Labor challenges and solutions: preparing for the busy season

Most hospitality operators have been there. Weddings, holidays or big local events strain your team’s capacity to deliver the excellent customer service your establishment is known for.

Yet, hiring permanent additional staff isn’t possible without serious time and budgetary commitments. Increasingly, hospitality operators need to come up with novel approaches to operate smoothly while maintaining margins.

So, what can you do to prepare for your busy season or next event?

Solution #1: Hiring temporary food service workers through a staffing agency

Expedient. Convenient. Timely. That’s what staffing agencies can bring to the table for hospitality businesses during rushes. Whether it’s prepping for last-minute bookings in your restaurant or hotel or gearing up for New Year’s celebrations, hiring a contingent workforce can give you enough muscle to make it through the event or season. Agencies like Instawork and Answerteam specialize in food service and hospitality workers and can bring in the human resources you need to cater, serve, cook, clean or many of the other jobs that need to run smoothly to make your next event a success.

Solution #2: Training and retaining staff

Training good employees is a strategic tool to keep star performers engaged and maintain operational efficiency from the entire team.

By using a combined approach to hiring, training and upskilling employees, you can strike the right balance to find and maintain a stable workforce. Each business is different, but having options to choose from can reduce some of the pressure of preparing your business for major events.

Solution #3: Using shortcuts in your kitchen to save labor

Reduce your reliance on labor through time-saving products and services. If you can't hire the people, you could add pre-made sandwiches or use pre-cut French fries, par-baked bread products or shelf-stable bases for soups and sauces.

By combining high-quality prepared-food products with those made from scratch, operators can save time and labor and let high-skilled culinary staff be deployed where they’re most effective.

Solution #4: Bringing on the bots

With the advent and proliferation of robotic tools and artificial intelligence, hospitality operators have new technologies to help solve their labor shortages. In the back–of-house, operators can use automation that handles cleaning and food prep. In the frontof-house, there are self-service kiosks and menus and even robots that can shuttle trays back and forth, freeing up waitstaff for more customer-focused experiences.

Addressing your labor challenges: Entegra’s solutions

Navigating the pressures of labor shortages, wage increases, labor disputes and supply chain issues is difficult. Without a trusted partner? Risky. Entegra can help you implement tailored solutions unique to hospitality operators. With our deep expertise in supply chain management, procurement, price forecasting and business performance improvement, we can help your business thrive. Explore more in the labor report: Navigating seismic shifts in the labor market or contact us to speak with a representative.