Red Robin CEO Paul Murphy is banking on the labor shortage plaguing his chain — along with most in the fast food industry — ending well before year end.
"We see it [labor shortage] being under control and stabilized by early summer," Murphy said on Yahoo Finance Live.
Red Robin Gourmet Burgers (RRGB) has had to reduce hours at some locations because of the inability to find new workers in an economy roaring back from the COVID-19 pandemic. In turn, that has weighed on sales for Red Robin as it has had to compete with higher wage jobs being offered right now in sectors such as retail and warehousing.
Murphy explains Red Robin has tweaked its hiring process in an effort to get new workers into the business as quick as possible and retain them.
"Through our technology, we have shortened our time for the hiring process and onboarding process. We have modulized our training because a lot of applicants coming in have not been in the industry before, so we enabled our training to be shortened. In a sense they learn one station at a time. And we have also put in a wage progression program that when somebody is hired, we are very transparent as to their wage increases and at 90 days, and at six-months and 12 months and 18 months. We are finding all of those things combined are working well for Red Robin," Murphy said.