The situation is more than tense for Montluçonnais restaurateurs. After two years strongly marred by the health crisis, restaurants are seeing the summer season approaching with apprehension. The main reason: an ever greater labor shortage.
The solutions are costly, even inaccessible, to such an extent that some are beginning to give up, dreaming of “another life”. Restaurant owners already wear many hats (accountant, boss, human resources director, etc.) and cannot do without waiters and cooks, who seem to have deserted the ranks.
We no longer lift the nets here, it’s a know-how that is being lost
William Levron (manager of La Nouvelle Auberge)
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At the Winston, Philippe Autran despairs. Open for a month, the owner and his wife, Malou, see the employees pass without managing to form a motivated team. “We don’t find employees ready to work immediately. They are not robust enough or are not trained,” he explains.
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A shared observation at La Nouvelle Auberge. “The waiters no longer know gastronomy. They are plate carriers, ”says William Levron, the manager, sadly.
Inextricable??
The restaurateur, located on Place Piquand, had to reduce the size of his terrace, after a year of unsuccessful searches for a kitchen assistant and the loss of his cook, who had been impossible to replace for three months: “We don’t have time to train in this season, and the pros, we don’t find any. »
In addition, raw materials are increasing, so we have to lower our margins to stay afloat.
William Levron (manager of La Nouvelle Auberge)
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Valéry Verbeke runs La Cantine, in the medieval center. Exhausted, he no longer knows how to resolve the situation: “We no longer open in the evening. We don’t sleep anymore and then, it never resumed like before the Covid, people have new habits. William Levron has thus observed a 40% drop in attendance at some of his establishments.
premium After being a waiter in a restaurant, a Creusois converts to sewing
For Philippe Autran, one of the first solutions should be the reduction of employers’ charges: “It’s difficult as a job. We would really like to pay them more. But I can not. If I pay them 2,000 euros, I have to pay more than 3,000. I can’t afford to pay myself…”
We don’t sleep anymore, it becomes too difficult to find cooks and waiters. And then it never resumed like before the Covid
Valéry Verbeke (The Canteen restaurant)
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Demotivated, restaurateurs have little hope for the future of their profession, predicting the explosion of fast food and a very elitist future for catering.
The students of the hotel school of Montluçon promoted this year will not be idle
With the end of the school year fast approaching, the students of the 2022 promotion from the Montluçon hotel school will not be in trouble for job offers when they arrive on the market this summer. According to Christine Plasse, Deputy Director of Vocational and Technical Training, most students have requests even before obtaining their diploma: “They have proposals for their internship locations. Many of them have also had the opportunity to work in companies during the holidays. »
Indispensable but little-known profession
The director is also approached by the restaurateurs: “Some call the school directly to ask us if we can offer them someone. In these cases, I send them the list of all the students still available. »
For Christine Plasse, service seems more problematic than cooking, a profession that is often passionate and transmitted through families. “Cooking is more of a profession of passion. Today, service is devalued. We have fewer students because being a waiter suffers from a bad image,” she explains.
Yet it is a real job, with complex skills. We too often forget that it is the server that makes the turnover
Christine Plasse (Deputy Director of Vocational and Technical Training)
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At the hotel school we know: a smile, a good knowledge of the menu, the cutting of meat or fish are all skills that differentiate a waiter from a “plate carrier”. An essential profession therefore, but shunned, training in the room, for lack of valorization.
Interview with Yannick Vensdirector of the Pôle Emploi agency in Montluçon
Yannick Vens, director of Pôle Emploi Montluçon
How many job offers in the restaurant industry??
« In the Montluçon area, we currently have 68 job offers, kitchen and service combined. It’s a lot. »
What do you think is the reason for these recruitment difficulties???
« There are several explanations for this problem, which does not only affect the restoration. Already, unemployment has fallen sharply in recent months, so many have already found a job. Compared to 2017, there are 1,000 less registered. And it’s an undervalued area, with schedules impacting family life and not very high salaries.. »
What solutions would be possible at your level???
« From June, Pôle Emploi sets up a “remobilization course”. With the 1,300 long-term job seekers in the basin, without activity for at least 24 months out of the last 27. We will start a follow-up to determine their obstacles and support them towards a return to work, with immersions or training. »
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Delphine Simoneau
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