If you’ve eaten a meal at a quick-service restaurant in the past month, you may have seen “Now Hiring” signs in the window. Why? Because this industry is one of the fastest-growing in the country. With the majority (84%) of Americans wanting to eat more meals outside their homes, there’s a clear need for more fast-casual and quick-service restaurants where consumers can get meals quickly and get back to their busy lives.
The rise of fast-casual dining and the increasing popularity of quick and affordable food options have put a significant strain on restaurant owners and managers when it comes to finding and retaining quality employees.
In this blog, we’ll review several challenges that come with hiring in the quick-service restaurant industry and cover how to remedy these challenges to achieve more efficient hiring and fully staff your restaurants.
What is a quick-service restaurant?
Quick-service restaurants have grown in popularity in recent years as demand for fast food options has risen. These types of restaurants take orders and deliver food to consumers in a matter of minutes, and typically hire hourly employees for roles such as food preparer, cashier, line cook, and others.
Read: 5 quick-service restaurants that get employee benefits right
Challenges faced by quick-service restaurants
High turnover rates
One of the biggest challenges in the quick-service restaurant industry is high turnover. According to a report by Restaurant Dive, 54% of restaurant workers quit within 90 days of starting a job in 2022. As a result, recruiting teams and restaurant managers struggle to maintain a consistent and reliable workforce.
Time-consuming hiring processes
Another challenge is a time-consuming and often inefficient hiring process. With large amounts of applications feeding into ATSes built for corporate hiring, recruiting teams struggle to efficiently source, screen, and hire candidates at the pace they need.
Increased competition
Quick-service restaurants face stiff competition when it comes to hiring. Many hourly job seekers are applying for multiple jobs at the same time and tend to accept the first job offer they receive. This makes it challenging for restaurants to attract and retain quality employees if they’re not quick to extend an offer.
How to overcome these high volume hiring challenges
To address these roadblocks to more efficient hiring, many quick-service restaurant owners and managers are turning to high volume hiring solutions like Fountain Hire. These platforms offer several benefits for the industry, including (but not limited to) the following.
Streamlined hiring process
With an ATS built for high volume hiring, restaurants can streamline the hiring process and quickly identify the best candidates for the job.
As a frontline workforce management system, Fountain Hire automatically screens applications, schedules interviews, and provides real-time feedback to candidates, saving time and resources.
Mobile-first technology also allows applicants to do everything from their phone—from application to onboarding—simplifying the hiring process and getting candidates to work faster.
Increased applicant pool
High volume ATSes also help companies build a sustainable applicant pool by reaching a wider audience of potential candidates. Fountain Hire posts job openings on popular job boards and social media platforms so quick-service and fast-food restaurant owners and managers can attract a larger pool of applicants.
Seamless integrations
Fountain Hire integrates with commonly used hiring systems to further ameliorate the hiring process. These integrations include popular job boards like Indeed and ZipRecruiter, as well as background check providers like Checkr and Sterling.
By integrating with these services, quick-service restaurant owners and managers can efficiently manage the hiring process from start to finish, all within the Fountain Hire platform.
Wrapping up hiring for quick-service restaurants
The challenges of hiring in the quick-service restaurant industry are significant, but a high volume hiring solution like Fountain Hire helps address these challenges. By accelerating and automating manual tasks, increasing your applicant pool, and integrating with your current tech stack, today’s hiring technology can help quick-service restaurants thrive in an increasingly competitive industry.
