Restaurant Staffing

jeffk · 05-25-2024, 04:46 AM

It seems to me that paying staff better wages and having to charge customers more to support it works OK during the tourist season. Flocks of people on vacation are willing to fork over extra $$ for a nice meal.

The problem is the ~November - ~May (7 month) off season, when locals are not going to flock to high cost restaurants. With the reduced volume of customers, restaurants probably have to reduce staff. Seasonal ups and downs make it hard to retain reliable staff or even keep open. Paying staff higher wages just amplifies the problem.

I'm looking forward to the additional choices but won't be surprised to see some gone within a couple years. A seasonal market is hard to manage.

TiltonBB · 05-25-2024, 06:36 AM

It seems all the businesses, including restaurants are having trouble finding good help. Patrick's Pub had a message on their reader board on route 11 for a week saying "Free meal with job application". (Don't tell FLL). They didn't get a single application from it.

John Mercier · 05-25-2024, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeffk

It seems to me that paying staff better wages and having to charge customers more to support it works OK during the tourist season. Flocks of people on vacation are willing to fork over extra $$ for a nice meal.

The problem is the ~November - ~May (7 month) off season, when locals are not going to flock to high cost restaurants. With the reduced volume of customers, restaurants probably have to reduce staff. Seasonal ups and downs make it hard to retain reliable staff or even keep open. Paying staff higher wages just amplifies the problem.

I'm looking forward to the additional choices but won't be surprised to see some gone within a couple years. A seasonal market is hard to manage.

Not paying them makes them leave... so you don't have to worry about laying them off in November.

Seasoned management keeps a cool head, looks at the long term, and seeks out ways to overcome seasonal decline of demand.

Statewide tourism revenue showed a record summer last year... but only an increase of 3.3%; while winter of that same cycle was up 17.4%.

So while off-season numbers are lower... there is opportunity there.

05-25-2024, 04:46 AM	#1
jeffk Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Center Harbor Posts: 1,172 Thanks: 206 Thanked 437 Times in 253 Posts	It seems to me that paying staff better wages and having to charge customers more to support it works OK during the tourist season. Flocks of people on vacation are willing to fork over extra $$ for a nice meal. The problem is the ~November - ~May (7 month) off season, when locals are not going to flock to high cost restaurants. With the reduced volume of customers, restaurants probably have to reduce staff. Seasonal ups and downs make it hard to retain reliable staff or even keep open. Paying staff higher wages just amplifies the problem. I'm looking forward to the additional choices but won't be surprised to see some gone within a couple years. A seasonal market is hard to manage.

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Biggd (05-25-2024)

05-25-2024, 06:36 AM	#2
TiltonBB Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Gilford, NH and Florida Posts: 3,019 Thanks: 702 Thanked 2,203 Times in 937 Posts	It seems all the businesses, including restaurants are having trouble finding good help. Patrick's Pub had a message on their reader board on route 11 for a week saying "Free meal with job application". (Don't tell FLL). They didn't get a single application from it.