Conducting interviews to hire the best candidates

By Matt Parkin When you’re building your restaurant team, attracting enough quality candidates to your job posting is only half the battle. Once you’ve met the prospective employees, selecting the right candidates to hire from your interviews can be equally challenging. Here are some considerations to get the most out of the interview process and […]

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 […]

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 […]

The Great Resignation: How to attract, retain, and support your team

By Tom Nightingale COVID-19 has brought lasting change to the foodservice and hospitality industry, from the way restaurateurs and chefs manage and lead their business to the way they communicate and support their colleagues and staff. That evolution has been a necessary one, fueled in no small part by the ongoing labour crisis – “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 […]

Heading into summer 2022, where does Canadian foodservice stand?

By David Hopkins It’s difficult to believe it but we’re already more than a third of the way through 2022. Now, more than two years into the pandemic, Canadian foodservice businesses are continually facing challenges while also experiencing new successes and new innovations. Even as we’re only in the fifth month of the year, there […]

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. […]

Canada relaxes Temporary Foreign Worker Program to help ease labour constraints

Canada has announced important changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program under the Workforce Solutions Road Map with the intention of lessening the impact of labour shortages on businesses in heavily affected industries. One of those industries is foodservice and food manufacturing. Operators will be granted more efficient and effective access to this crucial program. […]

Canadian culinary progress promises a bright future

By Tom Nightingale After such a damaging and painful two years, how does the Canadian culinary and restaurant industry keep young and talented chefs motivated and keen to build a career in the industry? That just might be the million-dollar question amid the high-profile and lingering talk of a labour crisis and the magnified challenges […]

It’s not just that Canadian restaurant workers have left — many have yet to arrive

By Maggie Perzyna Recent media reporting about the hospitality industry has been dominated by stories about mass resignations and workers leaving for white-collar jobs. Many sources cite a combination of low wages, instability and the lack of a decent working environment as factors pushing workers out of restaurants and into better paying, more secure jobs. […]