‘Crackin’ open their wallets:’ Hospitality sector picking up after restriction removal; running low on staff

July 11 was a big day for many, but particularly momentous for the hospitality sector.

After months and months of lockdowns, semi-lockdowns and restrictions, July 11 gave the sector the freedom to operate as it would wish.

Jim Bence is the President and CEO of Hospitality Saskatchewan, he joined the Brent Loucks Morning Show Thursday to talk about how the hotel sector is doing and the optimism moving forward.

“There’s a lot of folks that are out there, not wearing their masks and they’re feeling good about themselves and they’re crackin’ open their wallets,” he told Loucks.

With such a kick to the pocketbook for the sector, prices have increased at some businesses with supplies and costs continuing to rise, Bence said.

“Oh man, yeah. And it’s not even such recouping the losses, when you think of their fixed cost daily — they’re through the roof,” he said.

“There are things we need to pay for … These are the kinds of things that have to be passed on to the customer.

“(The pandemic) had some really interesting ripple effects.”

When it comes to the restaurant and dining sector, Bence said after the removal of restrictions, there was a sense of a spike in consumer enthusiasm.

He did add that employers are struggling in bringing back staff, or replacing those that have moved on.

“Seven of ten kids get their very first jobs in our industry. Right? … They found employment in other places. I’ve really been surprised at the number of retirees. Those are the folks that were either close to retirement or were retired, and they stayed in the workforce,” he said.

“We need an all hands on deck (approach). Pre-pandemic, our available labour pool in Saskatchewan was really shallow, to begin with. It was always a challenge. This has really exacerbated it.”

Bence had a message for consumers, who may find themselves in longer-than-normal situations.

“People are frustrated … we really just ask for people’s patience. It’s not necessarily flipping a light switch, flipping us back to normal,” he explained.

Bence also spoke of the struggles from the restaurant side of things. He said with margins so thin, the SkipTheDishes cap helped businesses stretch every penny.

Now, with the return of customers, the demand for in-house staff is also there. He said the tough part about this, as well, is the fact that there’s no money to offer prospective employees.

“If those wages go up, you will see a reduction in seats, or businesses choose to close altogether. You just simply can’t make a go of it,” Bence said.