The number of vacancies in catering across the country doubled in July 2023 year-on-year

The staff surplus observed in the catering market last year was replaced by a deficit by the summer of 2023. The number of vacancies in the industry across Russia has doubled, with a reduction in the number of applicants by 7-12% year-on-year. Market participants explain this by increasing competition from the public sector and the military-industrial complex, as well as a decrease in the flow of labor migration from the post-Soviet countries. Serious shortages of staff have already forced restaurateurs to raise salaries, which will obviously lead to higher food prices.

The number of vacancies in catering across the country in July 2023 doubled year on year, calculated for Kommersant in Coffee Like, on the Avito Rabota and Nimix platforms. The high demand of restaurateurs for employees was also noticed by other job search services and recruitment agencies. According to SuperJob, vacancies in the market increased by 17% year-on-year, according to ProPersonnel – by 45%. At the same time, according to the estimates of these companies, the number of applicants in this field has decreased by 7-12% year-on-year.

There is an acute shortage of staff at Yasno Restaurants (Hot Shop, I Want Puri), the Anderson chain, the Tigrus holding (Osteria Mario, Shvili and Bar BQ Cafe) and Rosinter Restaurants ( IL Patio, “Sushi Planet”, “Shikari”). The Gagawa network is now short of 12% of the staff, Unirest (manages Rostic’s and KFC) – 17-20%, One Price Coffee’s need for employees has increased by 8-10%. Mikhail Goncharov, the founder of the Teremok network, says that this summer there is a shortage of 20% of workers.

In 2022, the trend was the opposite: in January-October, the number of job seekers in this segment, on the contrary, grew by 47% year-on-year, reaching a record 269 thousand people (see Kommersant on December 2). Last year, there has been an active development of domestic tourism, giving impetus to the restaurant business and a request for employees, explains ProPersonnel CEO Tatyana Dolyakova. Unirest HR Director Lyudmila Kislova points to the continued growth in delivery from restaurants. The low birth rate in the 1990s also makes itself felt, which negatively affects the labor market – this is typical for many sectors of the economy, SuperJob adds.

Personnel shortage is exacerbated by a decrease in the flow of labor migrants from the post-Soviet countries, for whom, after the devaluation of the ruble, it became unprofitable to work in the Russian Federation, Anderson notes. Elena Vanyashina, head of the Gagawa personnel department, speaks about a serious shortage of employees in restaurants in the Volga region, where there have traditionally been many applicants from Central Asia. In addition, competition for workers from the public sector and the military-industrial complex has intensified, which is especially noticeable in the center, in the south of the country and in the Urals, Lyudmila Kislova notes. Tigrus Managing Partner Elena Yurichuk adds that some potential personnel have decided to sign a contract for military service in Ukraine, where the salary is much higher.

Other segments of the consumer market also faced an acute shortage of personnel. Thus, the turkey producer Cherkizovo has been raising prices for its products since September, partly due to a lack of workers (for more details, see the article “The Turkey Flies After the Chicken” in the same issue).

The current situation forces restaurateurs to raise wages. According to Avito Rabota and Naimik, in July 2023, the salary offered in the industry in the whole country increased by 18% year-on-year, to 36.4 thousand rubles. per month. A noticeable increase among kitchen workers – by 23%, up to 26.3 thousand rubles. It is they who are now especially lacking, they explain in Anderson. “Tigrus”, according to Mrs. Yurychuk, indexed the payment for kitchen staff by 20-25%. At the same time, the average salary of waiters, according to Coffee Like estimates, increased by 21%, to 37.4 thousand rubles, baristas – by 20%, to 30.5 thousand rubles, cooks – by 19%, to 29 .9 thousand rubles, bartenders – by 18%, up to 32.3 thousand rubles. Andrey Tumanov, HR director at Rosinter Restaurants, says that salary expectations have risen to 50% on average in the market.

Lyudmila Kislova expects that the shortage of personnel will increase. Those companies that cannot raise salaries will be left without employees and close their business, predicts Mikhail Goncharov. Elena Vanyashina is sure that the costs of the growth of the wage fund will have to be compensated for by raising prices on the menu.

Daria Andrianova