Bars and restaurants: “Staff almost impossible to find in Bolzano clubs”. The Confesercenti board meeting

The staff is becoming something… personal. Bars and restaurants struggle to find waiters and kitchen operators and are not willing to be considered executioners. A certain popular opinion holds that public businesses are often refractory to totally regular agreements but this is not the case. On the contrary, fortunately, there are many owners who wish to hire qualified personnel, recognizing everything that needs to be recognised. Obviously. The problem is that it’s not easy to find. A meeting of part of the category management was held at the Confesercenti headquarters in via Roma in Bolzano to reflect on this situation, bringing to light old and new needs. At the table Andrea Vinante (owner of Charro’s restaurant), Ivan Waldner (Casa al Torchio), Elio Simoni (Tortuga Beer and Pizza) e Luca Bonato (The Romagnolo).

Let’s start from the beginning. That is, recruiting. «I often consult the provincial website but it must be said that many candidates do not want a job immediately and ask to wait some time, even two or three weeks. Which is also quite paradoxical if we consider that they would be on those lists precisely to look for work. It happens often and, in the long run, it leads you to let go» Vinante explains with a hint of bitterness. Given the difficulties in matching supply and demand, what happens when a candidate actually comes to propose? «A distinction must be made – Waldner began – because young people who want to make a career in the kitchen or in the dining room tend to prefer solutions that take them to travel, such as ships, or situations where they can learn from a wide range of situations as happens in hotels. For city restaurants, there are figures available who may have already followed this path and are looking for more peace of mind or profiles to professionalize. Young people? Not all but many do not want to work on Saturday evenings and only accept on-call situations. This, clearly, makes everything more complicated in an activity that has rhythms and schedules this week.»

«We have practically no one under 40 – echoes Bonato – but not because we lack the will. There is a lack of availability.” Be careful, though, not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. «The need to work makes a lot of difference. There are guys who also apply for two jobs» comments Simoni. Tortuga and Charro’s, for example, share an apprentice and the collaboration is progressing very well. «The synergies between us can be an attractive tool because they allow young people to train and learn in different catering contexts. At the same time they offer more complete job positions to candidates even when, individually, you do not need the canonical 40 hours.»

But what are the conditions of an entry-level waiter? «Around 1,300 euros of net salary with the possibility of achieving bonuses based on a 40-hour hourly plan distributed over six days a week and one day off. Furthermore, many businesses prefer to spread the thirteenth and fourteenth salary on the paycheck, liquidating the TFR regularly in a pension fund so as not to have to pay it in full at the end of the employment relationship.. In this way the monthly net clearly goes up, often making it even more attractive» explains Waldner. As mentioned, however, these are often people who need to be fully trained. «Unfortunately there is a mistaken belief that a room operator is a simple job but this is not the case at all. You have to learn the times at the table, how to approach the customer without wasting time, organize yourself to avoid empty turns, know how to manage the order of the questions and have small tricks such as always having a tray with you. Everything, however, must practically always be taught under stress and this is not easy» Vinante points out.

Some glimmers come from the availability of university students but it is not enough. «We also have something but they practically always need to come on call so they cannot be placed on particular shifts» analyzes Waldner. «The calculation is simple – Bonato closes – to always have three people active you must hire at least four collaborators because holidays, leaves, illnesses and rest require this reasoning. It’s not always easy to find them and it’s incorrect to say that everyone wants to be smart. If anything, we should start thinking about overtime which in Italy is over-taxed and this makes very little sense. Ultimately, employees prefer to avoid them.» There are those who, in recent days, have written that 97% of restaurateurs do not bring their collaborators into compliance. «A false statement– Waldner closes bitterly – and which, moreover, damages all of us by discouraging those who, perhaps, are thinking about whether or not to make themselves available. It is not so.»

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