'This is a big problem': Vancouver restaurants experience staffing shortages after reopening
With dining rooms open again, customers have returned to Metro Vancouver restaurants – but many laid off kitchen and wait staff have not come back.
“It’s extremely very hard for us now to find enough staff to re-launch all our restaurants,” said Emad Yacoub, the owner of the Glowbal Restaurant Group, which has 10 eateries in Vancouver, West Vancouver and Burnaby.
After a roller coaster year of restrictions and layoffs, Yacoub says some restaurant workers have left the industry for good. Others are choosing to remain on employment insurance for now.
“There has to be a message from the federal government of how we are going to take people off EI,” said Yacoub, who has increased hourly pay by 15 to 20 per cent for back-of-house kitchen staff at all his restaurants to try to attract more applicants.
“Still, there is nobody coming through the door,” said Yacoub, who has 100 empty positions at his restaurants right now.
Sylvia Potvin, the owner of the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts in Vancouver, has sympathy for restaurant workers who have been through the ringer.
“It’s been difficult to be coming back and let go, and I can totally understand that. And based upon people I’ve been talking to in the industry, different chefs, there is a real concern. They need staff,” she said.
Before COVID-19, her cooking school was 40 per cent international students. She says the sooner they can return to learning and working here, the sooner they can help with the labour crunch in restaurants.
“We totally need these students, they are well-trained, they’re fluent in English, they can’t study here unless they have fluent English skills. And they’re career-ready and want to get that experience in our country, in Vancouver,” Potvin said.
Yacoub says restaurants also benefit from having international culinary students.
“They’re allowed to work for 20 hours per week. So they come in, they study, then they get 20 hours per week in a restaurant, most of them work in the restaurant business,” he said. Yacoub and Potvin would like to see the federal government fast track international student approvals.
If restaurants can’t find enough workers, Yacoub is worried they won’t be able to operate like they did before the two-month indoor dining shut down. Customers may notice changes too.
“I’m getting phone calls from all my friends that own restaurants, they’re saying, 'I’m going close on Sundays because I don’t have enough staff to operate seven days a week.'” Yacoud said. “This is a big problem.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Which Canadian cities have the highest and lowest grocery prices?
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
U.S. says Israel's use of U.S. arms likely violated international law, but evidence is incomplete
The Biden administration said Friday that Israel's use of U.S.-provided weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law but wartime conditions prevented U.S. officials from determining that for certain in specific airstrikes.
Swarm of 20,000 bees gather around woman’s car west of Toronto
A swarm of roughly 20,000 bees gathered around a woman’s car in the parking lot of Burlington Centre.
'State or state-sponsored actor' believed to be behind B.C. government hacks
The head of British Columbia’s civil service has revealed that a “state or state-sponsored actor” is behind multiple cyber-security incidents against provincial government networks.
Mother assaulted by stranger while breastfeeding baby in her car: Vancouver police
A person was arrested in East Vancouver Thursday after allegedly entering a car while a mother was breastfeeding her four-month-old boy.
More than half the Canadians once detained in Syrian camps for suspected ISIS family members have returned home
A total of 29 Canadians have been freed from detention camps in northeast Syria and brought back to Canada since human rights advocates began lobbying for their release years ago.
Rare severe solar storm Friday could bring spectacular aurora light show across Canada
A rare and severe solar storm is expected to bring spectacular displays of the northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, across much of Canada and parts of the United States on Friday night.
Canada abstains from Palestinian UN membership vote but supports two-state solution
Canada was one of 25 countries that abstained from a United Nations vote on Palestinian membership that passed with overwhelming support on Friday.
Amish youth experience a rite of passage called Rumspringa. It’s not what you might think
The idea of “Rumspringa” has a specific spot in the American imagination. A rite of passage for young people in some Amish communities, Rumspringa is seen by most outsiders as a wild time away from strict Amish rules, when teenagers can experiment with the modern vices of the world.