Career change
East Coast hospitality, retail businesses facing new set of challenges since COVID-19 as workers look to other sectors
When the first wave of COVID-19 hit in March 2020, Bryn Jones-vaillancourt lost his job as an executive chef with the Compass Group Canada.
“I lost my job because of the public health control measures that resulted in a lockdown that impacted the culinary industry,” said the 40-year-old Nova Scotian.
“At that point, I had worked as a professional cook since 2005, red seal certificated since 2013.”
Jones-vaillancourt tried to find another position when restrictions eased up but had no luck.
“I was unable to find a role that matched my pay expectations based on my education and experience,” he said.
After 16 years of working in the culinary field, in 2021, Jones-vaillancourt decided to leave it behind. He’s now in nursing school and working casually as a personal care worker in long-term care.
“The lack of stability in the culinary field was a factor, as well as having a family, I want a job that is more pandemic proof, so healthcare was the choice,” he said.
STICKING WITH IT
He’s not alone in feeling frustrated with working in the restaurant industry amid COVID-19. Xueying Yan, a cook at DJ Wok in Charlottetown, was laid off in December 2020 when she was a line cook at Boston Pizza in Charlottetown, along with more than a dozen others.
“I was shocked,” Yan said. “All of a sudden, they sent us an email saying we don’t need to show up for work the next day. I totally understand how difficult the situation was for restaurants, but it’s still a shock for me.”
She was called to get back to work the next week, but Yan said the chaos and uncertainty helped her decide to quit the job two months later.
In March 2021, Yan and her business partners, Jack Jia and Jesh Ramloll, opened a new restaurant called The Dodo Mauritian in Charlottetown. She worked as a chef and manager there.
“It was very difficult to operate a new business during the pandemic,” Yan said, noting public health restrictions that resulted in restaurants’ capacity made it hard for them to welcome large groups of customers, which affected their revenue.
“We had to tell some groups of customers to take out because we don’t have enough tables for them to dine in. Some were understanding, some were disappointed, and the situation was stressful for us,” she said.
Having to work in customer service, health concerns were a big part of the frustration, she added.
“My breathing system is very weak, so if I caught the virus, it wouldn’t be easy for me. I did get it at some point and it was very bad,” she said.
Around the end of June 2022, Yan decided to leave Dodo to join the cook team at DJ Wok. She never left the industry.
“I never even thought of it, despite all of the difficulties and concerns. I like this job. I enjoy cooking stuff and I’m happy when people get to enjoy the food I make,” Yan said.
COVID WORRIES
Uyen Luong said the pandemic, as well as the healthcare crisis at the time, brought her some concerns related to health and the treatment condition, but she still chose to continue to work in retail.
“I was worried, but personally it wasn’t a big deal for me,” said the UPEI marketing student.
“The biggest concern was if I got COVID, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to access the healthcare support as quickly as needed. But I think everything was quite under control in general.”
Working part-time at the Atlantic Superstore since September 2020, Luong said it only started to get more relaxing when health restrictions were eased up, as “we can finally have some in-person interaction with customers,” which helps improve customers’ experiences while shopping in general.
Luong is now also working as a program assistant at the Start Up Zone PEI.
“I wanted to also have some academic experience because I’m still a student. Life just starts to feel like normal again, although we still need to be careful to protect ourselves and others against COVID-19. It’s not totally over yet,” she said.
COVID IMPACT
Le Wang, the manager at DJ Wok, said the pandemic has had some negative impact on many restaurants of all sizes, and his restaurant is not an exception.
During the peak of the pandemic, health restrictions and multiple lockdowns caused them to not only cut off staff’s working time but also to lay some staff off. The restaurant also had to close for dine-in and at a point was to close and wait until further notice as everything was shut down.
“It was difficult for everyone, so I think that was part of the reasons why many decided to leave their job at restaurants because it wasn’t secured,” Wang said.
As of now, although many restrictions have been eased up and most restaurants are open at normal capacity, it’s still hard to hire new workers, he said.
“As many restaurants were closed during COVID, not many people stayed and worked in the industry. It caused the situation now where many of people who applied to work for us don’t have the experience to work,” he said.
“We will have to put extra time and effort to train them and it’s not efficient,” Wang added, noting he encourages everyone to apply as they’re still hiring, but the priority is given to former staff or those who have some experience in working at restaurants.
However, as a job-seeker, Jones-vaillancourt argued looking for a job in the restaurant industry now is not easy.
“The influx of people looking for employment in that field made the market much more competitive even with my extensive experience,” he said.
He also said the pandemic has “greatly transformed the industry to a large shift to online orders via platforms Skipthedishes, Uber Eats, among others.”
“The staffing challenges that all industries are facing are no different in the culinary world and this is impacting what hours of service restaurants can offer and the types of services.”