Help wanted: Maine's restaurant industry scrambles for workers
Maine’s construction industry isn’t the only sector experiencing a shortage of qualified workers, as restaurants across the state are struggling to find skilled employees as the busy summer tourist season ramps up.
The Bangor Daily News spoke to a handful of local restaurateurs and industry officials who said that a number of factors are contributing to the shortage of qualified employees, including competition from other seasonal jobs that could be more appealing than the high-stress environment of a kitchen.
“It’s idolized on TV, but it’s a hard job. It’s grueling, long hours until you get to sous chef and you make OK money,” Robyn Violette, general manager of the Portland-based Fore Street Restaurant, told the BDN. “People think you create a few things and you are Wolfgang Puck.”
Garrett Fitzgerald, owner of Bar Harbor Lobster Co., told the BDN that another factor contributing to the shortage is the lack of affordable housing for seasonal employees. Although hordes of summer tourists create a larger demand for kitchen help, it often can come at the expense of a place for workers to live.
“There are more jobs and less places to put people. We’ve planned for visitors but not people that have to serve them,” Fitzgerald told the BDN.
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