Sip cocktails in the bar, family dinner in your favorite restaurant - after the relaxation of the Corona regulations, this is part of everyday life for many people again.

But the restaurants are desperately looking for suitable staff to continue operations and to cope with the sharp rise in energy costs.

In March 2020, the German gastronomy and hotel industry was one of the first to have to stop working.

More than two years later, the industry is still suffering from staff shortages.

Experienced staff, but also young people who usually went into the catering trade for a quick buck, have reoriented themselves.

Payment plays a major role, said James Ardinast from the Frankfurt Gastronomy Initiative (IGF).

Many have found accommodation in supermarkets or in logistics, where the pay is significantly higher than in the catering trade.

The initiative is in constant contact with its around 70 members from the Frankfurt hospitality industry.

Rising energy and food costs put companies under additional pressure.

"Many employees who were sent on short-time work during the pandemic have also found that they no longer want to work at certain times, for example on weekends or public holidays," says Ardinast.

"There's also a certain level of convenience."

Job fair for Ukrainian refugees

After the Russian attack on their homeland, many Ukrainian refugees are now looking for work in Germany.

At the beginning of August, the Gastro-Verband IGF organized a job fair for Ukrainian refugees in cooperation with the Frankfurt Job Center and Dehoga Frankfurt.

According to the job center, many of the approximately 200 Ukrainian guests had professional experience in the hotel and catering industry, and some applications were successful.

"On the one hand, we want to help people and give them a job and thus a perspective in the simplest and unbureaucratic way possible," said IGF CEO Madjid Djamegari.

On the other hand, it is a sensible measure for companies to counteract the lack of staff in the industry.

Further job fairs are already being planned.

Despite well-frequented restaurants, the situation of the gastronomy is often critical.

“We had to adjust our opening hours.

Either someone from the team is ill or there are simply no new staff.

We just don't have the strength," says the employee of a restaurant in Frankfurt's north end.

She also knows local bars in the neighborhood that have involuntarily introduced a day off.

According to the German Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga), there is a shortage of at least 6,000 workers in the Hessian hospitality industry.

"Many companies, especially in the catering trade, have long since adapted their service times to their employee situation," emphasizes CEO Julius Wagner.

This means that the industry is like most companies in the medium-sized economy.

After the summer, the turnover of the Hessian hospitality industry was 20 percent below that of 2019. “Loans have to be repaid, some Corona aid is still outstanding, and the employees in particular have to be paid well.

There are limits to increasing the prices in the restaurant,” says Wagner.

Staff shortages will not be resolved quickly

"It is rather unlikely that the staff who have migrated will find their way back into the catering trade," says Djamegari from the IGF.

The lack of staff is an elementary issue that cannot be remedied so quickly.

"If the calculation does not allow otherwise, we advise our members to adjust the opening hours.

It doesn't make any sense if a restaurant sticks to its operating hours, but it's not profitable at the end of the day."

On the one hand, the companies would have to consider whether they can continue to offer their guests the full range of services they have been offering up to now, according to the initiative.

"On the other hand, people want distraction and a break from everyday life, especially in times like these." You have to think about your host qualities, then you will also master this crisis.