SPECIAL:
THE PEOPLE EDITION T
THE GREAT RECRUITMENT
Faced with significant challenges in recruiting and retaining staff, foodservice operators are looking to new ways to boost employee numbers, as Tina Nielsen outlines
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he Great Resignation has entered the common lexicon as a way to a describe the thousands of people who are leaving their jobs after the pandemic. “Covid-19 has forever changed the
restaurant industry,” says Anne McBride, vice president of programs for the James Beard Foundation. The statement could be applied to many elements of the foodservice industry but one where the pandemic had a huge effect is on recruitment. If staffing was a challenge before, Covid-19 compounded the problem. Given time to think about what they want in life, many workers have decided that they need a different job – many of these are leaving the foodservice industry. According to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics in the US, 920,000 workers from the accommodation and food services sector voluntary quit their jobs in November 2021, representing almost 7% of the food and beverage workforce. “Operators have been struggling with the results of the Covid pandemic. The businesses, offices, schools, and institutions that provided revenue closed in a very short time frame, taking away the life blood of the foodservice industry – guests and sales,” explains William Bender FCSI, founder and president of W.H. Bender & Associates. Operators were forced to close businesses and many jurisdictions instituted mandates for mask wearing, banning public businesses, meetings and indoor seating. Mandates for vaccination also created havoc for foodservice.” Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, there were signs of trouble in foodservice sector recruitment with vacancies rising and a lack of interest from younger people in joining a sector with a reputation for offering the wrong kind of life balance. The notion of long hours and low pay persist in the portrayal of jobs in the sector. “Yes, foodservice and restaurants have an
image problem. The media perpetuates this daily. Almost every movie, television show that depicts a foodservice operation is cast in a negative view or situation when, in reality, it is an honor to serve,” says Bender. The 2022 State of the Restaurant Industry report, published by The National Restaurant
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