By Danielle Schalk
The Challenge
It’s not new, nor is it a secret that the foodservice industry faces challenges when it comes to meeting its labour needs.
As Ian Milford, principal, JRoss Hospitality Recruiters, sums up, “There are two primary challenges [surrounding labour shortages]. The first is that there are jobs available and nobody wants to do them. The second, is that our industry has not done a good job of attracting new talent.”
These challenges are further heightened by the fact that the industry’s staff-retention rates are also very low. As Milford explains, the foodservice industry “has a notoriously bad track record” when it comes to communicating and demonstrating what the path to successful career growth in the industry looks like, which contributes to high attrition rates.
And, with less shine on the industry and operators that have been in survival mode for the last four years — especially when compared to the excitement and momentum that existed within the industry prior to the pandemic — prospective workers are less likely to perceive foodservice as offering significant opportunities for advancement.
Ryan Moreno, co-founder and CEO of B.C.’s Joseph Richard Group, notes that even when an organization is dedicated to developing its team members and providing transparency, current conditions have limited the opportunities for development and advancement. “With a lot of growth comes a lot of [opportunities for] development and education within our organization,” he explains.
According to Tourism HR Canada’s (THRC) Perceptions of Tourism as a Place of Employment report, of all the tourism and hospitality sectors, Food and Beverage Services has the largest pool of experienced workers to pull from, given 41 per cent of Canadians have worked in the industry (based on data collected in September 2023). However, F&B still garners the lowest retention rate at just eight per cent, as well as the lowest rate of employee satisfaction (51 per cent).
And, it’s important to note that the issue of retention has become an increasing challenge. North American hospitality industry data from Lightspeed Commerce Inc. reveals a staggering increase in employee turnover, with a year-over-year increase of 75.78 per cent when comparing data from April-June 2022 to the same period in 2023.
The Opportunity
Given the challenges faced, it’s clear that their needs to be changes to staffing practices within the industry.
“We really have to start managing differently,” shares Jeff Dover, principal, fsSTRATEGY Inc. Especially given how shorthanded operations can be, he notes, “There’s so much pressure put on employees at restaurants to stay late or work on their days off.”
Moreno agrees that change must be embraced. He notes that facing a challenge like this “pushes a business to be better and create a great culture within the organization.” He also suggests that, regardless of whether or not the labour market is actively posing a significant challenge, “businesses need to keep pushing to be better and more innovative to attract and retain talent.”
As restaurants/brands adapt their strategies, Milford notes the importance of being mindful of younger cohorts values and expectations. “Today’s worker is looking for a different employee value proposition. They’re still interested in earning money, because they’ve got bills to pay, but they also want to know what your company’s core values are,” he explains.
He also warns that authenticity is vital in these efforts. “This cohort is not afraid to dig down and find out what [they] can about an employer,” he explains. “These are smart, savvy individuals who have grown up in the Internet age; they know a scam when they see one and they are not afraid to raise their hand and say ‘I don’t think this is genuine.’”
There’s also a notable opportunity in diversifying hires and addressing inequality within the industry. As the THRC study highlights, workers within the tourism industry are more likely to be men.
And, some studies have shown that this gap in gender representation is growing in the post-pandemic era. Women of WORTH: The State of Gender Equality for Vancouver Island & Region’s Tourism Sector highlights a 3.3-per-cent decrease in women working in food and beverage services in B.C. in 2023, compared to pre-pandemic figures, while the rate of men being employed in the segment grew by 16.5 per cent.
Beyond being under-represented in the food-and-beverage industry, women are under-represented in food and beverage management roles, and Milford stresses that shifting this dynamic can be an important factor in shifting culture. “If you want to solve your problems, hire more female leaders, because they’re more empathetic, they’re better mentors and they tend to be better leaders because they lead from a place of empathy,” he shares.
Aside from adapting culture and hiring approaches, David Hopkins, president of hospitality consulting agency, The Fifteen Group Inc., notes certain opportunities lay within optimizing restaurant operations. “We’ve encouraged all our clients, throughout the last couple of years, to make sure they’re open at profitable times,” he shares.
However, when adjusting hours operation, Dover stresses the importance of having a consistent and clearly communicated schedule for the sake of the customers. “A lot of restaurants have moved to these five-day weeks where they can give everyone a full-time job, and everybody has the same days off,” Dover adds, suggesting that this kind of consistency and stability is attractive to prospective employees.
Finally, Hopkins stresses the importance and value of “a great training program…which is always important in a restaurant, but…it becomes even more important when you have shortages and when you have higher turnover — when you’re bringing in somebody and you need them to start working ASAP. A good training/onboarding program will help you [get them up to speed].”
