If you’re hungry for work and live in Southern Ontario, consider applying to the restaurant industry. From fine dining to fast food -- managers are complaining their staff are turning over as fast as their tables.
“I’m working 14-hour days right now, seven days a week,” Sip and Bite owner Naide Schneider told CTV Kitchener. She’s looking to hire a full-time wait staff, dish washers, and a cook at her Elmira, Ont., diner.
Restaurant owners say an abundance of new restaurants in the region have put workers in short supply. The back-to-school season means many of the students the industry relies on are casting off their aprons to return to class.
Entry-level restaurant positions typically pay close to minimum wage, so workers tend to job hop until they find the best pay.
“There is a bit of a challenge with people thinking that it’s a small town restaurant and they’re not going to make as much money,” said Schneider. “Our girls do very well here.”
“There’s a bunch of other restaurants that might have a higher cheque average then we might,” said Waterloo East Side Mario’s franchise owner Kait Lin. “They can offer to pay people a bit more.”
The new Mother’s Pizza location opening in Waterloo next month is desperate to fill 40 positions. General Manager Jonathen Kimpton says online job boards and classified ads aren’t yielding enough response.
“We actually had to come up with more of a unique strategy (to find workers),” he said. “We’ve never done a job fair. We’ve always done traditional outlets like Kijiji and the newspaper.”
CTV Kitchener also spoke with managers at The Charcoal Group, St. Louis Bar and Grill, Tim Horton’s, A&W, KFC, and Taco Bell -- all of them looking to hire.
With files from CTV Kitchener
