Philadelphia restaurants and hotels, desperate for workers, get together for a job fair

As the hospitality industry struggles with finding workers with pandemic restrictions easing, more than two dozen local restaurants and hotels will join in a job fair Monday, May 24 at the Fitler Club in Center City.

Workers are being sought to fill hundreds of front-of-the-house and kitchen jobs in Philadelphia. As restaurateurs scaled back or closed in 2020, they shed employees — many of whom left the business entirely for other industries. Many restaurants have boosted their minimum wages and some are offering signing bonuses as hiring incentives.

Monday’s job fair, from noon to 3 p.m. at the club (1 S. 24th St.), is billed as an unprecedented collaboration among local employers from such groups as the Schulson Collective (Via Locusta, Osteria, Independence Beer Garden), Method (Wm. Mulherin’s Sons, Hiroki), JMAC Hospitality (Twenty Manning, Charley Dove), Craft Concepts (Bru, U-Bahn, Finn McCool’s), as well as independent operators such as Tony Rim (Raw) and Marc Grika (Flannel). Hoteliers and clubs will be represented, as well, including the Westin, Roost, Whyle, and Fitler Club.

Job-seekers should bring a resume (English and/or Spanish), and masks will be required.