Lonely in the kitchen: Restaurant worker shortage hits Louisville
It was a busy Thursday evening in early June at Lilly’s: A Kentucky Bistro, the venerable Bardstown Road restaurant owned and presided over by much-honored chef, Kathy Cary, and there was a notable difference in staffing. Cary usually exchanges her chef’s jacket for a more relaxed and fashionable outfit at dinner to lend a hand expediting dishes from the kitchen to tables. That way she can spend a few minutes greeting and chatting with customers. It’s a hallmark of the restaurant’s hospitable style.
But Cary was being aided by a couple of members of the staff who usually have more narrowly-defined roles.
The bartender was delivering cocktails to tables after he finished mixing them. The hostess was helping to clear dishes. Everything was going smoothly, but the restaurant seemed to be down a server or two.
When asked, Cary acknowledged that Lilly’s was experiencing what was unusual in its more than two decades in business — a staff shortage. Was Cary doing anything to recruit some more people?
“We’ve never had to,” she said. “People have always come to us.”
She may have to rethink that.
The shortage at Lilly’s is not an exception among Louisville restaurants. With a remarkable number of new eateries opening in town this summer (There were at least half a dozen in just one week in July), owners and managers are finding it difficult to fill positions with qualified employees.
Not only are there more jobs to fill, but conversations with restaurant owners and managers revealed that many potential hosts, bussers and other staff can find similarly paying jobs with better hours. And many low-income workers, including newly-arrived immigrants, who would be interested in such work, lack transportation to the areas of the city where the highest concentrations of independently owned restaurants are located….Readmore