Short staffed restaurants

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storewanderer
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Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: September 25th, 2021, 5:53 pm If only companies could find hard working people willing to work for low wages and few benefits.

Where would we find such people? Is there a people supply problem in the country? Do we need to attract more people?
I think people who used to work 25 hours a week for $9/hr are doing the math and making a decision that it isn't worth working in these jobs anymore for so low pay. It is cheaper to stay home, handle their own child care, and more enjoyable for them to spend more time with their family, etc. Just the cost of work clothing, cost of gas to/from work, etc. is going to eat up a huge chunk of the pay. Many of these folks also used government assistance programs to pay for things like child care, etc.- and there is still a time burden on getting that assistance including paperwork, dealing with a case worker, actually securing the child care, ensuring the child care place is working out okay, pick up/drop off, dealing with the kid being sick more due to all the exposure, etc. I think they are deciding it just isn't worth the $150 a week they may clear after taxes in many states. Let's move them to CA - $13/hr minimum wage. I think they are still just deciding it isn't worth the $280 or so a week they'd clear after taxes in a state like CA, to deal with all of this.

These businesses that rely on low wage part time labor that they jerk around on scheduling and pay few to no benefits, are screwed. They are going to have to get real creative to survive. It is easy to say automation is the answer but it isn't that easy.
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Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by storewanderer »

babs wrote: September 25th, 2021, 11:35 pm
Alpha8472 wrote: September 25th, 2021, 5:53 pm If only companies could find hard working people willing to work for low wages and few benefits.

Where would we find such people? Is there a people supply problem in the country? Do we need to attract more people?
Looking at the Southern border, we are attracting more people. It's the border patrol turning them away.
If only it were that easy. The people at the Southern border will end up running through the same decision tree as those who are already here and have opted out of these jobs, who have decided these low wage jobs aren't worth it.

That is quite a slam there on the folks at the Southern border to imply they should be taking these jobs that many people already here have determined are no good. I suppose it could put a temporary band aid on the staff shortage issue.

The bigger problem at this point is costs are increasing out of control for everything. I have never seen so many price increases on groceries, in such a short time period, across brands/categories, as I have seen in the past two months.

That also won't make it any easier for current and future folks to get by here.

Away from that OMNI type of topic there is a new restaurant in my area. Not a chain. Fairly large facility, brewery, and it is real popular. They have implemented a program where you order at the counter, and they give you drinks there. You pay. You go find a seat. Once your food is done they notify you and you go to the cook area and pick up the food. You carry it back to your table. It has full service restaurant prices. $10-$20 a plate. It feels like fast food to me. They do have a few people walking around to take dishes away and such but if you want to order another drink- go stand in line and pay again. I think this is going to become the format for many restaurants going forward. It will be more "fancy" type places that will continue to offer table service and you will be looking at $25-$35 a person and need reservations minimum for those type of places going forward.
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Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by pseudo3d »

Alpha8472 wrote: September 25th, 2021, 5:53 pm If only companies could find hard working people willing to work for low wages and few benefits.

Where would we find such people? Is there a people supply problem in the country? Do we need to attract more people?
It's not a people problem since a lot of the unemployment benefits are still flowing (and there are lots of people still in the country) and not a greed problem since prices are already spiraling up. Besides, there's only going to be enough low-end jobs to go around. When the Romans imported slaves (from conquered lands) to work their fields for less than what the locals were working, it created a huge poverty problem that caused lots of Romans to go bankrupt and contribute to the instability of the old Roman Republic.

And of course, we all know what hyperinflation in 1930s-era Germany led to...
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Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by Alpha8472 »

Now in Contra Costa County, California restaurants can only let people 12 and older dine in if people show proof of COVID vaccination or a negative test within the past 3 days.

What some fast food restaurants have done is tape off most of the indoor tables. Some tables are open, but only for those who show proof. There are tables outside that do not require proof.

Having employees check for COVID proof will take even more employee labor. Many restaurants will simply stop all indoor dining rather than bother checking for proof.
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Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by Brian Lutz »

King County (WA) is doing something similar starting later this month, but unvaccinated people won't be allowed to dine in at all (outdoor seating and take-out are allowed though.) As far as I know other counties nearby aren't doing the same thing though.
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Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: October 6th, 2021, 11:07 pm Now in Contra Costa County, California restaurants can only let people 12 and older dine in if people show proof of COVID vaccination or a negative test within the past 3 days.

What some fast food restaurants have done is tape off most of the indoor tables. Some tables are open, but only for those who show proof. There are tables outside that do not require proof.

Having employees check for COVID proof will take even more employee labor. Many restaurants will simply stop all indoor dining rather than bother checking for proof.
I don't see this being enforced at fast food restaurants. They are too short staffed and most of the time there is nobody tending to the dining area. Route all orders to go I guess.
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Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by Brian Lutz »

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/09/business ... index.html

Raising Cane's is now asking 250 corporate employees to spend 1-2 weeks working in restaurants as they try to hire up to 10,000 new employees over the next 50 days to make up for shortages.
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Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: October 7th, 2021, 6:50 pm
Alpha8472 wrote: October 6th, 2021, 11:07 pm Now in Contra Costa County, California restaurants can only let people 12 and older dine in if people show proof of COVID vaccination or a negative test within the past 3 days.

What some fast food restaurants have done is tape off most of the indoor tables. Some tables are open, but only for those who show proof. There are tables outside that do not require proof.

Having employees check for COVID proof will take even more employee labor. Many restaurants will simply stop all indoor dining rather than bother checking for proof.
I don't see this being enforced at fast food restaurants. They are too short staffed and most of the time there is nobody tending to the dining area. Route all orders to go I guess.
Some fast food restaurants in my area have been 100% drive-thru only since last year when the pandemic started. Arby's, Dairy Queen, and Burger King come to mind. They don't even have the lobby open in most locations.

Others have opened the dining room such as Wendy's and McDonald's, but have fewer tables.

Full-Service restaurants such as Denny's have installed barriers in between the booths.

Requiring proof of a vaccination is not going to be accepted in all parts of Washington. It will drive some people away in areas outside of King County, and it could drive some restaurants to close altogether due to some of the hassles that many people are not willing to deal with.
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Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by storewanderer »

Well- it finally happened. Had an El Pollo Loco I had been going to in Reno during quite a chunk of this COVID period. The location kept its inside open the whole time (closed the tables when indoor dining was prohibited) regular hours until 10 PM, etc. Well, today, they had a sign up- dining room and take out closed due to short staffing, drive through only.

This labor shortage situation is only getting worse.

Also if I have to count the number of times I've seen the local Wendys open, close, re-open, re-close, their to go counters/dining rooms in the past five months... open some days, closed other days, etc. Today was one of the days where two different locations I attempted to enter mid-day were locked and had long drive through lines. A third location was open. All the same franchisee. Makes no sense.

When I look at the long drive through lines at these places I can't help but wonder if a more efficient model would be to CLOSE the drive through and only operate the inside to go counter. At least that way the customer who pulls in for a single meal doesn't have to wait behind the car of the Doordash driver trying to pick up 3 orders at once that all came in during a 20 minute time period so not all are ready yet, or the van that orders $50 of food and of course some component of the order is delayed for one reason or another.

This leaves In N Out as the only one who has had consistent operations and been consistently staffed throughout this period. But it is so overcrowded that I don't go there.
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Re: Short staffed restaurants

Post by babs »

There is an Arby's in Beaverton, OR that was closed for a down to the studs remodel. It's been done since early summer but has remained closed. I'm guessing it's due to lack of staffing.
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