Restaurants Innovate to Combat Staffing Crisis, But Customers Resist Changes to Dining Experience
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Restaurants are struggling with staff shortages, leading to declining service quality and customer experience when dining out.
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To attract talent and improve, restaurants are innovating with changes like removing tipping, using counter service instead of waiters, and dynamic pricing based on demand.
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However, customers often dislike and resent changes to the traditional dining format they're used to, making restaurants nervous about rocking the boat.
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Some restaurants innovating with new models are seeing benefits like lower turnover, higher profitability, and sustained customer demand.
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Fundamentally, the labor crisis stems from a broken business model that has long exploited restaurant workers; lasting solutions require reimagining employee treatment.