After years of labor shortages, the restaurant industry is now at a point in which staffing levels are improving.
Only 22 percent of operators reported being understaffed in 2025, a drop from 78 percent just a few years earlier, according to the National Restaurant Association’s latest hiring and staffing report. Hiring has also become more manageable as the labor pool loosens. There are now roughly 1.1 unemployed workers for every job opening, a reversal from the pandemic-era imbalance when jobs far outnumbered candidates.
But as labor stabilizes, operators are realizing the real challenge isn’t just hiring. It’s making the right workforce investment.
Sixty-two percent still say recruiting and retaining employees is a significant challenge, and one-third say filling roles has actually become more difficult year-over-year. The difference now is that operators have more applicants to choose from, which has made them more selective. The priority is not on filling roles quickly—as it was during the pandemic—but on building teams that can perform consistently and deliver long-term value.
That’s especially true in full-service restaurants, where execution is tightly tied to the guest experience. Nearly eight in 10 operators say understaffing limits their ability to grow. In fact, about half of operators say understaffing directly leads to slower operations, reduced service quality, and lost sales, and roughly 60 percent report increased employee stress and higher overtime costs.
The financial consequences are hard to ignore. Being down even a single employee can cost hundreds of dollars per shift and quickly snowball into tens or even hundreds of thousands in lost annual revenue.
“Restaurants are a cornerstone of America’s workforce, developing skills that carry into other industries and offering viable careers across more than seventy roles,” Michelle Korsmo, president and CEO of the Association, said in a statement. “This report highlights how investing in people—through strong hiring, manager development, and supportive technology—strengthens the guest experience and reinforces restaurants’ role as a key driver of the U.S. economy.”
In full-service environments, operators often don’t redistribute workload when they’re short-staffed—they reduce capacity. Fewer tables get seated. Fewer guests are served. Revenue opportunities simply disappear. Over time, that forces bigger operational decisions. Nearly half of operators say they can’t operate at full capacity when understaffed, 43 percent delay expansion or modify menus, 34 percent reduce hours, and about one in five close on days they would normally be open.
And yet, hiring more people isn’t a simple fix. One of the more telling insights in the report is how long it takes for a new employee to become productive. Hourly workers take an average of 31.8 days to become “net positive,” while managers take about 72.2 days—and in some cases up to three to six months depending on the role. That lag makes early retention critical, particularly when turnover remains structurally high across the industry, averaging more than 120 percent annually.
It also reinforces the outsized role of leadership. Strong managers are increasingly seen as the backbone of restaurant performance—driving culture, retention, and guest satisfaction—while poor leadership can quickly erode both employee engagement and operational consistency.
Technology is playing a growing role in helping operators navigate these challenges, but not always in the ways the industry conversation suggests. There’s plenty of attention on automation and AI, but adoption remains relatively limited. Just 26 percent of operators report using AI tools at all.
Instead, the most impactful tools are often the ones supporting employees after they’re hired. Nearly half of operators use scheduling software, 40 percent leverage digital onboarding tools, and about 29 percent use training platforms to support workforce development. These systems are helping streamline operations and free up managers to focus on coaching, development, and execution rather than administrative tasks.
Additionally, operators are rethinking how they approach staffing altogether. Traditional metrics like sales are proving less reliable in isolation, especially in an inflationary environment. Many are shifting toward guest counts, transaction data, and productivity models to better align staffing with demand. Cross-training is becoming more important too, giving teams flexibility when gaps emerge. And improved scheduling practices—often posted seven to 14 days in advance—are increasingly seen as both a recruiting and retention tool.
“Understaffing is not a marginal inconvenience—it is a material drag on growth, service quality, and sales,” Dr. Chad Moutray, chief economist at the Association, said in a statement. “Being short just one employee can cost a restaurant thousands of dollars in annual sales. The restaurants best positioned to grow are those that treat workforce decisions as a business imperative.”
