Chefs and waiters are urgently needed! Restaurateurs faced a staff shortage

Russian restaurateurs are ready to pay double rates to their employees in connection with the acute shortage of personnel, which they faced in the beginning of the summer season. This problem could undermine the restaurant business’s efforts to catch up over the past year. Moreover, the deficit was influenced not only by the pandemic, but also by the tourist boom on the Black Sea coast, where the citizens of the country are forced to spend their holidays this year.

In Russian cities, where summer restaurant terraces open, experts estimate that three times more employees are required than are available.

Professor of the Department of Social Technologies of the North-West Institute of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Doctor of Economics Alexander Prikhach calculated that the number of job offers in this area increased by 50–70%, but the number of responses decreased by 20%.

This problem is most acute for restaurants of national cuisines, since, as a rule, visitors from neighboring countries work in them, who today are deprived of the opportunity to return to Russia.

At the same time, the public catering sector is considered the most attractive for Russian citizens from the point of view of starting their own business, although this market has suffered greatly during the pandemic. But it is precisely this circumstance that attracts entrepreneurs, since it gave rise to a shortage of restaurants and cafes.