Workforce

Fast-growing restaurant chain focuses recruitment on Toys R Us employees

With 31,000 people losing their jobs at Toys R Us, the Main Event food-and-games chain is focusing its recruitment efforts on that sudden surge in the labor pool.

The 40-unit competitor to Dave & Buster’s is in the midst of a five-day open house for current and recent employees of the 735-unit toy chain and its sister operation, Babies R Us. Both are going out of business, and the stores are in the process of liquidating their inventories and closing.

Displaced workers can visit a Main Event to assess it as a place to work. If they like what they see, they can fill out an application and be interviewed right there for a job.

Visitors who opt for an interview are rewarded with a card enabling them to try the Main Event’s arcade attractions.

Main Event says it has openings for front-of-house, back-of-house, supervisory, sales and technician-type posts. Four of the game-restaurant hybrids are currently in development.

The open house started Monday and runs through the end of the week, from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m.

Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.

Multimedia

Exclusive Content

Financing

Despite their complaints, customers keep flocking to Chipotle

The Bottom Line: The chain continued to be a juggernaut last quarter, with strong sales and traffic growth, despite frequent social media complaints about shrinkflation or other challenges.

Operations

Hitting resistance elsewhere, ghost kitchens and virtual concepts find a happy home in family dining

Reality Check: Old-guard chains are finding the alternative operations to be persistently effective side hustles.

Financing

The Tijuana Flats bankruptcy highlights the dangers of menu miscues

The Bottom Line: The fast-casual chain’s problems following new menu debuts in 2021 and 2022 show that adding new items isn’t always the right idea.

Trending

More from our partners