Staffing Shortages and Turnover in Restaurants
Running a restaurant today is harder than ever, as staffing shortages and turnover are at crisis levels.
If you don’t fix your hiring and retention strategy, you’ll lose money, staff, and customers fast. This guide shows you exactly how to hire restaurant staff and lower your employee turnover rate step-by-step.
Key Takeaways
These days, many restaurants are struggling to find and retain good employees. New hires often leave just a few weeks or months after starting, which creates headaches for the business.
Restaurants often spend a lot of time and money recruiting and training new staff. And when there aren’t enough skilled workers on the floor, service can suffer — leaving customers frustrated or disappointed.
Creating a strong hiring plan to find and select the right people for the job is important. This can help solve problems and improve the company’s operations, while also saving money on hiring. It’s cheaper to keep current employees than to keep finding new ones. Good hiring and a positive work environment lead to long-term success for restaurants.
What Are Staffing Shortages and Turnover in Restaurants?
Staffing shortages and turnover in restaurants happen when businesses can’t hire enough workers or keep them long-term.
This leads to constant hiring, training, and burnout.
The employee turnover rate measures the number of workers who leave over a given period.
📊 Turnover Rate Formula
| Metric | Formula |
| Employee Turnover Rate | (# Employees Who Left ÷ Avg Total Employees) × 100 |
For example: If 10 employees leave out of 20 → your turnover rate is 50%.
According to the National Restaurant Association, restaurant turnover is one of the highest of any industry.
Data shows hospitality consistently leads in job quitting rates.
That’s why understanding staffing shortages and turnover in restaurants is critical if you want to survive.
Staffing Shortages and Turnover in UK Restaurants
1. Staffing Shortages
- Overall shortage: Roughly 25–35% of UK restaurants report difficulty recruiting staff, with smaller independents and rural venues most affected.
- Positions hardest to fill: Front-of-house: servers, bartenders, hosts (approx. 40% vacancies)
- Back-of-house: chefs, line cooks, kitchen porters (approx. 30% vacancies)
- Causes: Brexit-related labour reductions from EU workers.
- Wage pressures: Many restaurants pay below the national living wage.
- Competing industries: Retail, hospitality outside restaurants, and gig work attract staff away.
Regional differences:
| Region | Shortage Level | Notes |
| London | 25–30% | High competition, better pay but high living costs |
| South East | 20–25% | Strong labour pool, some commuter towns struggle |
| Midlands & North | 30–35% | Rural venues hardest hit, less workforce mobility |
| Scotland & Wales | 25–30% | Tourism boosts seasonal demand, exacerbating shortages |
2. Turnover Rates
UK restaurant turnover: approximately 60–70% annually, lower than US but still high.
By restaurant type:
- Restaurant Type Average Annual Turnover Key Drivers
- Fast Food 70–75% Low wages, high stress, part-time workforce
- Casual Dining 60–65% Burnout, moderate wages, career progression Fine Dining 50–55% Higher wages, more skilled staff, still burnout
Reasons for turnover:
- Low wages compared to London cost of living.
- Long shifts and weekend work.
- Limited progression opportunities, especially outside London and major cities.
3. Operational Impacts
Reduced hours: approximately 15% of restaurants report cutting opening hours due to staffing shortages.
Menu simplification: Common in casual dining and fine dining to cope with fewer chefs.
Tech adoption: Self-order kiosks where customers can order food by themselves in fast food restaurants.
- Online reservation and ordering systems in casual/fine dining
- Some chains are experimenting with robotic kitchen assistants
Before You Open the Doors: A Realistic Guide to Starting a Successful Restaurant
Why Is the Employee Turnover Rate So High in Restaurants?
The truth is simple: most restaurants struggle because they ignore the real causes of staffing shortages and turnover.
Let’s break it down.
Low Wages and Lack of Benefits
In the restaurant industry, wages are often lower than those in retail or warehouse jobs.
