5 strategies to improve retention in your restaurant

By Matt Parkin Keeping top talent is essential for the success of any restaurant, so focusing on retention is key. High turnover can lead to reduced efficiency, lost productivity, and a negative impact on customer satisfaction. By implementing effective retention strategies, you can keep your best employees engaged and motivated, and improve the overall performance […]

How to put your employees first to fight ongoing labour shortages

The pandemic brought new, unimagined challenges to the restaurant industry, from closures and loss of business to supply chain delays. In the post-pandemic climate, while some of those obstacles still continue to plague the industry, a newly intensified challenge has dominated: labour shortages. During more than two years of unreliable work, many people quit the […]

There still simply aren’t enough restaurant workers

Foodservice operators have been doing all they can to attract more restaurant workers but, amid soaring inflation and food costs, measures like hiking wages, introducing benefits, increasing flexibility, and trimming menus just aren’t getting the job done. Canada’s restaurant industry was devastated by two years of shutdowns, repeated layoffs, and strict capacity limits, and about […]

Quebec restaurants want looser foreign worker rules to ease labour shortage

Quebec’s restaurant and hospitality industry is asking the federal government for help in easing its labour shortage, calling for the loosening of foreign worker rules in time for the summer season. This summer, with open restaurants and COVID-19-related restrictions at their lightest since the pandemic began, is expected to be the busiest season for foodservice […]

Solving the labour shortage is tough but, of course, can be done

The labour shortage — “The Great Resignation”, as some have termed it — is continuing at varying levels across North American foodservice. But why is is persisting, and what can be done? A new labour report from TouchBistro and 7shifts found that four in five restaurant operators say they are short at least one position. […]

Report finds wide dissatisfaction among foodservice workers

A new report from Nudge, a Toronto-based mobile platform for internal communications, that examined the state of the Canadian foodservice workforce found significant levels of dissatisfaction among hospitality and foodservice workers. The study found that 40 per cent of foodservice workers don’t feel heard by their organizations and nearly the same proportion (38 per cent) […]

How various operators are tackling staffing challenges

RestoBiz spoke to four owners and operators about the continued effect of the pandemic on labour 21 months into the COVID-19 pandemic and foodservice operators are far from out of the woods. Whereas the first year of the pandemic was characterized by panic, shutdowns, layoffs, and other evolving measures, staffing challenges have been a major […]

No end in sight for restaurant labour shortages

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 […]

Labour shortage or poor work conditions? Here’s what’s really vexing Canadian restaurants

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 […]

Foodservice employment reaches highest level since pre-pandemic

As provinces continue to further reopen their economies and indoor dining returned on a broad scale over the summer, hospitality and foodservice employment rebounded in August. The foodservice and accommodation sector recovered 74,600 jobs in August compared to July, causing overall employment in the sector to increase to 1,067,700 — its highest level since February […]