Kennedy:
The latest attack on America comes from our own federal government. The Department of Labor announced today, a record 8.1 million jobs remain open in the US as small businesses struggle to hire workers who are being paid more by President Biden to stay home. Now Republican-led states like Alabama, Mississippi, Montana, South Carolina and Arkansas have announced, they are opting out of unemployment benefit expansions that discourage people from filling jobs. Perhaps hardest hit, the restaurant industry. Joining me now to discuss, it’s a star of the Food Network’s Summer Rush, owner of The Chateau Anna Maria, Buddy Foy, Jr. is back. Welcome back, Buddy.
Buddy Foy Jr.:
Kennedy, thank you for having me.
Kennedy:
So, how hard is it for you right now with your restaurants, to find people between New York and Florida to fill those necessary positions, to operate at full capacity?
Buddy Foy Jr.:
It’s as hard as operating in a pandemic. Florida’s getting a little easier because that waiver, in order to collect unemployment, by the end of the month, you have to start looking for a job or proving you’re searching. In New York, there’s no light at the end of the tunnel, whether or not that’s going to be the case. So, literally in the last five days, since the announcement here in Florida, we’ve had more applicants in five days than we have had in five months. In New York, it’s going to be very difficult to staff, as we open up, come Memorial Day weekend.
Kennedy:
Yeah, I don’t know how you’re going to do it because obviously, and we talked about this a little bit, margins in restaurants, considerably smaller than other industries, so it’s harder to make money. So, if you have a mom and pop restaurant, how do you raise wages in order to attract applicants and workers without going broke?
Buddy Foy Jr.:
Well, Kennedy, we can attract workers if our competitor is not the federal government, right? I never-
Kennedy:
Yes, that’s a good point.
Buddy Foy Jr.:
Built into my competition plan, right? When you build your competitive landscape, the federal government wasn’t part of that competitive landscape. There’s no paragraph in my business model that says, “Competition, federal government,” that doesn’t exist. What I’m afraid of is if we incentivize ourselves out of business, there’s incentives going crazy to get people to come back to work. Let’s face it, return on involvement, ROI, you return on involvement at home, collect unemployment, it’s very high. You return on involvement going to work, it’s low when you’re competing with the federal government, i.e. unemployment. If we get rid of the waiver that was put in place when it was necessary, now the economy’s open, let’s have a reversal here. Let’s get people back to work. Government, please stop competing against us mom and pop, Main Street businesses, and let us compete against each other for employees.
Kennedy:
Yes, absolutely. And I know you’re going to do it smartly, I know you’re going to do it safely. But I look at some of these bureaucrats like Janet Yellen, and Gina Raimondo, and even the president who say that there is no connection between people getting 300 dollars a week in unemployment and jobs being unfilled when you have over 8 million unfilled jobs. Are you frustrated they’re not talking to people like you?
Buddy Foy Jr.:
That’s just completely ridiculous. It’s like your kid saying, “I don’t have to study. Studying doesn’t help me get great grades.” It’s like talking to a child. Of course unemployment is directly tied to what’s going on. The extra incentive to stay home, I would take it if I could pay my bills with it. Who wouldn’t take it? At the end of the day, government, you’re out of your mind to think that what’s going on is not impacting the job report. It’s ludicrous. It’s like talking to a child.
Kennedy:
Yes, it is. And you’re absolutely right, and Gina Raimondo said that over the weekend, it was a lifeline, but now it is death sentence for businesses. I’m glad that your place in Florida is doing well. I know you just said Governor DeSantis is forcing people to look for jobs in order to maintain that unemployment. So, I think it is going to have a tremendous effect. We’ll see if blue states do it as well. Thanks, Buddy.
Buddy Foy Jr.:
Thanks, Kennedy. It already is.