Episode 98
Four-Day Weeks, $1,100 Job Ads & Olympic Crocodiles
Listen: On spotify
Watch: On youtube
Queensland can build more hotels and restaurants ahead of Brisbane 2032 — but who is going to work in them?
Hospitality’s growing workforce problem takes centre stage this week, from four-day rosters and $1,100 job ads to changing expectations around senior roles and the increasing difficulty of finding experienced people.
A trip to Melbourne also brings Fine Food Australia, Andrew McConnell’s newest venues and a reminder of just how valuable great service staff have become — plus why developing the next generation of hospitality leaders matters more than ever.
Then there’s Brisbane 2032, thousands of workers still to find, the question of where they’ll all live and, somehow, crocodiles.
The venues are coming. The bigger question is whether the people are.
Episode 97
$33 Cakeage, Onion Wedding Cakes & a $250,000 Problem
Listen: On spotify
Watch: On youtube
Everything in hospitality has a cost — even cutting the cake.
TK and Pete unpack the debate around cakeage, from the staff, plates and table time involved to why something that looks like a simple fee can spark so much outrage.
From there, the conversation turns to the bigger pressures facing restaurants: rising wages, merchant fees, ingredients, compliance and what happens when businesses are continually asked to absorb one more cost.
Plus, an onion-scented wedding cake, a collapsing croquembouche, Australian seafood and a few hospitality stories that could only happen behind the scenes.
At the heart of it all: when margins are already tight, where does the next cost go?