A new report from the Texas Restaurant Association finds that immigration enforcement is contributing to ongoing workforce shortages facing restaurants across Texas.
The association surveyed about 50 restaurant operators across the state for its latest report. According to the research, 36% of operators said they have lost employees because of immigration enforcement, while 28% said they are seeing fewer job applicants or fewer people accepting job offers.
The report also found that some restaurants are seeing a decline in customer traffic because people are afraid to be out in public.
Kelsey Erickson Streufert, Chief Public Affairs Officer for the Texas Restaurant Association, told KVUE that the findings show the issue is affecting a significant portion of the industry.
“Those are pretty significant numbers,” Streufert said. “That tells us that a really sizable portion of Texas restaurants are feeling one or more impacts because of our immigration enforcement activities.”
Streufert said about 20% of the restaurant workforce is foreign-born, many of whom have work authorization.
“Immigrants are really critical at every stage of our food pipeline,” Streufert said. “Food costs, as I mentioned, have already gone up 35% since the COVID-19 pandemic. And we’ve got a study that shows they’re going to go up an additional 14.5% if we stick to our current immigration policy playbook.”
Local restaurant owners feel the impact
At L’Oca d’Oro in Austin, co-owner Adam Orman said the restaurant industry has faced significant challenges over the years.
Orman has worked in the restaurant industry for nearly 30 years, including through the 2008 recession and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’ve seen restaurants deal with a lot of adversity,” Orman said.
Now, he said immigration enforcement is creating another challenge for restaurants.
“More than half of our employees have been impacted by immigration enforcement over the last year and a half,” Orman said.
He said the impact includes employees being detained or leaving the country, as well as family members, roommates and friends being affected.
“It’s not just undocumented workers who are being caught up in this enforcement,” Orman said. “A lot of our employees are afraid to come and go to work.”
Orman said losing workers can impact services and local businesses.
“The more of those [small businesses] we lose, the worse it is for the local economy,” Orman said. “There’s going to be fewer jobs, and we’re going to continue to lose a lot of what makes Austin, Austin.”
The Texas Restaurant Association said expanding work permits could help address workforce shortages in the industry.
Orman said changes to immigration enforcement tactics could also help ease the challenges facing restaurants, while support from the local community will also be important for locally owned businesses.
“My hope is that we’re going to find ways to support locally owned restaurants even more,” Orman said. “And that’s what we’re going to see more of in the future.”
Dining and Cooking