How Liquor License Consultants Help Bars Find the Best Employees

If your BC bar or pub is struggling with employee acquisition and retention, the liquor license consultants at Thrive Liquor & Cannabis Advisors can help. While many BC liquor licensees use our license application services, we also provide operations consulting, including employee acquisition and training.

In addition to liquor license consulting, Thrive CEO, Rebecca Hardin, has worked on the management side of the food and beverage industry. Rebecca’s in-the-trenches experience complement her liquor licensing knowledge. Because of this, Thrive continues to consult with bar and pub owners long after their liquor license is approved, providing operational strategy to keep their business profitable.

Bar Employee Turnover is High

Canada’s food and beverage sector has high employee turnover rates compared to many industries. The COVID-19 pandemic made things much worse. Recovery to pre-pandemic levels is still a faint light on the horizon. According to Tourism HR “Food and Beverage Services Projections for Job Growth” (PDF), job vacancy rates for the sector are projected to be in double-digits by 2024. Vacancies in front-of-house positions (hosts, bartenders, servers) are projected to increase dramatically between 2023 and 2024. Although chefs, cooks, managers and supervisors vacancies are expected to recover to pre-pandemic levels in 2023, recovery of front-of-house staff positions isn’t expected until 2025 or later.

Job Vacancies & High Turnover Can Cost a Bar in Many Ways

According to the  Liquor.com article “Staff Turnover Is a Bar Owner’s Nightmare” it costs about $5,000 USD to recruit and train one hourly employee. High vacancy rates not only affect a bar’s profit margins, they also negatively affect customer experience.

Vacancies and high turnover may also lead to other operational problems:

• A decline in job satisfaction amongst remaining employees as they shoulder the workload of employees who have left positions. Vacancies may snowball, leading experienced employees to vacate positions because they are unhappy
• Because managers and supervisors are desperate to fill positions quickly, new hires may have insufficient experience
• Liquor licensing compliance missteps may increase because remaining employees don’t have the time and new hires don’t have the experience or training
• Supervisors and managers have less time for compliance-checks and training because they are busy trying to fill positions and may also be performing duties of vacant positions

How Our Bar Consultants Help

Bar consultants at Thrive Liquor & Cannabis Advisors help liquor service businesses create effective recruitment, onboarding and training plans.

Our consultants:

• Review local competitor’s job postings to find benchmarks
• Consult with bar and pub owners regarding duties, wages, benefits, training and professional development opportunities that make the job more attractive to prospective candidates
• Write job descriptions that attract the right people and weed out weak candidates
• Interview and shortlist candidates
• Create compliance training manuals and checklists
• Provide compliance training to new hires as part of the onboarding process

Get Expert Advice from BC’s Leading Liquor License Consultants

Thoughtful bar and pub employee acquisition, retention and training can reduce turnover and costly compliance breaches. Our consultants create and implement tailored employee acquisition plans including onboarding and training processes that save your business money and time.