Study: Average employee age risesStudy: Average employee age rises

By Steve Coomes


The youthfulness of the restaurant industry’s workforce appears to be fleeting.


The once-common image of fresh-faced teens filling the industry’s labor pipeline has morphed into a profile of adults who come to the trade in their late 20s and early 30s and stay on the job well into their 40s and beyond.


According to the People
Report Workforce Index, the average age of managers across all restaurant segments is nearly 37 — almost eight years older than a decade ago — while the average age for hourly workers is 29. 


Restaurant operators point to a variety of reasons for the advancing employee ages. Some say job scarcity during the recent recession increased employee tenure, while others say the economic crisis turned restaurants into employment havens for out-of-work professionals and college grads unable to find jobs that matched their degrees.


At the same time, others suggest that the industry is enjoying newfound stature as a respectable place of employ given growing interest in the culinary world and heightened attention by employers to compensation practices. Both trends are allowing employers to seek out more experienced applicants.


“No doubt [the workforce is] older, and no doubt it’s based
on our economic problems,” said Dean Ogan, owner of Rocky Top Hospitality, a six-unit upscale-casual restaurant company in Raleigh, N.C. Positioned a short drive from three major universities, Ogan’s restaurants attract as employees college graduates who come “sometimes just to pay off student loan debt or because they haven’t found a job,” he said. “Others are people who’ve been laid off and their unemployment benefits have run out.”


Shareef Malnik, owner of The Forge, a fine-dining restaurant in Miami, said some of the best talent he’s ever worked with has come aboard during the recession and that those employees are staying “because in this economy they’re happy to be able to learn a skill that they can earn a pretty good living with.”


He also senses new blood is coming to the industry to land long-term positions rather than to fill slots temporarily.


“They’re seeing the industry as a place where they can have a career, not just a means to an end,” he said. “I also think the business is sexier than it was several years ago.”


Mic Heynekamp, owner of
Eddyline Restaurant and Brewery in Buena Vista, Colo., suspects he’s skewing his staff age average higher by not hiring anyone younger than 18.


“We won’t do it anymore because they’re usually not mature enough,” said Heynekamp, who once endured the wrath of a 20-year-old employee’s mother for writing up her son. “I’ve found that around age 30 there’s a distinct difference in their work ethic and attitude.”


Eric Nelson, an 11-unit Subway operator in Fayetteville, N.C., credited the rising age of his team to people holding onto their jobs.


“They know the labor pool is large but the job pool is small,” said Nelson. “A lot of our older folks, well, this is what they do and will always do. But younger ones we’re seeing come in are closer to 30, and they’re willing to work this type of job. It wasn’t always that way.”



Postponing adulthood


Joni Thomas Doolin, founder and chief executive of Dallas-based People Report, agreed, noting that many milestones tend to be occurring later in life.


“Many markers that used to be associated with adulthood are constantly being pushed back,” she said. “People graduate college later, leave their parents’ home later and start families later than they once did.”


A drop in teen job applicants is tipping the balance toward older workers as well. Doolin said many teens delay getting restaurant jobs because they’re focused on getting good grades to boost their chances for college admission.


“They’re also volunteering and engaging in more life-
enriching experiences, which keeps them out of work,” she said. “You used to see a lot of teens in the market during the summer, but you don’t see that big seasonal-
hire swing anymore.”


Doolin said one of the most significant changes in recent years is the steep drop in employee turnover, something else she believes has nudged the age average northward.


“Last year marked the first time that hourly turnover dropped below 100 percent in every segment of the industry,” Doolin said. “It even happened in quick service, which was above 140 percent [in 2007] but down to about 90 percent now.”


Quick-service management turnover is a different story, however, rising 13 percent in 2010. And while the fast-casual segment saw no increase, casual dining and fine dining saw modest upticks of 2 percent and 4 percent, respectively. Doolin said increased management departures could indicate supervisor burnout.


“Everyone’s overworked, and no one’s gotten a raise in a long time, but that’s pretty common everywhere,” she said.


Embracing maturity


Several operators viewed the rise in worker ages as positive because they regard older workers as levelheaded, reliable and less flappable in high-stress situations than younger ones. 


Greg Dollarhyde, chief executive of the seven-unit Veggie Grill chain in Los Angeles, called older employees more realistic about job opportunities and career advancement in restaurants because they understand how limited broad market job options are.


“In a lot of cases they can get a job managing a restaurant making $40,000 to $50,000, which is better than what a lot of them would start at coming out of college,” said Dollarhyde, former chief executive of Zoës Kitchen, where he remains chairman of the board. “You used to see managers starting in their late 20s, but now that group is older because people are staying.”


And for good reason, said Anand Gala, president and chief executive of Gala Corp., a franchisee of 25 Applebee’s and Famous Dave’s restaurants in California.


“In the past few years the industry has put a significantly larger emphasis on training and improving workplace culture and the work-life balance for managers,” he said. “Restaurants now offer very competitive wages and benefits that, if you rewound it 10 years ago, you’d probably not find.”


Ogan said those improvements have cast the industry in a better light and attracted better talent. Some of his best employees have come from past careers outside the restaurant industry.


“When you come in here and fall in love with this business, it’s all over — you’re a lifer,” he said. “A guy who’s worked for me for eight years recently went back to school as an engineering major, but I’d not be surprised to see him come back because he loves this.”


Justin Mass, 30, got hooked on the business 11 years ago. Working as a server while in college, Mass shelved his education after being promoted to general manager and later corporate manager of four restaurants. Now he’s a shift leader and server at The Forge. He said he’s newly excited about the challenge of serving in fine dining and hopes to open his own restaurant someday.


“Ten years ago restaurant work wasn’t looked upon with much esteem, but that’s changed lately,” said Mass, adding that the respect now afforded chefs is slowly migrating to the front-of- the-house as servers hone their craft or become sommeliers.


“As chefs’ culinary skills have evolved, the knowledge of waiters has needed to grow, and that’s made it much more interesting,” he said.


Gala credits some of the industry’s turnover reduction and age increase to companies doing a better job of promoting opportunities for advancement from within.


“We did a big communications push around helping people understand where they could be in five years and what we could do to help them get there,” he said. “The yield has been better performance from employees and much stronger loyalty. And that means a much stronger top line and
bottom line for our business.”