In order to hire and keep employees, restaurants are going to have to pay them more, President Joe Biden told Ohio restaurateur John Lanni Wednesday during a CNN Town Hall event.
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Lanni is the owner of Thunderdome Restaurant Group, one of the largest restaurant groups in Cincinnati, according to Cincinnati Business Courier. There are 39 Thunderdome locations throughout the country and Lanni told Biden he employs hundreds of people.
“We’re looking to hire more every day as we try to restart our restaurant business,” said Lanni. However, he said it has been difficult to find employees.
Many restaurant industry workers had to seek unemployment insurance last year due to COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdowns. Federal unemployment benefits up to $300 per week in addition to state unemployment insurance are still available in most states through Sept. 6.
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According to USA Today, Ohio was one of the states that planned to cut federal unemployment benefits early, on June 26.
Some restaurant workers found that, while on unemployment, they had enough money to save for the first time in their careers. According to NPR, the industry has shed 5 percent of its workforce every month this year. The outlet said low pay and high stress were factors in the mass exodus.
“How do you, and the Biden administration, plan to incentivize those who haven’t returned to work yet?” Lanni asked.
For Biden – who told Lanni he once passed up an opportunity to run his deceased first wife’s family restaurant – implementing higher wages is one of the only options. He suggested wages of at least $15 in addition to tips.
“People are looking to make more money and to bargain, and so I think your business and the tourist business is really gonna be in a bind for a little while,” Biden told Lanni, according to the New York Post.
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As for the federal government’s help, Biden said programs developed by the government over the course of the pandemic, such as PPP loans, have helped restaurants stay in business. Thunderdome received a nearly $6 million loan, according to ProPublica.
Biden said he didn’t think unemployment benefits (which boil down to just under $16 per hour for a 40-hour work week, according to the New York Post) actually have that much impact on high unemployment.