RavenWolf1 t1_iu066e5 wrote on October 27, 2022 at 4:07 PM

Reply to comment by RubiksSugarCube in The Great People Shortage is coming — and it's going to cause global economic chaos | Researchers predict that the world's population will decline in the next 40 years due to declining birth rates — and it will cause a massive shortage of workers. by Shelfrock77

If only they paid living wages then that labor shortage would disappear like magic.

Boobahdoo t1_iu0hjv2 wrote on October 27, 2022 at 5:21 PM

Paid living wages and lowered working hours so they have lives outside of work*

ablacnk t1_iu29p17 wrote on October 28, 2022 at 12:44 AM

The margins are so thin that it often isn't possible to do that. It's not like restaurants choose to shut down because they're really that obstinate about wages, the math just often doesn't work out.

billcube t1_iu3nao2 wrote on October 28, 2022 at 9:18 AM

What I see around here is the rent the restaurants have to pay make it really hard to be profitable.

DungeonsAndDradis t1_iu3vg11 wrote on October 28, 2022 at 11:04 AM

I was talking about this to my friends the other night. Restaurants are in an especially hard place right now. Inflation means people go out to eat less. Supply issues mean everything costs more. Labor shortage and wage hikes means hiring workers is difficult. Inflation also means rents have skyrocketed.

Restaurants are just taking hit after hit after hit. And that's considering that most restaurants fail within a couple of years of opening, anyway.

billcube t1_iu4ksvj wrote on October 28, 2022 at 2:38 PM

Something I can't explain myself is why more restaurants didn't jump on a more digital process?

I have seen a few (chain) restaurants where most of the process is supported by an app/website/tablet where you can book your table, see the menu, order stuff and pay for it.

This makes it much easier for the staff and optimizes a lot of the flow. It doesn't remove the ability to ask a human to help you and it makes reordering much easier. Add some AI to the mix and recommandations/promotions could be very opportunistic.

DungeonsAndDradis t1_iu4msyz wrote on October 28, 2022 at 2:52 PM

I was at a Panera the other day, and they only allowed ordering from the kiosk in store. They had no one to run the registers. It actually went pretty quick.

RavenWolf1 t1_iu48atn wrote on October 28, 2022 at 1:06 PM

Then we have to ask should that business even exists then? I think any business which can't pay living wages shouldn't exists.