CHEF ELIOT HILLIS HAS A LEVEL OF KITCHEN SKILLS HE SAYS HE RARELY SEES IN APPLICANTS THESE DAYS. “YOU HAVE TO BE MOLDED AND FORGED IN THE FIRES OF THE KITCHEN. FOR ME, THE KITCHEN WAS MY SALVATION.”
PHOTO BY ROB BARTLETT
INTO THE FIRE Epic labor shortages are just the latest in a series of setbacks that may completely reforge the beleaguered restaurant industry. BY FAIYA Z KARA
A
cascade of pandemic-caused adversity has plagued independent restaurants over the past couple of years. But even more than the forced closures, pivots to takeout and protracted supply-chain issues, one particular struggle is bringing the industry to its knees: epic staffing shortages. Kitchen workers aren’t flocking back to restaurants in this not-so-post-COVID-19 era as restaurateurs had hoped they would, and the reasons are well-documented: everything from low wages and long hours to unsafe working conditions and a culture that’s historically 20
glamorized a boys-behaving-badly mentality. There’s no question that exploitation of labor has fueled the industry for decades, and while conversations are now being had around such hot-button issues as livable wages, sexual harassment and mental health awareness, there’s no getting around the fact that independent restaurant owners are, once again, being faced with a perilous situation. “WE’RE SHORT-STAFFED! WINTER PARK WILL BE CLOSED TODAY!” blared an Aug. 24 post on Swine & Sons’ Instagram page. Beneath it, a blunt declaration: “We’ll be closed today so we can get some prep done, and
ORLANDO WEEKLY ● SEPT. 8-14, 2021 ● orlandoweekly.com
try and preserve the sanity of the team members that are still with us.” The post received more than 300 likes and numerous comments. “We’re all going through it,” wrote both Wendy Lopez of Reyes Mezcaleria and Juliana Calloway of Black Rooster Taqueria. “We’re feeling it, too!” said a post from chef-run counter concept Farm & Haus. The post clearly resonated with restaurant owners who, in a pre-pandemic world, would’ve received a flood of applicants for an open cook or server position. Not anymore.
