The pandemic made a lot of us rethink a lot of things.

On the forefront of that existential rethink, though, restaurant workers.

The word restaurant comes from the word restore.

And that ethos was really embedded into us.

It was our job to restore the guests that came through.

But in order to restore them, we have to take care of ourselves.

This realignment of priorities and personal interests drove a ton of restaurant workers to leave the industry altogether.

In a lot of ways, working in hospitality feels like a microcosm or metaphor for the larger world.

Restaurant work finds itself at the unique intersection of issues like wage fairness,

racial justice, immigrant rights, and mental health.

Now, two years after COVID-19

abended the restaurant industry,

so many food spots are still short-staffed

and help-wanted signs are seemingly

everywhere from high-end places to McDonald's

as workers are demanding more.

I'm Gustavo Ariano.

You're listening to The Times, daily news from the LA Times.

It's Monday, May 23rd, 2022.

Today, why the labor shortage is still a big problem for restaurant owners across the country

and how they can convince workers to come back.

Thank you. the country and how they can convince workers to come back. Samantha Masunaga is a business reporter and she writes about who's being left behind in the

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