Is There Still a Restaurant Labor Shortage in 2026? [Latest Data]

A restaurant labor shortage occurs when restaurants can’t recruit or retain enough qualified employees to meet customer demand. Although the nationwide shortage has eased from its pandemic-era peak, many operators still struggle to fill shifts or keep employees long-term.

Addressing those gaps involves more than hiring. Restaurants also need to onboard employees clearly, manage their hours, distribute tips, and pay them accurately. Toast Payroll & Team Management connects those responsibilities in one system, making the team easier to manage after employees come on board.

This guide explains what the latest labor data shows, why restaurant staffing problems persist, and what operators can do about them.

Key takeaways

• The nationwide restaurant labor shortage has eased, but many operators still struggle to fill specific positions and retain employees.

• Pay, available hours, schedule stability, management, and benefits all influence whether restaurant employees stay.

• Restaurants should diagnose staffing gaps by position, shift, and cause before increasing recruitment.

• Clear compensation, workable schedules, transparent tips, effective training, and simple tools can support stronger retention.

• Tracking hiring, turnover, overtime, attendance, and employee feedback helps operators see whether staffing changes are working.

Is there still a restaurant staffing shortage in 2026?

Yes, restaurant staffing shortages still affect many operators, but the problem is less widespread than it was at its pandemic-era peak and varies by position, concept, and market.

Toast’s 2025 full-service restaurant research found that 42% of full-service operators experienced moderate or extreme hiring challenges. That makes staffing a current operating concern, even as the broader labor market has cooled.

National data provides additional context. The accommodation and food services sector had an estimated 684,000 seasonally adjusted job openings in June 2026, the lowest level since August 2020 and below its 2017–2019 monthly average of 835,000, according to the National Restaurant Association’s job-openings analysis.

These figures include accommodation businesses, so they should be treated as broader labor-market context rather than restaurant-only data. They also can’t show whether an individual restaurant lacks line cooks, managers, closing employees, or applicants with the right availability. 

Further data from the National Restaurant Association reveals recovery has differed considerably across restaurant formats:

Why is there a shortage of restaurant workers?

Restaurants struggle to fill and retain positions because of compensation pressure, incompatible schedules, management problems, limited benefits, demanding work, and competition from other employers.

Pay, schedules, and working conditions directly influence how many people are willing or able to accept and remain in available jobs.

Pay and financial stability

In Toast’s survey of 624 U.S. restaurant employees, 37% said good pay was what they valued most in a restaurant job. Another 33% identified poor hourly pay as a workplace pain point, while 26% cited a lack of available shifts as a financial challenge.

The median hourly wage across food-preparation and serving-related occupations was $16.85 in May 2025, compared with $24.51 across all U.S. occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

These estimates include tips, and the food-preparation and serving category extends beyond restaurants, but the comparison helps explain why compensation remains central to the staffing conversation.

Scheduling and availability

Toast’s employee research found that 35% of restaurant workers valued flexible scheduling. However, restaurants often need coverage during early mornings, late nights, weekends, holidays, and fluctuating periods of demand.

This means a restaurant may have applicants in its market but still struggle to match employee availability with its hardest-to-fill shifts.

Schedule stability matters for retention, too. Research using data from 1,678 stores in a U.S. quick-service chain found that less-stable variable schedules were associated with higher employee turnover.

Flexibility should work in both directions: restaurants need dependable coverage, while employees need schedules they can realistically work and enough notice to manage their lives outside the restaurant.

Management and workplace experience

Pay may attract an applicant, but the employee’s manager can influence whether they stay. Toast’s employee survey found that 30% of restaurant workers identified difficult managers as a pain point, while 25% reported feeling unrecognized for their hard work.

• Unclear expectations: Employees don’t know who owns a task or how their performance is evaluated.

• Inconsistent training: New hires are expected to work independently before they’re ready.

• Poor communication: Schedule changes, policy updates, and feedback arrive late or inconsistently.

• Uneven workloads: The same employees repeatedly absorb difficult shifts or missing coverage.

• Limited recognition: Strong performance goes unnoticed until something goes wrong.

A restaurant can recruit successfully and still remain understaffed if new employees repeatedly leave because of the workplace experience.

Benefits and long-term fit

Only 46% of employees in Toast’s survey said they were satisfied with their benefits. Medical coverage, free meals, and paid time off were among the benefits employees most wanted.

Restaurants also employ many part-time, seasonal, and short-term workers, so some turnover is expected. The realistic goal isn’t eliminating every departure; it’s reducing preventable turnover and maintaining a dependable pipeline for vacancies.

How can restaurants respond to labor shortages?

Restaurants can respond to labor shortages by identifying where staffing breaks down, making compensation clearer, improving schedules and management, and removing unnecessary work. The right approach depends on whether the restaurant has an applicant, onboarding, scheduling, or retention problem.

1. Identify the actual staffing gap

Begin with the position and shift creating the problem rather than assuming the entire restaurant is understaffed. Calculating restaurant employee turnover by position, shift, location, and manager can show whether departures are widespread or concentrated around a specific problem.

