In the Hotel Hauserbauer in Dorfgastein (Sbg.) there is a fire on the roof: senior boss Georg Rohrmoser (60) had a heart attack and a stroke. A successor is now urgently needed for his position in the kitchen, but the search is difficult: no candidate has been found for years. Three waiter jobs are also open.

Why is it so difficult to find staff? “Corona certainly plays a role. Gastronomy used to be considered crisis-proof, but that was once,” says Managing Director Alexandra Fritzenwanker (31). “The issue of apprentices also weighs heavily. Because the apprentice is simply not held in very high regard in society, that starts in school when a good student is told, ‘You won’t be stupid and learn’.”

No restaurant service in the evening

Due to a lack of staff, the Hotel Hauserbauer has only had a public restaurant for lunch for a few weeks now, and in the evenings only hotel guests are served. According to Fritzenwanker, they are urgently looking for employees and have even asked a temporary work agency. “However, someone who is placed in this way costs seven to eight thousand euros per month – and that’s just not possible.”

In order to make working in the company more attractive, more attractive working time models have already been considered. “But of course that’s not possible as long as there aren’t enough staff.” For Fritzenwanker, the bad reputation of the industry is partly to blame for the difficult situation, but this is not necessarily justified. “Our job is very nice, you get to know a lot of nice people who enjoy it. It has to become more and more public that it’s great work.”