ficult to find the right people, the right cul - tural fit,” said Yin, whose group includes the restaurants Fork, a.kitchen + bar and High Street Restaurant & Bakery. “It costs a lot to bring people in. It behooves us to pick the right people and onboard them properly.” Employment growth varies by sector. Full-service operators said the toughest jobs to fill are chef/cooks (78%) and kitchen sup - port staff (61%) Limited-service operators said they have trouble finding managers (61%), and customer-facing workers (55%). At Popal’s multi-concept group, she said, “If we’re looking for a GM, it’s not like be - fore, where we’d put out an ad and get so many who were qualified. Now we get may - be 15 and only two are qualified, and often they are out of state.” Rapidly expanding chains—like the 3,700-unit Chipotle, which is pushing to reach 7,000 units across North America— have built in strategies for growing leader - ship from within. Chipotle, which this year hopes to hire 20,000 new workers for the “Burrito Sea- son” running from March through May, said it promoted 23,000 team members in 2024, and 85% of all restaurant management role promotions were internal. Five out of 11 regional vice presidents at Chipotle started their careers as crew members and worked their way up. The fast-casual chain is marketing the fact that crew members can advance to “restaurateur” in as little as three and a half years, with the potential for earning six fig - ures. TECH SUPPORT As restaurants struggled to bring back work- ers during the pandemic recovery years, many predicted the rise of robots and auto- mation to replace humans. So far, that hasn’t proven to be the case. Restaurant companies are increasingly embracing some self-service technologies,
like kiosks, artificially intelligent voice order - ing in drive-thrus and pay-at-the-table tab - lets, for example. But more operators are investing in tech - nology designed to make the lives of team members easier, boost efficiency or enable better training. The National Restaurant Association said about half of operators surveyed last year said tech and automation will ease their la- bor challenges, but most (74%) said it will augment, not replace humans. Only 13% said their investment in tech resulted in the per - manent elimination of any jobs over the past two or three years. Still, across the industry, operators are designing smaller restaurants, built for effi - ciency, that require less in the way of staff- ing. Nelson at McNellie’s, for example, re- cently opened an Italian concept called Malfi that is just over 2,600-square feet. The menu can be executed by three people in the kitch- en, rather than four or five, as he might have done previously. “As we went through how the back of the house would function, we made some cuts to the menu to take off items that were too labor intensive or difficult to execute, or that needed a fourth person on the line,” he said. There’s no question the math has changed in the traditional equation for making a res- taurant profitable. Nelson is optimistic that he’ll be able to return to the metrics that once worked— though, he said, “We just have to do it in dif - ferent ways.” Yin, on the other hand, doesn’t see things getting easier. “I don’t care what anybody says, the eco- nomics of operating a business continues to be so challenging,” she said.
demic would give operators a chance to ad - dress that problem. “During the pandemic, we said ‘let’s not let it happen again.’ We need to make sure team members are adequately paid,” she said. “But I don’t think we made as much progress in that as we hoped.” Many restaurant operators are experi- menting with new models, but it’s hard to do that against a backdrop of a competitive la - bor market and shifting consumer sentiment. “We’re all still trying to figure it out,” she said. Overall, for operators, labor costs grew 31% between 2020 and 2024, according to National Restaurant Association data. That, in addition to a 29% increase in food costs, resulted in a significant jump in menu prices. On average, restaurant menu prices in - creased more than 27% between February 2020 and June 2024, according to the BLS. Last year, however, inflation-weary con - sumers began pushing back. Slowing con- sumer traffic forced many operators to re - think their pricing power and focus instead on value. BETTER BENEFITS The competitive labor market has also brought workers across the industry vastly improved employee benefits since the pan - demic. Previously, a perk for restaurant workers might have been a free lunch or a drink at the bar after shift, at best. Now sick leave, vacation and paid parental leave are increas - ingly becoming mandated by state and local laws. And employers are adding the gamut of additional benefits to attract workers who might consider the restaurant industry for a lifelong career, including healthcare cov - erage, tuition reimbursement, 401K plans, mental health support services, Spotify sub - scriptions, financial literacy and more. “We have a full complement of profes - sional benefits, but even with those, it’s dif -
PROJECTED RESTAURANT INDUSTRY WORKFORCE GROWTH IN 2025: 200,000 JOBS FOR A TOTAL OF 15.9 MILLION
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RESTAURANT BUSINESS APRIL 2025
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