In her fourth Restaurant Diary entry, brand ambassador Jenny Feldt explains how her job has changed due to the recent staffing shortage in the restaurant and bar industry.
It’s been an issue since the onset of COVID, but I’ve noticed it in particular these last couple of months as restaurants start to open up and are just incredibly short-staffed. In almost every market I work in or visit, I’ve seen the same problem. When the initial restaurant shutdowns pushed hospitality workers out of their jobs, many of them pivoted out of the industry altogether.
Before, I was spending more time training restaurant and bar staff on the Grey Goose brand or the vodka category as a whole. These days I’m also providing introductory hospitality training. I’m teaching newcomers to the industry about the fundamental steps of service, like how long to wait before greeting a guest after they’ve sat down; how often to check on a table; how to understand and effectively communicate a menu, with descriptions of food and ingredients.
Even after staffs are trained, a lot of bars and restaurants are having trouble with retaining their employees. I don’t think new hires—many of whom are younger or have never worked in hospitality before—realize how hard working in a restaurant really is. You’re on your feet for about eight to 12 hours straight, have to leave your emotions at the door, and are provided with very few benefits. So they leave.
COVID affected restaurants and their employees in such a major way because of the benefit structure. There are so many benefits you don’t have as a front-of-house or back-of-house employee, and you may not realize that you need them until youneed them, such as health insurance. I’m hoping that the pandemic will actually bring about positive change in this regard.
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