VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, four out of five restaurants in Virginia were critically understaffed. Finding help became a daunting task that even put some places out of business.
While things have improved since then, it still isn’t an easy time to own a business in the Commonwealth.
According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Virginia is in the “more severe” category when it comes to the labor shortage compared to other states. In fact, Virginia has only 51 available workers for every 100 open jobs.
But one big industry is getting some help in finding help. It’s thanks to a relatively new smartphone app that formed during the pandemic.
Restaurant owners across Hampton Roads have started using Gigpro to fill open positions like cooks, bartenders, and dishwashers.
Hampton Roads was added last April, and the Charleston, South Carolina-based company is now in more than 30 markets nationwide.
If you’re looking for a job, you can select your city in the app and a list of open jobs comes will appear.
When you see a job you like, say the line cook opening for Calypso Bar & Grill in Virginia Beach, you’ll find the basic requirements for the job and the daily pay.
They even have temporary gigs for just weekends, like an opening for a dishwasher for the Beach It! Country Music Festival next weekend in Virginia Beach.
Gigpro says more than 130 area restaurants have signed up for the app and around 10,500 labor hours have been filled locally through it, making it a critical resource for the local food industry.