The best thing that happened to your foodservice-staff: COVID!
Bernd Kosnar ??
?? Sales-Geek | Vertriebs - Experte für High-Tech und IT | Bessere Verk?ufer, bessere Verkaufsprozesse, Mehr Gesch?ft | Training, Beratung & Interim Management ??
Summary
Foodservice has lost a lot of manpower during the last years. The shortage is visible. It impacts the experience of your clients as much as your bottom line.?I developed – with the help of others a good idea why and this is what I share in the first part of this article. More importantly I would like to solicit your ideas and thoughts on the topic. Especially on what we can do to fix the problem.
Prefaces
1: This is (another) moody article.
Guilty as charged – I happen to write more of that lately – bear with me ??. It is based on my previous experience traveling and experiencing foodservice during the COVID pandemic and a lot of conversations I had with your peers, clients and prospects. Both as a client, an advisor and supplier.
2: I tip my hat to everyone who chose to work and stay in that profession!
The jobs in foodservice are amongst the toughest I know. I deeply respect anyone who chooses a career in this profession and am grateful for every positive experience I have had as a client and every dedicated professional I encountered in my role as advisor and supplier.
Stating the obvious – A series of unfortunate events
You all know it, but saying it out loud lends reality to the facts:
Bummer: Foodservice is lacking personnel.
Common knowledge. Everybody, really everybody that I talked to in foodservice has the same issue. During the pandemic a good percentage of their staff were laid off (furlow) and then once over did not return as they had found other jobs! Or they wandered off and did not care to return after the pandemic was over.
Major bummer: Post-COVID staff lacks – nearly everywhere
Every foodservice provider had to re-hire during and after COVID. You hired whoever was left. You did not have a choice. Now you are stuck with parts of your team that do not know your processes, is new to the foodservice business or simply ill-equipped to perform well in your business.
Cluster-bummer: You will not get anyone better anytime soon
Previous staff have moved on to greener pastures. They found that life without work in the foodservice business is possible. And they like it. You are stuck with what’s left.
领英推荐
The only thing you need to get hired in foodservice is a pulse
Experienced in Liverpool 2021 in a nice well renowned hotel:
The person servicing the bar is deeply focused. On his mobile phone. My colleague and I take a seat only about 1,5 meters away from him. Very visible to the server. But yet. 15 minutes pass. Another guest approaches the bar. Stands in front of the server. Only after a couple of minutes of no reaction whatsoever he decides to ask for the menu.
Providing feedback to the hotel management the person I speak to shrugs apologetically and tells the same story as everyone else. COVID hit. They had to let go many of their staff. The good ones have not returned. They are permanently understaffed. And the only criteria they have for a person to hire in foodservice is: they need to be alive.
And that’s the same throughout the foodservice industry. No matter if you are looking at hotels, restaurants, canteens, hospitals or senior centres.
How did this happen?
Adam Johnson, a dear colleague and friend of mine combines a very sharp eye with more than 30+ years of experience in the industry. And his assessment of the situation is as dire as I described it above. But the root-cause of the whole misery is not COVID. He says it started long before that.
Basically, in his very short, to-the-point way he summarizes:
And that’s really it. Foodservice as well as guests must rethink the value of their staff.
Lots of abuse, minimum wage and no way to go.
They take more abuse through clients and superiors than any other group of employees that I know of. And it is still considered a rite of passage. They are kept at minimum wage and are “dealt with” just like you would deal with a pair of socks – easily replaceable. They oftentimes have no other job-opportunities ready for them to take on. And that binds them even more. Or rather: bound them.
COVID served as the big equalizer. They found that there are other possibilities. They found that there is better pay. And less abuse.
What’s next?
I would love to hear from you how you are tackling this issue. Specifically:
Leave your comments – start a conversation!
National Director, Clinical Nutrition & Wellness Trinity Health (HQ Michigan)
1 年It's hard to make lemonade without lemons, be it human resources, supply shortages and soft volumes. This aftermath is forcing a change on multiple fronts. I never did like lemonade anyway. Thank you for the great read as always, but I'm sour on the title.
NED - Government Policy Advisor- NHS Facilities consultant - Leader - Innovator - Influencer - Commentator on Public Sector Catering - TED Speaker- Education Governor - Hospitality Action Ambassador
1 年It’s not in my view moody article sums up the reality. Some of course is pandemic related agree. However I still feel in the UK we have issues that caused this. BREXIT!! and lack of investment in key areas training - wages - Tech infrastructure - hospitality is not seen anymore as long term career by many. We have to ensure we invest in staff - customer service - infrastructure inc tech - embrace change fully. But above all listen to your customers and clients and they may not always be right!
SaaS | Delegate | Software to Maximize Clinical & Financial Efficiencies in Healthcare Foodservice | Samoyed Enthusiast
1 年Thanks for the information Bernd and including my thoughts!
I support food service and food retail businesses to improve food safety standards and achieve food safety business excellence.
1 年Thanks for sharing your article. Many of the issues raised appear to be global problem. COVID has certainly turned the hospitality sector on its head in Australia with many businesses struggling to adapt to the new way of doing things; still treating employees as a commodity; a lack of business acumen; skills development is not on their radar and on it goes.
?? Sales-Geek | Vertriebs - Experte für High-Tech und IT | Bessere Verk?ufer, bessere Verkaufsprozesse, Mehr Gesch?ft | Training, Beratung & Interim Management ??
1 年Here's what Sandra Iddon says about what needs to change: - thank you Sandra for sharing - copied from our chat with your approval. ******************************************************** Thanks for sharing this article. Businesses can’t always afford more than the minimum wage and the money is not always the deciding factor. Being flexible with your team is often more important, especially is the holiday catering outlets. Bringing staff in whist at school (within the legal age limit), provide training and ensuring there are holiday jobs throughout the year and throughout their educational time, ensures you have staff at the busiest operational periods and additional staff that are already trained. This provides a steam of opportunity for local people. Similarly at the other end on the age scale, be prepared to take on older staff members 60+. They don’t need to work long hours or 5 days a week. Again, be flexible. And in the middle……. Allow staff to work as many days and hours as they want to fit around child care, maternity preparations, school holidays etc. YES rotas are a nightmare, but it is worth it.