9 reasons why employers need to hire candidates who are early in their food service careers

There are important short- and long-term benefits for employers to hire students, recent graduates, and others early in their careers for food service roles. We reached out to nine hiring experts to get their thoughts:

• Leverage Existing Customers for Recruitment
• Partner with Local Culinary Schools
• Gamify Mobile Recruiting for Gen Z
• Utilize Social Media for Authentic Content
• Streamline Application Process with Digital Filters
• Create Local Referral Hubs for Hiring
• Establish Partnerships with Educational Institutions
• Optimize Social Media Presence for Hiring
• Build Talent Pipeline Through Community Partnerships

Leverage Existing Customers for Recruitment

I’ve hired and managed dozens of food service staff over 20+ years in hospitality, and one strategy that consistently works is hiring through your existing customers. When I took over Flinders Lane Café in May 2024, I noticed our regulars often mentioned friends or family looking for work.

I started casually mentioning open positions to customers during their daily coffee runs. Three of our best hires came directly from regular customers who vouched for people they knew would fit our vibe. These hires had a 90% retention rate compared to about 40% from online job boards.

The beauty is that customers already understand your culture and standards because they experience it daily. When they recommend someone, they’re essentially pre-screening for personality fit. Plus, having a customer connection means new hires feel more invested in maintaining the relationships that got them the job.

I formalized this by putting up a simple “We’re Hiring” board visible to customers with a note asking them to mention anyone who might be interested. It’s low-cost, builds community connection, and consistently delivers candidates who actually want to be there rather than just need any job.

Janice Kuz, Owner, Flinders Lane Cafe

Partner with Local Culinary Schools

Partnering with local culinary schools and high schools has been my go-to strategy for finding enthusiastic food service talent. Last year, I hosted three job fairs at Sacramento’s culinary program where we hired 45 students. I found that these students stayed with us longer because they were genuinely interested in learning the restaurant business.

Allen Kou, Owner and Operator, Zinfandel Grille

Gamify Mobile Recruiting for Gen Z

Food service roles often demand quick hiring, high-volume intake, and employees who can adapt to fast-paced environments. But when it comes to early career candidates, traditional approaches — like walk-in applications or local job boards — are no longer enough. To scale hiring for dozens or hundreds of young workers, especially Gen Z, employers need to modernize how they reach, engage, and retain this talent pool. One highly effective strategy is to gamify the hiring experience and bring it directly to where young people live: their phones.

Gamified mobile recruiting merges two things early career candidates already enjoy — technology and interactive challenges — while turning job hunting into a more engaging, less intimidating experience. In this approach, employers develop mobile-first platforms (or partner with vendors) that turn the application process into a short series of fun, skills-based games or simulations that reflect actual tasks in food service: taking customer orders, managing time during a rush, or resolving complaints with empathy.

These simulations serve two purposes: First, they allow candidates to show potential rather than just list past experience (which many early-career applicants lack). Second, they offer an engaging brand touchpoint that reinforces company culture, rewards effort, and builds a positive first impression. Gamification also lowers the barrier to entry by making the process feel less like a job interview and more like a challenge they’re eager to win.

Domino’s Pizza in Australia rolled out a gamified hiring app where applicants could complete short interactive modules mimicking delivery scenarios, upselling pizzas, or solving customer service issues. The results? Application completion rates soared, candidate quality improved, and the brand became more attractive to younger job seekers who found the process enjoyable and low-stress.

Hiring early career candidates into food service roles at scale requires more than just volume — it demands relevance, speed, and a touch of fun. By introducing gamification into recruiting and meeting applicants on their mobile devices, employers not only attract more candidates but also give them a compelling reason to engage, apply, and stay. This strategy modernizes the food service hiring funnel, makes it more inclusive of young talent, and turns the first interaction with your brand into a memorable experience—before they ever walk into the kitchen.

Miriam Groom, CEO, Mindful Career inc., Mindful Career Counselling

Utilize Social Media for Authentic Content

TikTok and Instagram recruitment campaigns have worked amazingly well for our franchise locations targeting Gen Z workers. We created fun behind-the-scenes content showing real employee experiences. At Dirty Dough, we hired over 300 team members in 6 months by having current employees share authentic day-in-the-life videos, which helped candidates better understand the job before applying.

