CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Nationally, restaurant industry employment is on the rise, but it’s still 70,000 jobs away from its Feb. 2020 peak of 12.34 million.
According to the National Restaurant Association, North Carolina, restaurant employment has made a comeback. As of July 2023, restaurant employment in the state is 3% higher than it was July 2019.
Church & Union, in Charlotte, is one of the six restaurants located in the southeast included in “5th Street Group,” whose restaurants have received national recognition. Founding Chef Partner Jamie Lynch says the pandemic caused him and 5th Street Group to look at what kind of hospitality business it wanted to be.
“Livable wages and things for our employees. A lot of that came to light after having to lay off a lot of our employees, and really thinking about how the pandemic and the closures was going to affect them,” said Lynch. “We realized we needed to change how we approach that for our staff.”
The group launched Tip The Kitchen in April 2021. Customers are able to tip their servers in addition to kitchen staff, and the restaurant group matches the tips. Since its start, the initiative has raised $3.2 million for kitchen staff across its six restaurants.
5th Street Group says line cooks, prep cooks, pastry chefs and more take home an average of $58 in tips a day. Lynch says their minimum wage starts at $15 per hour. With Tip The Kitchen, it’s like adding on another $7.25 to kitchen staff pay.
The initiative has led to better employee retention. Line cook Jessica Meadows is one of them.
“I like being with food, around food, it’s what I’m passionate about,” said Meadows. “So, it’s great that I can do something I love and not have to worry about financial responsibility.”
Meadows has worked at Church & Union for two years and says she notices the difference better pay has made for her coworkers.
“I’m really blessed that I’ve been able to stay here for so long because sometimes the turnover rates in kitchens can be frequent. So, it’s nice to have familiar faces and be able to establish a connection and build bonds with people,” Meadows said.
Chef Lynch says Church & Union is still trying to bring customers and reservations back up to pre-pandemic levels. The restaurant is offering a prixe fixe menu option, and bringing back familiar items like Chef Jamie’s Lamb Burger.
“The approach, returning from the pandemic, trying to get our levels back to normal, our reservations up, and get people out and enjoying restaurants again is to put menu options out that are familiar to people,” said Lynch.
The National Restaurant Association shows restaurant sales have grown for three consecutive months, nationally. Part of increased sales has to do with prices being higher.