ORLANDO, Fla. — People eating at restaurants in Central Florida may have noticed service has slowed down.
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This is because restaurant owners around the U.S. are having trouble finding and retaining employees.
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It’s a big problem for the entire restaurant industry.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the need for chefs and head cooks is far outpacing the number of students interested.
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America’s most prestigious school for chefs, the Culinary Institute of America, now accepts 97% of all applicants.
The industry is acknowledging that it must start offering higher pay, better benefits and an improved work-life balance to help meet the demand.
Read: $1 billion in federal economic grants headed coast to coast
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