B.C. restaurant industry skeptical of Canadian restaurant offering huge salary

A restaurant on the other side of the country, which opens today, is tweaking how the business operates. Sushi by Scratch Restaurants in Montreal is said to be offering a starting salary of $80,000 a year to its employees.

It may seem like an incredible offer, but some aren’t sure the idea will pan out in the long term.

“I don’t think so,” says President and CEO of the BC Restaurant and Food Services Association Ian Tostenson. “I think it’s a business model right now that would provide too much inflexibility for an industry that needs to be quite nimble.”

Tostenson calls it “an exceptional idea,” but doesn’t think it will be a successful long-term business plan.

“You have a lot of lulls. In the summertime, you’re really busy, and September. In January, you’re not and that’s when you want flexibility as a business owner to reduce your staff. But it’s not just the business owner who’s calling the shots here, it’s also the employees.

“We have a mindset in hospitality right now that these are part-time jobs with flexibility. A lot of the people who work in the industry say, ‘Look, I go to school. So, I only want to work 20 hours here, 10 hours there.’ We see a lot of moms when their kids go to school, they want the flexibility. So, to say, ‘You’re now working for us for $80,000 a year, five days a week,’ you take away that flexibility.”

 

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Tostenson isn’t sure how the owners will be able to pay this salary, pointing to low profits and factors that are out of their control.

“Suddenly, your business has gone soft, or the economy has gone soft, now you’re saying, ‘I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to lay you off.’ It’s tricky.”

Tostenson says recent statistics show more than 60 per cent of restaurants are not making money right now. “We’re faced with rising costs and inflation, rising labour costs with the recent increase in the minimum wage, five-day sick leave and all those different things, are taking its toll. I think paying people $80,000 a year, is pretty tough in this market.”

He says the other issue facing the industry is the ongoing labour shortage.

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“There are about 200,000 people who work in this industry and we’re short 30,000 to 35,000. Every single restaurant is looking for somebody.”

Tostenson says they’re relying on foreign workers to help fill the gap, but points to backlogs at provincial and federal levels of government when it comes to processing applications, adding it used to take five months to get someone approve, but now it takes almost a year.

“What we say to government is, “This is a crisis.’ Business owners can’t sit there and wait for five or six months.”

In addition to the relatively high salary, the restaurant is adding perks like vacation, benefits, meal credits, sick leave, and funding for further education.