It’s Hectic Time for Restaurants

It’s a trend well-known to restaurant operators, and yet each year brings the same scramble: young people who provided a ready supply of flexible labor over the summer simultaneously change their patterns – resigning to focus on school, moving back to college, or limiting their availability to accommodate other activities. In 2021, for example, 36.6 percent of teens 16-19 had jobs during the summer, dropping to 30.5 percent during the school year.

This hits the food service industry especially hard, as teen workers fill 1.2 million of those positions, in the ballpark of 20 percent of all employees in the field. 

As a 35-year industry veteran who has worked every job in quick service restaurants, I understand the pain and frustration of this perennial problem.  Looking at this seasonal challenge with that lens, the good news for both owners and students is that there are opportunities to close the gap.

Part of a Larger TrendFirst, it’s worth realizing that the landscape for…