• Track open positions and applicant volume.

• Measure the time required to fill each role.

• Compare offer-acceptance rates.

• Review turnover by position, shift, location, and manager.

• Monitor missed shifts and overtime.

• Ask departing employees why they are leaving.

• Separate temporary seasonal gaps from recurring problems.

2. Make compensation clear and dependable

Employees should understand how much they can earn, how tips are distributed, and when they’ll be paid.

• Show pay ranges in job postings where appropriate or required.

• Explain tipped compensation and tip-pooling rules before hiring.

• Describe bonuses, benefits, and advancement opportunities clearly.

• Pay employees accurately and consistently.

• Review whether competing employers offer materially better compensation for similar work.

Toast Payroll & Team Management can carry hours and tips recorded through Toast POS into payroll while supporting multiple pay rates, overtime calculations, and employee access to pay information.

3. Build schedules employees can use

A schedule must cover the restaurant’s needs without repeatedly conflicting with employee availability.

• Collect accurate availability before scheduling.

• Publish schedules as early and consistently as possible.

• Provide a clear process for requesting time off.

• Allow controlled shift swaps and coverage requests.

• Monitor whether certain employees repeatedly receive undesirable shifts.

• Check whether employees are receiving the hours they expected when hired.

Employee scheduling software can also reduce the messages and manual updates managers use to coordinate changes. Toast Scheduling helps restaurants connect employee availability, shift coverage, and labor planning.

4. Improve tip transparency and financial flexibility

Toast’s employee research found that 28% of tipped workers were unsure how much of their wages came from tips. Clear calculations and reporting can make compensation easier to understand.

• Document who participates in each tip pool.

• Explain how tips are calculated and distributed.

• Give employees a way to review tips associated with their shifts.

• Audit tip rules when jobs or service models change.

• Confirm that every policy complies with applicable laws.

Toast Tips Manager automates customizable tip-pooling rules and provides employees with clearer tip reporting. Where available, Toast Pay Card and PayOut can also give eligible employees faster access to a portion of earned wages and tips after a shift.

5. Strengthen onboarding and management

A signed offer doesn’t resolve a staffing shortage if the employee leaves during the first few weeks. Clear service training helps new hires become confident in their roles, while a restaurant learning management system can organize lessons and track training progress.

• Complete paperwork and system access before the first working shift.

• Define responsibilities and reporting relationships.

• Use training checklists and supervised practice.

• Set clear performance standards.

• Give employees straightforward tools for scheduling, communication, and daily tasks.

• Check in during the employee’s first days and weeks.

• Train managers to give feedback and resolve conflicts.

• Create visible paths into training, supervisory, or management positions.

6. Remove unnecessary work without weakening service

Improving restaurant operations doesn’t require fewer people absorbing an unsustainable workload. The goal is to reduce repetitive work and give employees more time for food quality, service, and guests.

• Simplify repetitive administrative tasks.

• Remove duplicate order entry and manual data transfers.

• Review menu items that create disproportionate kitchen work.

• Improve handoffs between ordering, preparation, and service.

• Cross-train compatible positions.

• Protect coverage essential to food safety and order accuracy.

• Automate payroll, scheduling, and tip calculations where appropriate.

7. Measure whether the response works

Staffing changes should improve measurable outcomes, not just make the schedule look complete. Aim to maintain enough stable coverage to serve demand without repeatedly exhausting the team by tracking:

• Time to fill each position

• Offer-acceptance rate

• Turnover by position and manager

• Departures within 30, 60, and 90 days

• Overtime and missed-shift frequency

• Schedule changes after publication

• Employee feedback

• Sales and service during understaffed shifts

Toast Reporting + Analytics provides real-time sales and labor data, helping operators compare staffing levels with business performance and determine whether operational changes are working.

Build a restaurant team people want to stay with

Operators can’t control the wider labor market, but they can improve the everyday employee experience. Clear pay, workable schedules, supportive managers, and simple tools can make a restaurant a better place to work and stay.

Toast Payroll & Team Management connects onboarding, hours, tips, and payroll, giving managers less administrative work and more time to support their teams. That creates a stronger foundation for reliable staffing and long-term retention.

FAQ

Is the restaurant labor shortage getting better or worse in 2026?

The restaurant labor shortage has improved nationally, but many operators still face position-specific hiring gaps and retention challenges.

What is the main cause of the restaurant labor shortage?

There is no single cause, as restaurant staffing shortages reflect a combination of pay, scheduling, management, benefits, working conditions, and competition for employees.

How can restaurants retain staff during a labor shortage?

Restaurants can improve retention through clear compensation, workable schedules, transparent tips, effective onboarding, supportive managers, and reliable tools.

Can technology help restaurants manage with fewer staff?

Technology can reduce administrative work and simplify restaurant workflows, but it should support employees rather than replace the coverage required for safe, accurate service.

What does the labor shortage mean for restaurant profitability?

Staffing shortages can reduce profitability by increasing overtime and turnover costs while limiting capacity, slowing service, and costing the restaurant potential sales.