Jobs Albury-Wodonga: Bean Station, River Deck urgently need chefs

The border may be open and restrictions eased, but Albury-Wodonga are facing a whole new challenge – luring staff back to the kitchen.

Owner of Bean Station cafe Rod Ayton. Picture: Simon Dallinger

Now the border is open, and restrictions have eased, hospitality businesses are facing a whole new challenge as a result of the pandemic – they can’t get staff.

Chefs, and front-of-house staff with experience are in the highest demand, with local cafe owners saying many left the industry while businesses were shut down during the pandemic.

Bean Station cafe in Wodonga has had to close its kitchen two days a week because they haven’t been able to hire enough chefs.
Owner Rod Ayton said he had been hiring for three months to no avail.

“A lot of people have left the industry because the hospitality industry had so much uncertainty,” Mr Ayton said.

“I’ve been in the industry for 30 years and I’ve never had this much trouble finding staff.

“Now we can fit enough people in but we cant take them because we can’t service them properly.”

Across the border in Albury, the River Deck cafe is struggling to find enough experienced staff to meet their needs.

“It’s a challenge I didn’t think I’d face this year,” cafe owner Alex Smit said.
“I thought the biggest issue would be capacity constraints, which we dealt with to some extent, then we dealt with the border closure, and when it opened I thought we were ready to rock and roll.

“But because hospitality had such a bad rap this year, a lot of hospitality professionals have left the industry. I had chefs who had been with me for years who left and changed industries.

“And because Victoria shut down, everyone is trying to reopen at the busiest time of year, and everyone who left isn’t coming back.

“So you’re left with a much smaller pools of professionals.”
Mr Smit said it was not only chefs but experienced front-of-house staff who were hard to find.

“For the time being we can make do with what we have, but we need another 2.5 chefs,” he said.

“We’re being held back from our trading capacity because we can’t get enough people.

“It just adds to the pain of the year, you just have to keep battling and trying to get back to some kind of normal.”