More than 5,000 restaurant owners from across Texas are meeting at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas to talk about plans for growth after the pandemic. Governor Greg Abbott spoke at the event Monday afternoon.
"A lot of you are small businesses, and I want to emphasize small businesses are the economic juggernaut of our state," he said. "About 90 percent of our businesses are categorized as small businesses."
Abbott cited stats from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas showing Texas added more residents last month than any other state.
"That means more customers are coming here and will be going to restaurants, going to bars consuming the goods and services you all provide," he said.
The Texas Restaurant Association says restaurants are a $74 billion industry in the state employing 1.3 million people. Among seminars Monday were a panel on "The Workforce Crunch." The Texas Restaurant Association says more than a quarter of restaurant and foodservice employees are immigrants and immigration reform "is an especially important topic as we address the unprecedented workforce shortage challenging our industry."
Another panel on "The Workforce Crunch" focused on how restaurants can recruit, train and keep employees. The panel said one in five Americans have said they plan to change jobs in the next year.
"Our industry is facing a once-in-a-lifetime labor crisis rife with challenges, from sourcing and hiring employees to retaining them amidst a rash of job-ghosting," TRA wrote in a description of the panel.
Another panel covered "The Future of Fast Casual," saying fast food is growing five times faster than fine-dining. That group talked about how the trend may evolve and the potential role of ghost kitchens to help brands expand.
"Dishing on Delivery" covered growth in revenue and changes to pick-up and delivery options restaurants are offering.
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