These days, employees are looking for more than just a paycheck — they want:
- Good hourly pay
- Health insurance that actually covers what they need
- Paid time off, like vacation or sick days
If restaurants don’t offer these benefits, they risk losing good employees, who may start looking for jobs that meet their needs.
Research shows that low pay is one of the top reasons people quit their jobs.
Burnout and Long Hours
Restaurant work is exhausting.
Employees deal with:
- Long shifts
- Late nights
- Physical stress
This leads to burnout, which increases your employee turnover rat
Poor Management and Toxic Culture
Bad managers are one of the biggest drivers of staffing shortages and turnover in restaurants.
Examples include:
- Lack of communication
- No recognition
- Favoritism
People don’t quit jobs — they quit managers.
Limited Career Growth
Keeping employees at a job depends largely on how they see opportunities to grow in their careers. In the restaurant industry, places that don’t offer opportunities for advancement or robust training programs often lose workers more quickly. This shows how important it is to have good ways to help employees grow and develop in their roles, so that the team stays strong and stable.
The Real Cost of Restaurant Staffing Shortages
Ignoring staffing shortages and turnover in restaurants is expensive — very expensive.
Financial Losses – Financial Impact of Employee Turnover Can be Huge
Restaurants also rely on recruitment agencies, which adds even more to the bill.
- Managers and HR staff invest considerable time in reviewing applications, shortlisting candidates, and conducting interviews, diverting them from their regular duties. Combining these costs—advertising, agency fees, and staff time—makes hiring a new employee a substantial expense. As a result, it’s a strategic decision that requires careful planning.
- Costs of Training and Onboarding: When a company hires a new employee, the costs don’t stop after they are chosen. Companies need to invest in training the new person, which means creating specialised training programs for them. Also, current team members might have to take time away from their usual work to help the new employee learn their job. This can change how much work gets finished while everyone gets used to the new team member.
- Loss of Productivity: When a new employee begins working, the team’s productivity can go down. Current team members might be distracted as they get used to having someone new. Additionally, the new employee will need time to learn their job properly. This period can lead to less work being done, affecting the entire organisation’s performance.
In short, the hidden costs of employee turnover are very important for companies to consider when striving to maintain operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Cost Breakdown Table
| Cost Type | Estimated Impact |
| Hiring Costs | £1,000–£3,000 per employee |
| Training | 2–4 weeks Time |
| Productivity | Up to 30% Loss |
Customer Experience Decline
Fewer staff = slower service.
When a business has fewer staff members, service can become slower. This can cause some problems, which leads to:
– More bad reviews from customers
– Losing customers
– Making less money
It is very important to have enough staff to keep customers happy and help the business succeed in the future.
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Effect of Staffing Shortages on Employee Morale
When there are not enough workers in a restaurant, the ones who are there have to do more jobs and work harder. This extra pressure can make them feel very tired and unhappy. Because of this, some workers might choose to leave their jobs. When that happens, it creates even bigger problems for the restaurant because there are fewer people to do the work.
This can lower team spirit and make it harder for everyone to get their jobs done well. As a result, workers face more challenges, which can harm the organisation’s overall performance.
Outlook for the Future
There will probably be shortages of workers, especially in small towns and in independent restaurants. To keep employees, some good ideas are becoming popular:
– Offering better pay and tips
– Allowing flexible work schedules
– Giving workers training to help them learn new skills.
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Conclusion
Restaurants in the UK are facing significant staffing shortages, and many workers are expected to leave their jobs. This is especially true for small, independent restaurants and those in countryside areas. Fast-food places are losing workers the most, while fancy dining restaurants are having a bit more success keeping their staff, but still have some difficulty finding skilled workers. Some areas, like the Midlands, the North, and rural places, are struggling the most to hire people.
Because of these staffing problems, many restaurants have to shorten their hours, simplify their menus, and use more technology to help with service. To address these issues, the restaurant industry needs to offer better pay, provide flexible work hours, and invest in worker training. If these problems are not fixed, it could lead to ongoing issues with staffing, which could hurt growth, profits, and the quality of service in UK restaurants.
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