US restaurant hiring rebounding, wages flattening

New statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics suggest that amid the ongoing economic turmoil, the landscape is changing. Restaurants are finding room to hire more workers while wages are levelling out. The new data showed that restaurants and bars increased their pace of hiring in July, adding more staff than they did in […]

Despite labour crisis, 4 in 10 restaurants can’t afford to hire

As the labour crisis continues to plague restaurants, we are reminded yet again that there is no simple solution. Many restaurants are still struggling desperately to maintain a viable level of staffing, and there is no easy answer. The labour pool has shrunk dramatically with many former gig workers leaving the industry, leaving operators to […]

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 […]

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. […]

Fast-casual kitchen work and training rebounding

Coming out of 2020, few restaurant types were better prepared for the new normal than quick-service and fast-casual, with their streamlined menus, prominent digital presence, and natural inclination towards off-premises consumption. Sales in these restaurants are trending up, and it appears they are also rebounding fairly well from the labour constraints of the last year. […]

Foodservice labour market resurged in February

The Canadian labour market, and particularly that of the foodservice sector, surged back with significant growth in February 2022. That’s according to the latest data from Statistics Canada, which showed that the Canadian economy added 337,000 jobs last month, offsetting the losses in January by a wide margin. The labour force participation rate rose to […]

Restaurant management pay rising along with turnover

While the ongoing conversation around the restaurant staffing crisis has largely focused on kitchen staff and hourly front-of-house team members, it’s worth remembering that the challenges are also felt by restaurant management.  As kitchen and dining room staff turnover increased dramatically throughout 2021, so did that of restaurant management positions. In both limited- and full-service […]

Foodservice suffers biggest employment drop since pandemic’s first wave

The Canadian economy lost 200,000 jobs in January amid stricter public health rules put in place to slow the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, according to Statistics Canada data. As the foodservice industry has come to expect over the last two years, it was hit hardest than most, The decrease marked the largest drop since […]

Assessing how restaurant shifts have been changed by COVID-19

A common topic of discussion in the latter half of 2021 within the foodservice industry was the ongoing labour shortage. That has been well-documented, but what about those staff who have been clocking in to their restaurant shifts throughout the pandemic? COVID-19 hasn’t just caused the workforce to shrink and stretched restaurant operations in both […]

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 […]