As the restaurant industry begins to rebuild itself from the ground up, an on demand staffing platform might be more important than ever.
The pandemic shook the restaurant industry something fierce. As restaurants begin to pick up the pieces and rebuild their businesses, we know that the industry we left will not necessarily be the industry we come back to. After looking over survey results and speaking with employers and workers, we predict that on demand staffing services will take over the industry on the other side of the COVID era — and here’s why.
Improved Restaurant Technology
The need to pivot to online ordering for take out, delivery and curbside pickup caused more restaurants to adopt software like ChowNow, Tock and OpenTable as solutions to keeping their doors open. Now as restaurants reopen for dine-in service, restaurant technology is here to stay and widely used.
The adoption of intuitive technology to streamline the customer experience makes it easier for anyone to take incoming orders and for employers to cut down on training and labor needs. Workers familiar with restaurant software can quickly transfer their knowledge from one workplace to the next — setting up the circumstances to successfully fill in on a shift-by-shift basis as skilled contract workers.
More efficient staffing models
Since the industry at large is still facing a lot of uncertainty, flexibility will be key to keeping labor costs where a restaurant needs them to be moving forward. We see business owners focusing on more efficient scheduling strategies in order to manage labor costs. This means shorter shifts, more cross-training, and more flexibility for staff members.
As restaurants begin to reopen, counter service and abbreviated menus help mitigate the social distancing measures that limit capacity and hours of operation. With less customer interaction, and smaller menus to cut back on food cost and waste, emerging staffing strategies can easily be supported by an on demand workforce. Employers can fill shifts as needed, and employees gain more control over the hours they work.
A need for better employment options
As restaurants reopen, both employers and workers need better options when it comes to staffing and employment. An on demand service could fill this need by providing a cost effective, reliable workforce to employers when they need it, while giving workers more job opportunities and control over their schedules when they want it. In a recent Poached Jobs survey of restaurant workers, we found 60% would work with an on demand service. With on demand options like driving for Uber or running deliveries growing in popularity before COVID, it’s not surprising to see interest continuing to grow in the current environment.
No one really knows what the world will look like once COVID is behind us — but we do know there will be a hospitality industry. With new technology, smarter staffing models and developing access to on demand networks, we predict the industry will come back stronger than ever and emerging restaurant trends will create a better industry than what we left.