At a time when millions of Americans are unemployed, business owners in the hospitality industry have plenty of jobs but few people willing to take them.
“When the pandemic hit, a lot of people changed careers. They saw that the hospitality industry was decimated [and] they couldn’t rely on it,” said Emi Guerra, co-founder of Breakwater Hospitality Group.
Breakwater Hospitality Group is a multi-concept food and beverage company based in Miami. Restaurants and bars include Wharf Miami, Wharf Fort Lauderdale, Rivertail and their newest concept, CH’I.
Guerra said business is back up and running. But it’s almost impossible to find new workers for the new eatery.
“We’ve had great retention, business is great, employees are making good money [and] things have been pretty good,” he said.
Guerra hopes a signing bonus of $1,000 will incentivize employees.
“For all of our employees and the 125 jobs that w’ere filling up, if you come, apply and stay employed for 90 days, you get your $1,000 signing bonus,” he added.
Javon Lloyd with CareerSource Broward said Guerra is not alone in struggling to find workers.
“We’ve been hearing from businesses that they are offering different incentives, sign on bonuses [and] retention bonuses to try to recruit those workers to try to fill those vacant positions,” said Javon.
Guerra said they’re trying to make it easy for employees who are interested by hosting a job fair this Thursday from 10am to 4pm. He says you can apply in person at CHI’I, which is located on the third floor of Brickell City Centre.
Guerra said opening date is dependent on how many employees they hire.
“We will open when we have the right team in place so that we can provide the great customer service we hope people will have,” he said.
For more information on positions available, click here.
