The past year has presented countless challenges to Mexican/Latin restaurants, but a new one is emerging: Many are having trouble hiring enough staff to gear up for the summer season.
“It’s been a nightmare,” says Danny Sandoval, owner of Sandoval’s Café & Cantina in Portland, Oregon. “We usually have pretty good luck using Craigslist, or we talk to our staff and see if they have friends who want a job. But that’s not working now. I don’t know where they’re going.”
Sandoval is not alone. According to an el Restaurante survey sent out the week of April 12, 89 percent of Mexican/Latin restaurant owners report that they are not getting enough applications for their openings. The survey respondents average 7 openings each. Nearly 93 percent of respondents said they have openings for servers and other front-of-house staff, and 85 percent are looking for cooks. About 63 percent are trying to hire dishwashers and busers, and 22 percent are seeking managers.
Many Reasons
Why are so many restaurant openings going unfilled? Sandoval says local landscaping companies are hiring many back-of-house workers that he previously counted on. Respondents to the el Restaurante survey offered other ideas:
Unemployment benefits: More than half the survey respondents blamed the situation at least partly on generous government unemployment benefits. “Those who lost jobs and are on unemployment have less reason to return,” one respondent wrote. “There are not as many people actively in the industry due to transition or supplemental assistance,” another wrote.
Fear of COVID: Several survey respondents speculated that workers are afraid to come back to a high-touch business like restaurants until COVID is fully under control.
Once burned: Others think restaurant workers don’t want to come back because they fear that restaurants will close again, leaving them suddenly unemployed. “Perhaps they are afraid of getting hired by a restaurant and getting shut down again,” wrote one respondent.
Competition: As always, bigger restaurants and chains typically pay more than independent restaurants, and that’s especially important when the labor pool is small.
Reluctance to work: Finally, some respondents think people just don’t want to work in restaurants anymore. “Americans do not want to work nights and weekends, which are the busy hours in a restaurant,” one respondent wrote. “Let's get the new immigrants and … put them to work as they see these jobs as an opportunity to make money and get ahead.”
Increasing Pay, Flexible Schedules
Mexican/Latin restaurant owners are digging deeper into their pockets to attract staff, according to the survey. Nearly 78 percent said they have raised their pay rates.
“I have given my entire kitchen staff raises to keep what I have,” wrote one respondent. “I have to continue raising prices, which concerns me because it will start to inhibit people from eating out as often.”
Another popular incentive is more flexible scheduling. Over 70 percent of respondents say they are trying that strategy to keep staff happy.
When it comes to recruiting, nearly half of the survey respondents said they are paying bonuses to current staffers who bring in new employees. About 19 percent said they have resorted to poaching employees from other restaurants.
Making Do With Current Staff
Restaurant owners who can’t hire enough staff are struggling to maintain the quality of service their customers expect, but some are getting clever. For example, one respondent to the survey is leaning into technology to pick up the slack.
“I am preparing to run a restaurant with as little people as possible and I'm ready to introduce technology into this family-owned restaurant,” the respondent wrote. “With our new POS I will encourage customers to place their order online and I will eventually stop taking orders via phone. I have also purchased a wait list app. We don't have enough staff currently to have a host so with our wait list app we just take the name and when we are ready for the customer we ping them. I will also be ordering a kiosk to allow customers to order on site.”
Other owners are simply picking up the slack themselves, as they always have. Sandoval, for example, says he takes orders, picks up supplies, helps prepare to-go orders, and anything else that needs to get done. But he says there’s a silver lining to all that extra work.
“If anything good has come out of it, it has forced me to reconnect to my obligation as a restauranteur,” he says. “People want to see the owner. My wife and I are there every day that we’re open. I open every morning and close every night.”
Ed Avis is the publisher of el Restaurante magazine.