Six Bay Area restaurant staffers on why they left the industry
Last week, The San Francisco Chronicle profiled six people who have left the restaurant industry since the pandemic began. Several cited long hours and job instability as reasons for leaving; others simply wanted to prioritize art, family, or learning new skills. One, who became a labor advocate in hopes of making restaurant jobs better in the long run, put her life change this way: “I’d still be working at Chipotle if not for the pandemic, but now I would not go back.” The mass exodus has left many restaurants in the Bay Area scrambling to find staff, the Chronicle reports; as a result, some are closing for mental health breaks in an effort to protect existing employees from burnout.
