve it equally important. Though the media has changed — from character-laden tablets through ink-written scrolls, vellum-bound manuscripts, all the way to modern-day cookbooks, food radio, gastronomic television, and now social media — one idea has remained ...
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  • How chains are tackling the ongoing labour shortage

    November 15, 2021
    The fact that foodservice is facing a continued labour shortage has been well-documented by this point. While staffing levels have rebounded to some degree in some areas, restaurants are still struggling to attract the quality and quantity of workers that they need to handle the resurgent growth in indoor dining in Canada, the U.S., and ...
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  • Is tech the key to solving the restaurant labour crisis?

    November 9, 2021
    By Laurent May Overall, the state of Canada’s labour market is looking good, which points to an economy on the rebound from the worst impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In September, according to recent figures from Statistics Canada, employment reached pre-pandemic levels for the first time. This is great news in general, but a closer look reveals ...
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  • Takeout’s toll on restaurant workers, packaging

    November 9, 2021
    Takeout has surged in popularity throughout the pandemic. But while the customers are happy and restaurants are surviving, what is the toll on restaurant workers? In tandem with a combination of factors, including dining rooms being closed for long periods, increased technological adoption, and customers’ desire to both continue supporting local restaurants and also attain a ...
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  • Ontario’s minimum wage overhaul sparks industry warnings

    November 5, 2021
    Ontario’s announcement that it will be raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour from January 1, 2022, and eliminating the liquor servers’ wage has sparked disbelief, frustration, and warning from the foodservice and hospitality industries. As part of its 2021 Fall Economic Statement, the provincial government announced on November 2 that it will introduce legislation ...
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  • No end in sight for restaurant labour shortages

    October 26, 2021
    For six months now, many industries have experienced devastating labour shortages. That remains a major factor for a large majority of restaraunts in October, according to new data. Alignable’s October Hiring Poll of 3,181 small business owners found that nearly four in five (78 per cent of) restaurant owners say the lack of workers cuts into the ...
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  • Navigating the vaccine passport rollout

    October 20, 2021
    By David Hopkins The vaccine passport has now rolled out in Ontario, and with it comes increased uncertainty and complications for restaurant operators, who have already faced incessant turmoil and scrutiny over the past year and a half. While the details of the vaccine passport and its enforcement vary from province to province, the gist of ...
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  • Restaurants shouldering the vaccine passport burden & blame

    October 18, 2021
    The last 19 months have posed many of the sternest tests that foodservice has seen in recent memory — from tumbling sales in the spring and summer of 2020 as the pandemic gathered speed to the labour difficulties and rising food costs seen in recent months of 2021. The latest has been handling the introduction ...
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  • Labour shortage or poor work conditions? Here’s what’s really vexing Canadian restaurants

    October 4, 2021
    By Bruce McAdams and Rebecca Gordon Restaurant operators across Canada are struggling to find enough staff to run their operations. This labour crisis has been highly publicized by Canadian media as a “labour shortage.” A recent survey by Restaurants Canada found that 80 per cent of foodservice operators were finding it difficult to hire kitchen staff and ...
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  • Indeed and OpenTable team up to accelerate U.S. restaurant recovery

    September 29, 2021
    Amid an ongoing struggle for labour in the restaurant industry, leading job portal Indeed and OpenTable have joined to launch a month-long hiring initiative specifically aimed at foodservice. According to data from the U.S. National Restaurant Association cited by a press release, the industry has a shortage of over one million workers compared to pre-pandemic times. ...
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  • Tip pooling to help restaurateurs simplify tip management

    September 15, 2021
    As restaurants continue to navigate the current labour shortage, the topic of tip culture and tip management is under the spotlight. Amid the reopening of indoor dining and customers’ desire to support local businesses during the pandemic, restaurant tips increased by a remarkable 18 per cent in 2021 compared with 2019, reports restaurant team management platform ...
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