Article contributed by Mike Berman, COO, Day & Nite/All Service
The Rolling Stones and Mick Jagger’s first #1 hit ‘(I Can’t Get) No Satisfaction‘ was released in 1965, it only seems fitting ‘Eazy Sleazy‘ will serve as an anthem pivoting from the devastation of these past 14 months to full renewal, where foodservice can get more than satisfaction. With more hospitality professionals echoing Jagger’s “soon it’ll be a memory you’re trying to remember to forget”, the industry is confronted by a new set of harsh realities that must be confronted with dynamic, creative, and purposeful action.
Acute staffing shortages will certainly hinder any recovery, the inability to meet rising demand has the potential for causing lasting damage to an establishment’s reputation. In just a matter of weeks, Day & Nite/All Service/Popular Plumbing associates have heard hospitality leaders go from sheer optimism to panic, in many instances restaurants are having to reduce hours, some even closing before dinner because they do not have enough staff. Restaurant Revitalization Fund provides welcome relief, but even the $29 billion in available government grants offer only temporary financial assistance. Hospitality is faced with a major war for talent; over decades across every industry studies show that simply paying higher salaries may win a talent battle or two along the way, but it’s unsustainable and inevitably results in losing this critical war. No industry is more dependent on having the right talent than hospitality.
Every manager in every hospitality segment has been feverishly writing and rewriting budgets in this incredibly fluid environment. Labor always figures prominently in all foodservice budgets, but typically as an economic calculation. To both win the war for talent in an era of scarcity and to fully delight customers, hospitality professionals must now reorient budgeting to a full-throated reflection of your core and most expressive values.
While old rules like a commitment to professional development and giving people challenging roles where staff can feel fulfilled always apply, at this major inflection point talented individuals will seek employment with employers deeply invested in and committed to workplace hygiene and food safety. Accordingly, wise investment in Day & Nite Performance Solutions’ unrivaled suite of highly engineered technologies – services – products will simultaneously attract workers looking for an employer committed to superior indoor environmental quality while having a permanently positive impact on your business. Whether it is government or self-funds, getting the highest and longest-lasting return on all expenditures is—as always—your most sensible strategy. Given the many complexities, your sensible strategies must be inclusive.
During a recent 60 Minutes interview, Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell stressed the “unusual nature” of this recovery and the still volatile, indeed unpredictable economic conditions and outlook. To most successfully deal with it all, more than ever, incorporating your vendors so that they more broadly relieve foodservice professionals of the severe pressures that may stifle a robust recovery is imperative. Most notably, challenging vendors to deliver advanced technologies that will relieve you of the many labor-intensive, necessary but lower value activities common to hospitality will have a profoundly positive operational, financial, and developmental impact on your business.
Deploying the industry’s most sophisticated use of relevant technology, much of it developed with clients at the company’s in-house laboratory, the Day & Nite family of companies is uniquely positioned to solve your immediate problems, while the combination of workplace and technological innovations is also sure to generate your most favorable return on investment. Ready to bring you more than satisfaction, to eliminate the many stresses every hospitality professional is dealing with, email jbf@wearetheone.com
