StudVent

07 August 2019

By Michael Clouser

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA – The hospitality industry, and the restaurant industry in particular, is plagued by a labor shortage. Finding capable and service-minded front-line staff and good managers has always been an issue for the industry, but it’s especially problematic now more than ever. The problem is global and not just a characteristic of the USA, UK or Western Europe. The same is true in China, for instance. The restaurant industry in the USA alone is about 800 billion dollars in size in terms of revenue, and in China, its about 624 billion dollars and growing at over 10% per year. Globally, the industry is over 2 trillion dollar industry and employs millions of people. In the USA the industry employs about 15 million workers alone. It has massive impacts on the lives of millions of workers and managers the world over. Restaurant Business released a podcast today that student entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs may want to listen to in order to better understand the problem and some potential proposed solutions. With more problem seeking research and a deeper dive into the dilemma and the scale of the issue, student entrepreneurs are ripe to tackle this and perhaps start new firms round it. A fresh set of eyes and the perspective of the outsider may be what it takes to come to new solutions and bring them to the industry, or to start whole new hospitality organizations that have modern strategies to deal with the labor shortage problem. As well, students considering starting new restaurant or hotel companies should be aware of the labor issue and develop strategies and organizational cultures that address it from the get-go.

Have a listen here: How Restaurants Can Solve the Labor Dilemma

Source: Restaurant Business, A Deeper Dive (Podcast), 07 August 2019