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Chris Carby says his restaurant is facing rising food and utility costs and a labor shortage.
AUSTIN, Texas – It’s been a tough year for restaurants and businesses.
At the national level, COVID-19 led to the permanent shutdown of around 200,000 businesses last year, according to a Federal Reserve Board study published in April.
According to a 2020 study by Yelp, more than 1,400 businesses in the Austin-Round Rock area have had to permanently or temporarily shut down due to the pandemic.
Now many of the survivors, such as Branch Barbecue and Catering in North Austin, are struggling with labor shortages.
Tuesday morning at Branch Barbecue began with the training of a brand new employee – a rare treat for Chris Carby, the owner of the restaurant, who has not been able to hire anyone for months. Eventually, a family friend jumped in to help.
“Right now we only have enough staff to be open four days a week,” said Carby.
As for the rest of his staff, Carby said it was important to treat them well. The business needs them to stay and not give up.
“I gave my employees raises about a month ago because I hadn’t given a raise in two years,” he said.
The labor shortage hits restaurants and the hospitality industry particularly hard.
KVUE reached out to the Texas Service Industry Coalition but has not received any official comment on the full impact of the pandemic on the service industry. The coalition is committed to better working conditions.
“We’re looking for more people, I’ve been looking for a sign for help,” said Carby.
But Carby is not only concerned with personnel issues. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the consumer price index for food rose 0.8% from May to June.
“That was $ 24, now it’s $ 39,” Carby said, referring to cooking oil.
Carby said he paid more for meat too. At the moment, Carby was paying $ 3.79 a pound for pork. In November he was paying just $ 3.14 a pound. For chicken, its prices doubled from $ 0.68 to $ 1.38 between November last year and this month.
And for Brisket, he was paying $ 3.96 a pound this month, up from $ 2.46 last March.
“There is a big problem in the supply chain because there is not enough manpower,” said Carby. “One of my suppliers has a very large warehouse, there is a large grocery store here in town, and I was told that their warehouse is 135 people short.”
Meanwhile, longtime customer John Parker said his favorites will keep coming back for him.
“Brisket, chicken, sausage, everything,” said Parker. “I love it, yeah.”
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