Chef Matt Bolus
Source: Kelli LaMatia
Like many restaurant owners, Matt Bolus, executive chef of The 404 Kitchen in Nashville, had to get creative when the city shut down due to Covid-19 mandates last spring.
He kept some of his core staff busy by cooking meals for the local food bank, private dinners and other opportunities to pay the bills.
“You were just truly grabbing at every straw you could because you didn’t know when the end was,” he said.
As the city opened back up and mandates vanished, Bolus saw an influx of guests returning to the restaurant. But now he faces a huge challenge: staffing the kitchen to meet rising demand.
“The labor pool is still, unfortunately, more of a labor puddle,” he said.
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The pandemic gutted the hospitality industry, which shed 2.5 million jobs in 2020, the National Restaurant Association reported.
Although restaurants have added jobs in 2021, the unemployment rate for restaurant workers is still above the national average. But despite the jobless rates in hospitality, many restaurants are still stretched to find workers.
Almost half of establishments are operating with 20% less staff than usual, the National Restaurant Association found.
Moreover, accommodations and food service job…
