Hollis Johnson
- Corporate staff at Raising Cane's will work as fry cooks and cashiers amid the labor shortage.
- They will start going into restaurants this week, where they will also recruit extra staff, per Bloomberg.
- About half of the 500-restaurant chain's corporate staff will go into restaurants, Bloomberg reported.
A fast-food chain is asking corporate staff to fry chicken and serve customers in its restaurants amid an industry-wide labour shortage, Bloomberg first reported.
Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers, which has more than 500 restaurants and is known for its chicken-finger meals, will send half of its corporate staff into branches across the US this week, Bloomberg reported.
The company wants to hire 10,000 workers over the next 50 days – the corporate staff will also work in recruitment at restaurants, per Bloomberg.
"It's no secret that today's hiring market is a challenge," co-CEO AJ Kumaran in a statement to Bloomberg. He added that "having the support we need is critical" for upcoming expansion plans.
Raising Cane's, headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, currently has 40,000 workers, and is planning to expand its footprint in 2022.
Insider asked Raising Cane's for further comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
The restaurant sector has been suffering from a long-running labour shortage, and many restaurants say they are struggling to find staff. Some employers are raising pay as a result, which has led to increased menu prices.
Some business owners have gone as far as blaming a lack of desire to work. Workers, meanwhile, say they don't need to take low-paying jobs in such a competitive labor market.
The number of people employed in the food service industry fell in August for the first time since April 2020, according to employment figures from the Bureau of Labour statistics.
Fears over the Delta variant, as well as a mismatch between job seekers and employers, are some of the reasons behind the shortage, which has not eased despite unemployment benefits winding down.
