Steve Doocy:
As we’ve been talking about over the last year, businesses all across the country are struggling to hire workers after being forced to compete with state and federal unemployment supplemental benefits. Our next guest is the owner of two restaurants. One’s in Florida, one’s in New York. He says his Florida location just saw a boom in job applications after the state of Florida and Governor DeSantis brought back the job search requirement for unemployment benefits. But with no such luck at his New York location, which he plans to open back up, God willing, Memorial day weekend. Buddy Foy, Jr. joins us right now from his location in Florida. Good morning, Buddy.
Buddy Foy, Jr.:
Good morning, Steve.
Steve Doocy:
Okay. So Governor DeSantis this week said residents receiving unemployment benefits will soon be required once again to show proof they’re looking for a job. And so now suddenly people are looking for jobs in Florida, right, where you’re at.
Buddy Foy, Jr.:
It’s just like that. Magic fairy dust, right? Now you have to look for a job. The waiver is being removed for that search requirement for unemployment. And in the last five days, literally every day it’s building to more and more. We got zero phone calls in five months for jobs. We filled our jobs through referrals, Steve, to our current employees. And the last five days our staff is saying, “I can’t keep answering the phone. We have to serve customers. It’s off the hook.” Now we get to compete for labor, which is pre-pandemic conversations.
Steve Doocy:
Sure. But what about your New York location?
Buddy Foy, Jr.:
New York’s tough. We’re counting on referrals. We will open New York Memorial day weekend, and we will take reservations based on the supply of labor, versus our inventory of tables and real estate.
Steve Doocy:
We’ve heard from the administration, and Joe Biden said essentially, no evidence that people aren’t looking for work. It’s all based on that jobs number last week. They were expecting a million people got new jobs, only 264,000 did. And the administration was called on the carpet. People say, “Look, people are getting more money to stay at home than to work.” And the administration says, “We haven’t seen evidence of that.” But you, with locations in two states, you’ve seen evidence of that.
Buddy Foy, Jr.:
We’re living that, right? So ROI, return on your involvement. As an employee, you make more money on your involvement at home. So I don’t blame them, right? Your return on involvement, what you do every day versus the money coming in, staying home makes sense. And by the way, it made sense back when there wasn’t jobs. But we got jobs. The industry in Florida, the demand is there from the customer, beyond our wildest expectations. In the last four days, we’ve received 30 applicants. Now I’m not saying they’re all qualified, but at least we get back in business. We start the process of qualifying them.
Steve Doocy:
You know, I have learned so much this morning in talking to you Buddy. And one other thing, you are in the midst of your dining room, in a beautiful location there on the west coast of Florida. Last December, you didn’t even own that, because you were in New York and you were sick up to here with the rules and regulations and the lockdowns. And you said, “Something’s got to give.” You moved to Florida, and that has been a game changer or for you.
Buddy Foy, Jr.:
It’s been a blessing. I really got to give credit to the community that we reached out to here locally in Florida, as well as our key 15… I call it my infrastructure. My 15 hardcore employees out of New York came with us. And three or four of them brought their kids that were getting online school, that are juniors and seniors in high school. And 15 core hardworking people helped us get this place open in 30 days.
Steve Doocy:
So, Buddy, finally, what is your message to people all across the country who are living under lockdowns, and it’s been very restrictive? They’re having trouble finding people to work, and everything you’ve gone through. What’s the moral to the story?