Star power. Chef Rob Feenie undoubtedly has it, and Cactus Club Cafes undoubtedly hope to cash in on it. The Vancouver-based chain’s recent appointment of Feenie as its “food concept architect” may draw more customers. But Feenie’s association could also attract a whole different set of VIPs: potential employees.

In B.C., the restaurant industry is crying out for workers. With so many jobs and so few bodies to fill them, it’s a candidate’s market. According to the buzz at the recent BC Foodservice Expo trade show, employers are turning to unconventional tactics—from celebrity marketing to sustainable practices—to snag the best people.

“If a person has a pulse, they can start tomorrow,” said human-resources consultant Derek Gagné from his booth at the trade show, summarizing the desperate attitude of employers. The head of Talent Edge Solutions, which recruits higher-level workers for the restaurant industry, Gagné said that he advises employers to hold out for quality applicants, and that staffing shortages have “definitely gotten worse in the last couple of years…everyone is competing for the right people.” Gagné said many candidates enter an interview already having several other job offers, and compares the current job market with that for techies in the 1990s, when companies poached talent from competitors and tried to one-up each other with perks.

Trade-show attendee Shannon McCann told the Straight that it’s “incredibly difficult” to find good employees. She’s an administrative cafeteria manager for Corporate Classics Caterers, which runs in-house corporate cafeterias and needs chefs, cooks, and cashiers. “There’s so much competition…I’m almost willing to go door-to-door,” she said, laughing. “I’m recruiting through my mom’s soccer friends.” Human resources isn’t one of McCann’s explicit duties, but, she said, “It’s all of our jobs to be finding people.”

“This is a critical issue for our industry,” the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association’s Mark von Schellwitz said during a staffing seminar. According to von Schellwitz, the labour shortage is predicted to get worse. Forty-six percent of B.C.’s food-service workers are under the age of 25. With an aging population, fewer young people entering the work force, competition with other industries, and the 2010 Olympics, the food-service industry in B.C. will need to fill 44,000 new jobs over the next decade. Everyone from food-counter cashiers to servers, bartenders, and chefs is in demand.

So how does a restaurant make itself more attractive to a potential employee? “Recruitment is marketing,” Arlene Keis told the several hundred people gathered at the seminar. Keis is the CEO of go2, a nonprofit B.C. tourism-industry association tasked with labour recruitment, and she says that employers need to get creative. She points to Earls Restaurants’ cheeky employee-referral campaign, which provides workers with cards to hand out in their everyday social interactions. One reads: “What’s a person like you doing in a place like this?” followed by “Earls needs people like you.” The card also includes the company’s contact information.

Keis said that branding is also important in attracting applicants, and consumer marketing can be leveraged into employee marketing. She cited White Spot restaurants as an example: ads with celebrity chef Chuck Currie portray the company as a high-level training organization for those interested in cooking as a profession. (Cactus Restaurants’ February 5 news release touting their new relationship with Feenie stated that he will “be closely involved in the training and development of young chefs”.)

Not surprisingly, Keis said that job seekers are lured by flexible hours and educational opportunities. They are also more likely to choose to work for a restaurant that promotes environmentally friendly values in its branding.

But what about money? According to a 2006 Canadian tourism-industry compensation study, a B.C. food-and-beverage server earns an average of $9.37 to $11.37 per hour, and half of those servers “earn at least double their base salary when gratuities are factored in”. A cook makes $11.22 to $15.13 per hour on average. A sous-chef earns $35,647 to $46,647 per year, a food-and-beverage manager $41,989 to $56,720.

Gagné said many smaller operations don’t have the budget to increase wages to attract workers. Furthermore, he claimed that a higher wage doesn’t necessarily give one employer an edge over another. “The most important thing to recruiting and retaining is everything other than wages,” he said, citing a flexible schedule, career-advancement opportunities, and good working conditions. A staff member who is happy won’t jump ship when approached with another offer.

In a high-turnover industry that’s clearly an employee’s market, retaining good workers is as important as finding the right person to begin with.