Hey, welcome to the Grants Interest Rate Observer Podcast.

My name is Jim Grant, and with me today is the deputy editor of Grants, the great Evan Lorenz,

and Eric Whitehead is at the Dials.

And this episode of Grants on air is brought to you by eF Financial Careers,

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So check out the site, eFinancial Careers.com. Hey, John, speaking of job,

I see, according to Bloomberg, that restaurants are not hiring as they did. And, you know,

there would be a very big deal because restaurants have been in the vanguard of such employment

growth as we have had in this none too dynamic cycle. What do you see as the editor of Restaurant Finance and Franchise Times?

You have a wonderful overview on the restaurant business.

What are you seeing in the way of employment?

You know, Jim, when I talk to restaurant owners across the country,

they tell me it's still difficult to find people.

Hiring is their number one problem. It doesn't surprise me that restaurant hiring would slow down a bit because the industry has been in a slump really since last summer, summer of 2016, especially in casual dining, where restaurants are actually being closed. But it's also the sales slump impacted even fast casual

restaurants, which were the hot growing area of the restaurant business.

Hey, what does that say about the state of business activity in this country when kind

of 13 or 14 months into industry-wide soft patch in dining out. Is that indicative of something to do with the

consumer, or is it a cyclical thing specific to the restaurant world? You know, judging from the

reported comp sales of many restaurant chains, you'd probably say the middle and low-in consumer

...