The demand at most Calgary restaurants and bars has returned, many of the workers have not
As Alberta and the rest of Canada continues to reopen, businesses are trying to quickly make up for lost time and lost revenue. But many in Calgary's bar and restaurant sector say there's a major problem: staffing.
"Finding team members is the biggest challenge, by far," said Brett Ireland, the CEO of the Bearhill Brewing group, which has establishments in Calgary, Banff, Jasper and Edmonton.
"And I'm hearing this across the entire industry -- and even outside of the hospitality industry," he said.
Ireland said they're having the most trouble filling kitchen positions, but there are shortages of servers and hosts, too. The Bearhill group usually has about 450 employees spread out at its locations, but Ireland said they're hovering around 300 people right now and can't find people to fill the positions people left behind.
"The main two contributing factors are people are still adjusting to coming out of everything we've been through in the past year," he said, "the biggest one is, for our industry, there's this mass exodus and a lack of interest in working in hospitality because it's gone through these crazy shutdowns."
Brett Ireland, Bearhill Brewing
Some of the group's locations, especially in resort areas like Banff and Jasper, are limiting operating hours -- at time to just four hours per day -- because of the difficulties in finding people to work.
HOTELS ALSO HIT HARD
It's not just restaurants and bars looking for workers, it's the hotel sector as well.
"There's definitely a staff shortage in the city," said Sol Zia with the Calgary Hotel Association.
"Last I checked, there's about 400 open positions in the city of Calgary across our hotels."
He said the positions they're looking to fill are mostly in housekeeping, maintenance and food and beverage.
"It's all hands on deck, so everyone at the hotel is cleaning rooms," Zia said.
"Some hotels have had to curb their reservations due to lack of housekeeping staff. So, quite honestly, turn away reservations."
A lot of the positions needed are low-wage positions and Zia said he believes some workers are choosing to collect the federal recovery benefit instead of working.
"Some hotels are paying people more. They've had to increase their wages and wage structure," Zia said.
In the restaurant industry, Ireland said this will likely lead to a discussion about how to better compensate workers as so many leave the sector.
"Longer term, really thinking about, as an employer, what are we doing to attract people and retaining them and what can we do better at?" Ireland said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.
Trump says Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and their religion
Former U.S. president Donald Trump on Monday charged that Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and hate 'their religion,' igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish leaders.
Toronto family doctor who called patient's body 'perfect' suspended for 3 months: tribunal
A family doctor in Toronto has been suspended for three months after a disciplinary tribunal found that he failed to follow proper protocols while examining a patient's breasts and made inappropriate comments about her body.
Freddie Mercury's home is on the market for first time since 1980 minus his 'exquisite clutter'
Freddie Mercury's sanctuary in London, where he lived the last decade of his life, is on sale for the first time in nearly half a century -- minus his "exquisite clutter."
'The lost season': Winter comes to a close as Canada's warmest on record
The warmest winter on record could have far-reaching effects on everything from wildfire season to erosion, climatologists say, while offering a preview of what the season could resemble in the not-so-distant future unless steps are taken to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Retired teacher pleads guilty to paying for sex with 15-year-old in Collingwood, Ont.
In a Barrie courtroom on Monday, a retired high school teacher from the Niagara Region pleaded guilty to sexual touching and obtaining sexual services from a 15-year-old boy in Collingwood in 2021.