In response to the declining birthrate and the workplace outlook of Generation Z, how can "freelance waiters" solve the labor shortage problem in the catering industry?

"There is a huge shortage of workers in the service industry" and "Young people are unwilling to work in catering." These voices have appeared more and more frequently in major media and social platforms in recent years. As an important part of people's livelihood, the catering industry's manpower shortage problem not only affects the development of the industry, but also affects the quality of life of every consumer.

According to data from the Statistics Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the turnover of Taiwan's catering industry hit a record high in 2023, exceeding the 1.02 trillion yuan mark. However, behind these bright figures, there are hidden worries about insufficient manpower: the catering industry has the highest vacancy rate among all industries, and on average each job seeker has 8 job opportunities in the catering industry to choose from.

Facing the dilemma of labor shortage, the industry is actively seeking solutions, such as introducing foreign migrant workers, recruiting middle-aged and elderly people or people who are employed for the second time, or introducing catering technology. Although these plans have brought some new possibilities to the catering industry, they are still based on the logic of "filling the manpower gap." However, with the trend of declining birthrate and aging population, the growth of manpower supply is limited, and the idea of ​​filling the gap will eventually encounter a bottleneck.

Therefore, in addition to filling the gap, we need to think more about: Is it possible to create a new ecosystem and improve overall productivity and efficiency through the dismantling and reorganization of processes under the premise of established manpower supply?

When the catering industry's service model meets Generation Z's workplace outlook

Before exploring new solutions, let us first look back at the past. From 1997 to 2014, Taiwan's catering industry experienced a period of vigorous development. Well-known catering groups and entrepreneurs worked together to create a management model for the service industry:

1. President Yan Changshou of The Landis Taipei: With the "people-oriented" management philosophy, he treats every employee as a "service worker" and establishes a model of butler-style service, setting a model for Taiwan's hotel industry.
2. Chairman Chen Shiming of Tripodking: He is famous for his 90-degree bow and "touching service". He regards service as the mission of the company, emphasizes "intent" and "touching", and transforms the service spirit that was originally only found in five-star hotels Introduce chain enterprise organizations with profit as the core goal.
3. Chairman Dai Shengyi of Wowprime Corp.: Many years ago, Wowprime extended its service spirit and created a high-performance service team through comprehensive employee training, lion competitions, dividend stock ownership and other systems, and integrated the concept of "Customers First" is deeply rooted in people's hearts, allowing service personnel to become more professional service workers and earn more income at the same time.

Under the leadership of these industry models, the catering service industry has continued to become more professional and its social status has gradually improved, attracting more people to invest in this industry. Their success is not only due to their unique management philosophy and service concept, but more importantly, they know how to "empower" their employees and regard every service staff as a "service worker."

However, as Generation Z began to enter the workplace, coupled with the impact of the epidemic in previous years, the employment model of the catering industry also faced new challenges. Generation Z workers have more different choices for the workplace and career imagination than traditional ones. For example, they are more eager for flexibility and autonomy, strive to pursue work-life balance, and hope to accumulate diverse and interesting work experiences as early as possible. In comparison, the traditional catering industry's work model of "high working hours, low vacations, and high labor intensity" is relatively difficult to meet the job search goals of Generation Z.

On the other hand, the proportion of "atypical workers" has gradually increased in recent years, becoming a common phenomenon in the global labor market, and Taiwan is slowly following the trend. According to statistics from the Accountant General Office of the Executive Yuan (November 27, 2024), the proportion of atypical workers in Taiwan is 7.8% of the employed. It is worth noting that as many as 87.04% of atypical workers here said that they do not want to switch to full-time, full-time jobs. This also shows that choosing an atypical work style is not always a helpless "compromise", but may also be a "preference" based on personal wishes.

Looking to the future: freelance waiters and the sharing economy

In order to solve the long-term labor shortage problem that the catering industry must face, and at the same time, we also hope to be closer to the workplace view of Generation Z and meet the needs of the majority of workers. Today in 2024, we may think about redefining "atypical work" with the concept of "freelance waiter", gives free work a new meaning and value.

