How Foodservice Operators Are Tackling the Staffing Crisis And What's Actually Working

Author: FoodPEEPS

Building and retaining a strong kitchen team has become one of the sector's defining challenges.

The staffing and skills shortage in the Australian foodservice sector shows little sign of letting up. Covid may have been the accelerant, but the underlying pressures: shift work, long hours, a historically underpaid workforce, and competition from sectors offering more predictable conditions, were already there.

We spoke to operators and advocates working across the sector to understand what strategies are gaining traction, and where the pressure points remain.

Becoming an Employer of Choice

For catering businesses managing large volumes of staff across multiple venues, the shift has been toward what one operator described as becoming "more of an employer of choice." That's meant pay increases well above what the sector was used to offering pre-Covid, but also more substantive changes: tripling full-time staff ratios, clearer career pathways, and genuine investment in training.

Markus Werner, National Executive Chef at Delaware North, describes the post-lockdown reckoning: "Once we started up again, everyone knew it was going to be an absolute disaster. We had to ask: what do we have to do to get and retain staff, and make it attractive for people to come back?" His answer included launching an in-house apprentice program and a deliberate pivot to full-time employment. The results have surprised him: "We have chefs here who worked at Noma, because here they have a work-life balance."

Two Problems, Not One

One of the clearer insights to emerge from the sector is that staffing shortages and skills shortages are distinct problems requiring distinct responses. Recruitment is one challenge and for many businesses, immigration pathways and overseas sponsorship have become a practical necessity. Skills, however, require longer-term investment in training and mentorship that the industry has historically undervalued.

Investment in mentorship and on-the-job training is emerging as a key retention strategy.

The Outlook

Wages are rising, which is both a response to the crisis and a driver of menu price pressure. Automation: in the form of labour-saving kitchen equipment and value-added pre-prepared products, is filling some gaps. And operators who have invested in culture and career development are finding the labour market slightly more forgiving than those who haven't.

The staffing challenge isn't solved. But the businesses managing it best share a common thread: they stopped waiting for conditions to normalise and started treating staff retention as a core strategic priority.