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Source: AP Photo/Lisa Rathke
A promising March jobs report showed that many of the 916,000 hired in the month were in the leisure and hospitality sector, thanks to the pace of Covid-19 vaccinations and many states finally reopening. But those in the restaurant industry are now up against another challenge. How can they compete with government benefits?
For one Chicago area restaurant, it’s proving to be difficult.
Steve Hartenstein says opening a new restaurant as the COVID-19 pandemic drags on is “exciting, scary and brutal.”
He is the Managing Partner of Lucca Osteria and Bar, which is aiming to welcome customers in Oakbrook in May. A huge part of that preparation is hiring. Still, with so many laid off during the worst of the pandemic, applications for the 100 jobs he’s filing are only trickling in.