The so-called "freelance waiters" mean that they can freely choose their working hours and content through the platform, and gradually become professional service workers by accumulating skills and experience. For restaurants, this group of service workers can even become "shared waiters". They can provide services in different restaurants, achieve truly flexible employment, and obtain stable income and development at work.

To make the concept of "freelance waiters" realistic and feasible, in addition to employees needing to learn and be proficient at different work stages and develop skills with different needs, restaurants and platforms should also do the following three things:

1. Work Dismantling: Fragment the traditional catering work process. If there is a way to fragment 8 hours into task types with a minimum unit of 1 hour, for Generation Z who yearns for freedom, it will be like running 3 takeaways. Create incentives to work freely. For example, the "inside" work is subdivided into smaller units such as "preparation", "cooking", and "plate presentation", or the "outside" work is divided into "taking seats", "ordering", and "delivering" ", "checkout" and other different links, allowing freelance waiters to choose work tasks that suit them based on their own skills and interests, improving work efficiency and satisfaction.
2. Manpower Allocation: The platform uses AI algorithms and big data analysis to allow restaurants to accurately estimate manpower needs at different times, such as how many outside waiters are needed during peak hours, how many in-field staff are needed during off-peak hours, etc., and provide this information in real time Push it to freelance waiters so that they can choose suitable working hours according to their own time schedule. It also avoids shortage or excess manpower in the restaurant and improves overall operational efficiency.
3. Gig Matching: The platform establishes a safe and reliable gig matching platform, allowing restaurants to quickly find freelance waiters who meet their needs, and freelance waiters can easily find job opportunities that suit them. The platform also provides a complete management mechanism, such as Identity verification, skill assessment, evaluation system, etc. ensure service quality and labor rights, so that both parties can cooperate with peace of mind.

Challenges and opportunities: building a win-win catering ecosystem

Although the use of "freelance waiters" can bring new possibilities to the catering industry, Taiwan still faces many challenges in current practice, which require joint efforts from all parties to overcome.

1. Protection of Labor Rights and Interests:

The protection of labor rights and interests of freelance waiters is a top priority. Due to the particularity of the work type, traditional labor regulations may not be fully applicable. For example, how to define the labor relationship between a freelance waiter and a restaurant? How to ensure that they enjoy basic rights such as minimum wage, reasonable working hours, and vacations? How to ensure their occupational safety and health? These require the government, platforms and restaurants to work together to formulate more complete regulations and safeguards.

At this point, we may wish to refer to foreign experience, such as the EU's "Platform Work Directive", to establish a labor regulatory framework that is more in line with the characteristics of the gig economy, clarify the responsibilities of platforms and restaurants, and provide more comprehensive social security for freelance waiters.

2. Stable Service Quality:

The mobility of freelance waiters is high, so how to ensure the stability of service quality is another challenge. Restaurants need to establish an effective management mechanism, including: strict background screening and skills assessment, and provide comprehensive training and regular assessments, as well as a reward system to improve the retention rate of these flexible workers.

3. Operating Cost Control:

The platform's commission, the recruitment and management costs of freelance waiters, etc. may increase the restaurant's operating costs. Restaurants need to effectively control costs to ensure profitability! At present, the market share of the human dispatch industry is about 30%, but now that all costs are soaring, if a large number of manpower is converted to part-time dispatch, personnel costs may increase significantly, which is a major concern for employers.

Finally, business owners should also establish the optimal manpower allocation of "fixed full-time" and "fixed part-time" and "non-fixed part-time" within the company team, and agree with the platform to establish a reasonable commission ratio, and also require the platform to provide restaurant employers More value-added services, such as data analysis, marketing and promotion, etc., can help restaurants improve operational efficiency and profitability, which is a truly effective human solution for the catering service industry.