From Boston to LA: Labor Issues Top of Mind for Restaurant Operators

In one form or another, labor and employment issues are challenging small and large operators alike.

A panel of small multi-unit owners in Boston decried an inability to retain back-of-house staff as a major hurdle, while their single-unit fine-dining counterparts were struggling to attract qualified servers and hosts.  Alternately, two medium-sized chain executives in California are dreading impending minimum wage increases while the state and federal government has mom-and-pop operators in upstate New York scrambling to get exemption statuses and I-9s in order. 

These are the labor-related challenges that restaurant operators are facing, and below is what operators can do to mitigate risks and off-set costs to drive success.

The labor process starts with building an organization and an employer brand that is attractive to the labor pool from which you are recruiting. 

Meghann Ward from Tapestry Restaurant in Boston developed a full learning kitchen in order to attract talent…