Bennett Maxwell, CEO, Franchise KI

Streamline Application Process with Digital Filters

If the hiring funnel is clogged with no-shows, the real fix is actually screening. One strategy that works well at scale is structuring the application to do the job of a first-round interview. Add a three-step digital filter: a timed availability confirmation, a location preference drop-down, and one values-based question. Not multiple choice but open text, max 20 words. It takes under 90 seconds but filters out up to 60 percent of candidates who will ghost anyway. That is thousands of dollars saved per cycle, especially when hiring in batches of 50 or more.

Onboarding is where most operators lose time and trigger risk. Food service roles face high I-9 error rates, incomplete tax forms, and inconsistent policy acknowledgement, especially in multi-unit hiring. PEO infrastructure solves that in one move: it centralizes onboarding, eliminates manual form errors, and feeds payroll without hand-entry. When you are scaling to 100 hires across five states, skipping that system is like asking for a DOL audit. Might as well automate the part that carries the fine.

Guillermo Triana, Founder and CEO, PEO-Marketplace.com

Create Local Referral Hubs for Hiring

A recruiting strategy that I endorse for hiring early-career employees into food service roles is to create local “referral hubs” through your teams and trusted community organizations rather than using mass job boards.

We’ve been able to quickly scale seasonal and fulfillment teams by creating an environment that turns our best employees into active recruiters. We provide structured incentives — not just bonuses but even access to earlier shifts or professional development opportunities for those who refer reliable candidates. We also leverage referral networks through local nonprofits, faith-based organizations, and youth employment services/agencies that are already serving job-ready candidates looking for flexible or entry-level work.

The advantage of this model is centered around trust: candidates arrive pre-vetted through someone who knows them, which positively affects issues like “ghosting,” length of employment, and “friction” in the onboarding process. And because our team is involved, they have an investment in the new hires’ success.

Take my advice: consider hyper-local and relationship-based recruitment first. When you build your recruiting strategy, consider designing it as you would for customer loyalty, with real people and not just algorithms. This approach allows for growth in a scalable, cost-effective, and extremely human way, which is exactly what the food service industry needs!

Mary Case, Founder, The Happy Food Company

Establish Partnerships with Educational Institutions

An effective strategy is to partner directly with local community colleges and trade schools to create a pipeline of early-career candidates through job fairs, campus ambassador programs, and tailored training sessions. This not only builds brand awareness and trust but also ensures that candidates enter with the right expectations and base skills, reducing early turnover and streamlining onboarding.

George Fironov, Co-Founder & CEO, Talmatic

Optimize Social Media Presence for Hiring

As a co-founder in the food industry, I’ve learned that attracting great talent in large volumes requires the same care as reaching new customers.

Tap platform-based hiring. Post jobs where your target audience is already engaged, such as on social media. This approach works especially well in food and hospitality, where food lovers and digital-first workers are active on social media.

Having a strong social media presence also helps potential candidates understand your culture and values.

It’s not only about where you post; you must keep an eye on how you present the job. The job post is the first thing that people perceive about the company, so optimize it. Use clear, crisp, and benefit-driven headlines. Don’t be flashy about your offerings.

Additionally, to add authenticity and attract a large volume of early-career applicants, highlight company culture and values.

Good content can attract the right candidates if the message is written in the right way and promoted on the right channels.

Eric Sornoso, Co-founder, Mealfan

Build Talent Pipeline Through Community Partnerships

As a professional in the recruitment industry, one strategy I recommend for employers hiring dozens or even hundreds of early-career candidates in food service is to build partnerships with local schools, colleges, and community organizations to create a steady pipeline of talent.

Early-career candidates — often students or recent graduates — are highly motivated by flexibility, quick hiring processes, and clear growth opportunities. Working directly with vocational programs, community colleges, and even workforce development organizations can present your jobs to a pre-qualified, engaged audience.

We’ve seen employers succeed by:

1. Hosting on-campus job fairs or info sessions timed around graduation and holiday breaks (when students often look for jobs).

2. Offering group interviews or open hiring days to process large numbers of applicants quickly.

3. Highlighting how the role can fit into their lifestyle and lead to advancement (which resonates with young workers).

This kind of proactive outreach, combined with a fast and friendly hiring experience, helps you attract and hire at scale while building a positive reputation in the community as an employer of choice.

Harlan Rappaport, Co-Founder, Hire Overseas