Restaurants face staffing shortages
When Gov. Ned Lamont announced Monday he will lift all remaining pandemic-related business restrictions on May 19, it was welcome news to most Connecticut restaurateurs.
But as a busy summer looms, and more vaccinated diners flock to restaurants and bars, owners are concerned about returning to pre-pandemic operations without enough staff.
In restaurateur Moe Gad’s case, he’s concerned that labor issues will impact the potential of his
forthcoming restaurant. His Italian concept, Villa Lulu, is set to open next month next door to Pacifico, his Latin-inspired eatery on New Haven’s College Street. But its debut is entirely dependent on whether he can hire enough employees, he said.
“I’m worried if I’m going to be able to open it or not, because of the staffing,” he said. He will be looking to hire about 25 employees for Villa Lulu, and would also like to add another 10 to the Pacifico payroll.
A dearth of staff may also impact his potential expanded outdoor seating at Pacifico, which he won’t open if there isn’t enough kitchen or service help to accommodate extra diners.
The industry, battered and bruised from more than a year of shutdowns, limited seated capacity and consumer reluctance, seemed to finally catch a break this week. Restaurateurs are looking forward to the increased revenue, but some are worried that understaffing may drastically affect their operations.
Gad’s frustration is common among Connecticut restaurateurs. Owners everywhere are looking for help for every role in the restaurant operation — hosts, servers, bartenders, cooks, dishwashers, bussers — and coming up short, as they face a small labor pool and a lot of competition.
The restaurant industry was one of the hardest-hit during the pandemic. According to the Connecticut Department of Labor, there were 158,200 jobs in the state’s leisure and hospitality sector in February 2020, and as pandemic shutdowns happened in midMarch, that number plunged to 67,400 in April. As of March 2021, that number has climbed to about 122,600.
About 22,278 people formerly employed in the accommodations and food industry in Connecticut are currently receiving unemployment benefits, according to Department of Labor data. Some restaurateurs are quick to point to the enhanced benefits, which include $300 a week in extra compensation, as one reason people are seemingly reluctant to return to restaurant work.
Restaurants around the country are facing similar labor shortages, for several reasons. Workers may not be comfortable returning to work before getting fully vaccinated, or may have sought other, more stable employment as restaurants closed during the pandemic. Some Connecticut owners noted that candidates may be choosing jobs in landscaping or construction as those industries pick up again this summer.
“It’s very interesting, when you look at how many people are unemployed, and how many job applications are coming in — you’re trying to try to figure out, how is that possible?” said Phil Barnett, co-owner of Hartford Restaurant Group. He said he and his team have “put a lot of energy” into hiring, including recent job fairs for all positions at their nine Wood-n-Tap restaurants around the state.
Like Gad, John Romano of Milford Sports Pub & Grill said he’s concerned a staffing shortage will impact his service. He’s planning to open a large outdoor patio, and he estimates he might have to possibly double his staff of 15 to 20.
With fewer cooks and servers, “instead of having a 15-minute turn around from the kitchen, it could be 35 minutes, 40 minutes,” he said. “People have to understand that we, amongst everyone else, are looking for good employees.”
Michael Lariviere of Westbrook Lobster in Wallingford said he would likely have to hire an additional four servers to staff a busy Saturday night, between guests in the dining room, at the bar and outside on the restaurant’s deck. Without the extra help, he said, he’s afraid diners might not have an ideal experience.
“I’m not going to be comfortable filling up the restaurant without adequate staff,” he said. “'I don’t know how understanding guests are going to be [about] understaffing.”
Gad and Romano said they’ve heard anecdotally that southern Connecticut restaurateurs are offering extra incentives, like signing bonuses, to attract talent. Further north, the Hartford-based Max Restaurant Group has offered signing bonuses of up to $1,000 in recent weeks.
“This is the most difficult period in 20 years I’ve had in this industry, finding staff,” said Enzo Bruno, coowner of Table 104 in Stamford and the newly opened Divina at the Courtyard Stamford Downtown hotel. “We compensate generously; we offer great pay and great incentives. Either they don’t show up to the interview, or they don’t show up to work. It’s been a little bit challenging.”
Bruno said he and his partners retained all their staff at Table 104 through the pandemic, so they were able to shift some of those staffers to help open Divina. “We have a good foundation, but we still need a few extra people,” he said.
Bruno has posted several helpwanted ads, between Indeed.com, Craigslist and Facebook, and he said “the response has been painful, very little.” And as restaurants try to land talent, it can become a “bidding war,” where an employee may end up making several dollars more an hour than they might have previously.
“I think in this industry, a lot of people have been underpaid for a long time. So I like to think they have a little bit of leverage now to argue better pay,” Bruno said. “I’m all in favor of that if that’s the result of that. I just hope people come back to work quickly.”