Middletown/Aberdeen Restaurants: Very Hard To Find Employees Now

KEYPORT, NJ — From Woodbridge to the Jersey Shore, New Jersey bar and restaurant owners are experiencing something unprecedented: They cannot find people to work.

"I've never seen it this bad in 45 years in business," said Billy Parker, the owner of the Blue Rock, a very popular watering hole overlooking the Raritan Bay in Keyport. "I'm the owner of this place and I'm doing everything myself: Taking out the trash, cooking the meals. I'm probably busier than I've ever been, but I cannot find people to work."

It's a problem being faced by the restaurant and hospitality industry nationwide: A McDonald's location in Florida is paying people $50 just to show up for an interview. Restaurants from New York City to Florida say they are desperate to hire staff.

"We need cooks and servers," said Beth Wilner, a bartender at the Brass Rail Bar & Grill in Matawan. "People don't want to come back."

Some business owners say it's because of the enhanced unemployment benefits handed out under the second coronavirus stimulus act, the $1.9 trillion COVID relief plan signed by President Joe Biden in March of this year. Under the second relief bill, anyone currently collecting unemployment will continue to receive an extra $300, in addition to their regular unemployment.

Those padded unemployment checks will remain in place until Sept. 6.

Wilner said she suspects it's because of the extended unemployment.

"That's what I'm hearing and that's what a lot of people in the industry are saying," she said. "And the summer's coming and we're about to get really busy."

And it's not just restaurants: Employers in the manufacturing industry, production, warehouse and janitorial services all say they cannot find people to work right now.

Parker said some waitresses have outright told him they'd rather collect unemployment.

"I've had waitresses tell me they only want to work one day a week, so they can make a couple hundred in one day and then collect the unemployment," he said. "Why would someone come into work when they can stay home and collect the same amount?"

This leads to another hot topic: Should restaurants increase how much they pay? Tim McLoone, who owns 13 restaurants throughout New Jersey, told Patch last week he will start paying his "back of the house" staff like dishwashers and prep cooks $15 an hour, in part to try and lure people back in to work. He also said he thinks $15 an hour is the right thing to do and a livable wage.

But a bartender like Wilner said she is "doing just fine" making a living off tips. Every restaurant is different, but the state-mandated minimum cash wage for tipped employees is $3.13 an hour. It sounds low, but that's because the bulk of a server or bartender's salary is in tips. Most servers and bartenders make $20-$30 an hour off tips, easily bringing home more than $200 on a decent night.

"Back during the pandemic, when I was furloughed, I was getting under $2,000 a month in unemployment," Wilner explained. "Now I make a lot more than that, in tips. My customers know me; I've been here for years. So I would rather work. But some people would rather just sit home and not work and be paid by the government. I don't know who these people are."

In fact, McLoone even said his new $15-an-hour policy does not apply to servers or bartenders, because they make more than that in tips.

And unlike the stereotype, not all restaurant owners are rolling in extra cash.

"I'm in so much debt," said Parker, who owns the Blue Rock. "I own this building but I have a steep mortgage. I'm not even paying my bills right now. And prices have gone up on everything: Crab is now $31 a pound; I sell it for $35 a pound. How am I supposed to make that much of a profit off that?"

"No one is outright going to say 'I'm getting more money at home,' but that's what it is," said Dyan Farrell, the manager of the MJ's in Middletown. She said their Middletown location is fully staffed — "we're like family here" — but their Neptune and Aberdeen locations desperately need workers.

"During the pandemic, when the governor said no bar seating, we took all our bartenders and made them servers so they could get tips. Not all restaurant could do that. I would understand someone would want to stay home and collect if they are not getting tips."

Related: McLoone's New Jersey Restaurants To Pay Back-Of-The-House Staff $15 An Hour (April 30)

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