Food inflation may be moderating, but don’t expect labor costs to similarly ease near-term, according to “Labor & the Workforce,” the first in a new series of research reports from Restaurant Business.
The survey of operators found that 89% expect to pay more for labor in the next 12 months, with roughly a third (35%) of the business predicting the rise will be significant. Fewer than 1 in 10 (9%) said they expect the cost to stabilize, and only 2% predicted a decline.
About 3 of 4 participants said affording labor will be their biggest staffing challenge in the coming year.
The canvass showed that labor costs have soared like a rocket during the past year. Nearly all the respondents (92%) said they paid more for staff during the last 12 months, with more than half (54%) describing the increase as significant.
The increases raised the average hourly wage for the industry to $14.58, with limited-service restaurants paying a few pennies less and full-service operations paying 12 cents more.
The leading way by far of coping with the wage upswing, according to the data, was “judiciously” raising menu prices, the reaction cited by 65% of the participating operators. Cross-training was the second-most frequent strategy for contending with the costs, with 48% of respondents saying they now prepare staff to work a variety of jobs.
Simplification of menus, recipes and back-of-house operations helped 25% of the respondents hold down their labor needs and costs.
The potential hires most in demand will be back-of-house workers, with 75% of respondents saying they’ll have kitchen positions to fill.
The data was captured via a survey of 330 chain and independent restaurants during September. Included in the group were both full-service and limited-service operations.
A free copy of the report is available here.
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