<p>2024 is going to be remembered for a lot of things, one of them being that it was the year we finally moved past the COVID-19 Pandemic. Industries everywhere are claiming to ‘be back’ to pre-pandemic functions, with everything from return to office initiatives to the National Restaurant Association boasting that <a href="https://www.nrn.com/workforce/restaurant-turnover-rates-improve-pre-pandemic-levels">restaurants are back to 2019 rates of turnover</a>.</p> <p>The problem is, <a href="https://pos.toasttab.com/blog/on-the-line/restaurant-turnover-rate#:~:text=Using%20the%20most%20recent%20data,(from%202013%2D2019).">the 2019 turnover rate for restaurants was 73%</a>, which is <em>insane</em>.</p> <p>So rather than referencing some not-so-great statistics from the past, today’s guest <a href="https://coreymintz.ca/">Corey Mintz</a> is looking forward to the future. Corey is a freelance food writer for everything from <a href="https://ny.eater.com/">Eater</a> to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/">The New York Times</a>, as well as an Operations Advisor for hundreds of restaurants across North America. He’s the author of two books, <a href="https://coreymintz.ca/new-page"><em>How to Host a Dinner Party</em></a> and his most recent one, <a href="https://coreymintz.ca/the-next-supper"><em>The Next Supper: The End of Dining as We Know It</em>.</a></p> <p>In today’s episode Corey shares his experiences embedding himself within various communities revolving around the restaurant industry, from farmers in Florida to the line in high-end LA restaurants. He got to experience first hand, not just how restaurants adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic, but how they’ve integrated lessons learned from that time to make a more sustainable, and equitable restaurant industry for all.</p> <p>This is another episode you’re definitely not going to want to miss, so with that…let’s bring it in!</p>