TYLER, TX (NORTHEAST TEXAS NEWS) – Restaurants across the state, including those in East Texas, must be more innovative than ever to keep their doors open. According to the Texas Restaurant Association, more than 75 percent of operators currently don’t have enough staff to meet demand.
Help-wanted signs, pricing notices, and supply alerts are showing up in many city eateries, and this isn’t a new phenomenon for restaurants. Edgar Ordorica, the owner of Tyler’s Taqueria El Lugar, said the staffing issue has been accelerating for years, especially through the pandemic, and they’ve had to adjust in response.
“We’re closing on Saturdays; we used to be open on Saturdays. It’s just a small team, and prices are climbing, plus shortages in most of the supplies we need: plates, spoons, forks, straws, all the basics we rely on to keep things going,” he said.
Kelsey Erickson Streufert of the Texas Restaurant Association said this isn’t merely a pandemic-related problem.
“It’s a problem we had before COVID that has now been taken to a completely different level. So we have to do a better job as an industry at recruiting talent, retaining talent, creating career paths so people know this isn’t just a great industry to work in, but a great industry to grow in and build a real career,” she said.
Restaurants are becoming more innovative in how they operate to stay in business, including everything from menu price adjustments to focusing on their best dishes to keep customers coming back.
“We’re seeing much more fluctuating prices, so the cost is reflected in real time in what they’re charging. That’s really important, especially with meat, because those prices are incredibly volatile right now,” he noted. “Restaurants are paying double what they used to pay for chicken and beef, and that really adds up fast.”
Ordorica has stepped up to fill many roles himself to support his staff.
“We don’t want to scale back or buy cheaper meat. I can’t do that to my customers,” Ordorica said. “If I’m eating my own food, I don’t want to compromise on quality beef. It’s something we’re proud of. Unfortunately, as I said, we’ve had to raise our prices, but it’s something we had to do to survive.”
The Texas Restaurant Association is also lobbying in Washington to urge Congress to restore the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, which could help roughly 12,000 small and local restaurants across Texas alone, according to TRA.
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