Curious about the industry. Are you short staffed? Have staff but no one wants to work/is available? Are you closing certain days/times? Limiting your menu or dining room?
I’ve shortened my Sunday hours to 2-8 because I can’t get staff… I’ve closed some days in the past year due to staffing issues.
A place in town in now closed
SATURDAY and SUNDAY.
Another place close to me is closed
SUNDAY and MONDAY.
I haven’t had to close any additional days beside my usual Sunday, but I did just lose my pizza cook, and I lost a cashier.
I had someone come in asking about the pizza position, he said all the right things…they always do. I asked how much he was looking for he said $25/hr.
So he has no problem setting high expectations on how much money he gets paid. But then makes sure he sets low expectations in vague ways on his work
With everyone closing, where did your pizza maker go? Where are you located?
Here is the tip of the iceberg story for our pizza maker.
A different employee called out saying he had a fever…I knew what this would entail… all the other employees would claim that they too weren’t feeling well over the next week or two.
Anyway sure enough the following Tuesday he no call no shows(does this all the time), does this again Weds and Thurs. We get ahold of him, he says he was in the hospital (pure bullshit) the problem is he is great at his job, way better than my other employees even with his bullshit, the other employees dont realize he can handle his station without help, while they struggle with all the help given to them.
Anyway he showed up Friday, then just dropped off the earth. We have no idea what happened.
It’s probably for the best. Ill have to get used to paying triple the money for half the effort and work put in
I’ve been short staffed for well over a 2yrs now. I get the occasional application on my desk, mainly teens that i cant hire due to restrictions the schools or state has or what not, i use to in the past hire teens, love to train them and get them in the industry. But i gave up on that, as the teens now a days gotta have fri or sat off for hanging out with their friends or go to games, cant work past certain hrs, can only work 20 hrs a week, need to have their phones strapped to there hips. Im a pizza shop, my busy hrs and days are mainly Thur thru Sunday, i have to pack as many hrs into those days and it just never works out so i gave up on the teens.
The younger generation meaning 20-40 all they want is to get paid 15-25 an hr, yet only want to work when its convenient for them. I constantly see on social media " I need a job but can only work till 2 or 3 (what ever it is) or i can’t work weekends or i can’t work nites, i gotta have these days off, i gotta have this or that. I grew very tired very quickly of the demands that were expected of me as an employer. Im a pizza shop shop for godsakes & my busy days & hrs dont coincide with you Im sorry, hit the road and go somewhere else.
And im not about paying into workers comp, higher insurance because of high turn around, i have seen in yrs past my workers comp sky rocket because of it. I have mainly my family working for me (my elderly mom, step daughter, blind step son, husband, daughters boyfriend & 1 main girl who has been with me for more than 3yrs that i treat like my daughter, my son works the mornings doing all the prep for me and leaves prior to me opening and thats it. But it gets very hard sometimes as the occasional person needs a day off then leaves me short handed on very extremely busy days and nites.
I have tried for the last 2 + yrs to at least hire 1 other full time person but not a single applicant, they all want part time and high dollar and high demands, that is not what im about
I have been doing this business for 40+ yrs and this is the worst I have seen it. Im not getting any younger and my body is breaking down, im truly scared for the future of this work force these days and my business as i dont see my fathers legacy of this pizza shop continuing much longer. 
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I opened in 2019 with night-only hours, planning to expand hours to days as we mastered our procedures and grew the business. Three years later and I am still only open at night due to not being able to hire. I figure it’s better to deliver superior service and avoid employee burnout by keeping hours tight. Plus, with so many people working from home, there just isn’t the lunch business that there used to be in, so why stretch the business to (at best) break even during the extra shift.
This thread is depressing
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We have always been open Sunday through Thursday, 11 am - 10 pm, and Friday and Saturday, 11 am - 12 am. (We have been open since 2014) These last two years have been rough with staffing. During COVID, we changed our hours to Sunday - Thursday, 11 am - 8 pm, and Friday and Saturday, 11 am - 10 pm. We stayed those hours up to this past month. We still have a skeleton crew and had to start closing Sundays. It is looking like I will also have to start closing Mondays.
We can’t get staffed, especially with more prominent restaurants paying a higher starting wage and the large number of thirty and under age group not wanting to work and having zero work ethic. We just keep doing what we can to hire and recruit and hope we end up with an All-Star!
I’m a teacher who is looking to retire early. I deliver every night and see the same stuff. I could easily retire and make the same amount just by delivering, especially if these young kids just answer the phone and get the pizzas in and out of the oven. I’d like to know where you people are so that I can plan to escape the classroom. I’m dependable, trustworthy, and work! 
therein lies the problem…everybody wants to deliver and make the tips and nobody wants to make the food and get paid 1/2 as much for doing all the work
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Bingo! Even that post is like “do all the work so I can get paid the big bucks to deliver!” Lol
Lol, just answer the phone and get the food out. If only it was that easy. Drivers are a special breed
I didn’t mean to come across like that at all. I can do all of the inside work, too, just as good or better than the kids can, but nobody has the on-time delivery and the customer satisfaction that I do for the store. I do need a livable wage, but I will be retired so it doesn’t have to be anything crazy. Even right now I’m the only driver Sunday through Thursday at a store that opens at 11 close at 11 or midnight and I can only work 430 to close. They just aren’t any workers.
i don’t mean to pick on you its just that the post did come off as very entitled. To put things in perspective at least for my store finding drivers is easy. We have an app with our POS and can literally take a kid off the street and he can start delivering in less than 10minutes. Starting pay $14/hr required in my state plus $1 per run plus tips. My average driver makes over $30/hr not including their cash tips. Meanwhile I start all kitchen guys at $18 and cant keep anyone since they would rather not require doing any manual labor.
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I actually have the very opposite issue than this. I can hire virtually unlimited inside workers but my drivers, who I pay $12 an hour plus $5 per delivery plus tips and avg pay is $35 an hour, are near impossible to hire.
interesting…are your drivers responsible for any inside work? Mine are not but we normally keep them on the road at all times
Yes, drivers while not on the road are expected to effectively be inside help - answer phones / light prep work etc. My drivers are similar to yours though where they are probably on the road 85% of the night. I started my pizza career as a delivery driver and from time to time still fill in as a driver at the store and I absolutely love it and am always completely gobsmacked that my other drivers aren’t as enamored with it.
I have found over the years that the less they were required to do inside the store, the more we were able to keep drivers until we finally transitioned to have them do basically nothing other than delivery. As soon as the rush dies we cut them first in, first out. It’s no surprise that todays generation does not enjoy manual labor
Yes, I was hastily writing. We don’t make that much here in Indiana, and it’s hard to find anyone. I just mean the inside kids, who can’t drive due to license/insurance, life, not really kids, butt 25-30 year olds,