On the Côte d’Azur, a few days before the start of the summer season, the sun is already shining, as are national and international tourists. Seasonal employees are becoming rarer.
A little everywhere in Nice (Alpes-Maritimes) are flourishing signs and other posters on the fronts of restaurants: “Looking for waitress and bartender. Submit your CV”. From the café on Place Masséna to the most famous fast-food restaurant on Avenue Jean-Médecin, via the restaurants on the Promenade des Anglais, many establishments are unable to complete their teams.
“The ‘cut’ has become a dirty word”
This need for labor forces professionals in the sector to improve working conditions to attract staff, otherwise to see their establishment partially close or refuse customers for lack of arms.
This is the case of Tom Wander, manager of the Bistrot gourmand, a restaurant located near Place Masséna and open all year round. “Experienced profiles are hard to find and keep”recognizes the young man of 29 years, at the head of the establishment for a year and a half. “So we changed our strategy, especially on the schedules. This is the first question I am asked before even talking about the salary. People are looking for time sometimes more than money. The “break” system [la pause de plusieurs heures entre les services du midi et du soir], you must forget. It has become a dirty word. » Completed, therefore, the services in two stages. The dining room employees now work from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. or from 5 p.m. until the restaurant closes, between 11 p.m. and midnight.
This news was greeted with enthusiasm by Sylvain Fragneau, the establishment’s assistant butler. Like many of his relatives, this 29-year-old father thought, during successive confinements, of leaving the environment he joined fourteen years earlier. “I questioned myself a lot. Many of my friends, in the kitchen or in the hotel industry, left to have a more fulfilling social life. » It was the change of organization within the restaurant, decided after consultation with his boss, that convinced him to stay.
“Covid has changed the way we live”abounds Sophian Dallée, in charge of recruitment at the Baieta private beach, Promenade des Anglais. “The grievances are no longer the same as a few years ago. Today, they all want to “go long”, as they say! I understand that the staff who live with the cuts all the time are fed up. »
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