ATLANTA – For the metro catering industry in Atlanta and Georgia, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused economic disaster. Thousands of restaurants have closed and nearly 38,000 workers have lost their jobs in the past year.

Now, over a year later, many restaurants are reopening but are struggling to fill vacancies.

It is an almost impossible task.

Signs and announcements are everywhere that restaurants are looking to hire workers. But there is little incentive, said George Andrews, director of Unity National Bank.

“The federal government, with its unemployment benefits and state government combined, makes it attractive not to work,” he said.

The Georgia Restaurant Association says there are still 50,000 to 70,000 restaurant jobs waiting to be filled.

One of the local restaurants feeling the need to recruit is The Beautiful Restaurant, which has been doing business for almost 45 years in South Atlanta.

They closed for six months during the pandemic, but when they reopened Lucy Sims, the restaurant’s operations manager, got it right.

“We sent out invitation letters to associates who were fired due to our closure and some never responded,” she said.

And Beautiful is not alone.

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Marcus Sabir, better known as Big Daddy with three restaurants in South Atlanta, said they needed 12 workers and word of mouth was helping him recruit.

“I called a young woman over to the restaurant and asked if she was looking for a job and she said yes. She was living in a group home behind the restaurant, and she went back and told other girls and two others came over, filled out applications, and I put all three to work, “Sabir said.” It does me good to be able to help someone in this community. Help someone who needed help, and I told them I would teach them how to work and apply for jobs anywhere. “

And 8-year-old restaurant worker and veteran Courtney Sims, now back to work, has some great advice for job seekers.

“Get in there now and get a craving for job help.” Now is the best time to do it, ”Sims said. Because you don’t want to wait until the last minute when unemployment cuts you off and say you don’t know what to do now. “

And she might be right. Waiting until your unemployment runs out could be risky and too late. Applying for a job now could allow you to choose from more options, while waiting until the last minute could mean you could find yourself competing with more job seekers whose benefits are also running out. .