Over the last two weeks restaurants in Texas open at 100-percent capacity but things are still far from pre-pandemic.
Restaurant owners are finding many of the staff they were forced to lay off have moved on. Now they are having trouble finding experienced replacements.
"I would say it's our number one problem right now," said Emily Williams-Knight, president of the Texas Restaurant Association. "People would argue it's a good problem to have because consumer demand is off the charts. But it's very difficult."
Over the last year the TRA estimates 110,000 restaurants across the state have closed and that 700,000 were out of work. Williams-Knight says many have been reluctant to return because of safety concerns. But with the increase in vaccine availability, she says some of those concerns have been assuaged.
"We have restaurants looking to new places to find talent. So much has changed the job is very different now. It's just going to take time."
She says many of the restaurants are going from "a dead stop" to 100 workers, many of whom are not trained. And with capacity off the charts, the entire industry is asking for grace, Williams-Knight said.
