The restaurant industry is struggling to recruit and retain. Here's why

No industry is safe from experiencing labor shortages, and right now the restaurant business is struggling to keep kitchens staffed. 

Eighty-two percent of U.S. restaurant and foodservice businesses are actively hiring, according to a recent report from marketing agency Expert Market in partnership with financial services company Toast. However, 47% of food and beverage managers still cite staff recruitment — particularly chefs, cooks, dishwashers and cashiers — retention and training as primary challenges. 

"The food and beverage industry is struggling with a critical labor shortage," says Chris Maillard, editor at Expert Market. "The demanding nature of some of these roles, coupled with factors like long hours, weekend shifts and comparatively low wages, complicates the attraction and retention of talent." 

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As of early 2024, staffing is still 3.6% below pre-pandemic levels, according to data from online restaurant-reservation platform OpenTable, with about 450,000 open positions, and 62% of operators say they can't find enough staff to meet current demand. Much of this has to do with high turnover rates and seasonal demand fluctuations, according to Maillard. 

As a result, 27% of staff and managers worry about rising operational costs, according to Expert Market's report, and roughly a fifth of respondents believe that the state of the economy will become an operational risk for them this time next year. 

"On a wider scale, [these shortages] show the difficulty more traditional, manual labor-intensive industries like this one are having in attracting and retaining employees," Maillard says. "And as with many other sectors, increasing overheads and squeezed margins make it difficult to compensate for this shortage by simply increasing pay." 

And while technology may be able to help with some aspects such as scheduling and operational efficiencies, it's unlikely to make a huge impact on the industry's ongoing employment issues, according to Maillard. Managers in the industry will have to turn to certain corporate strategies to make up for some of the losses, especially with a quarter of staff and managers in the industry believe staffing shortages will only worsen over the next 12 months

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"Effective recruitment strategies can aid in talent attraction and retention," he says. "Employers should also become more aware of intrinsic motivation and reward factors when scoping out roles, responsibilities and schedules." 

This means leaders need to pay more attention to areas such as work-life balance and invest more in in-role training programs, according to Maillard. Putting effort in those areas would help solve the worker shortage and alleviate much of the strain restaurants are feeling. 

"But to finish on a more positive note, despite facing operational and economic uncertainties over half of the sector remains positive about the industry's future," Maillard says. "Which does suggest a strong confidence in the industry's resilience and adaptability."