College students helping some Columbia businesses staffing issues as others remain in search of employees

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Thursday marks one month since Mizzou students returned to campus for the school year. Some businesses in Columbia say students have helped with the staffing shortage they were experiencing, while others have received few applications.

Jeff Spencer, the owner of Just Jeff's, said they have received over 100 applications over the past three months, with most of them being students within the last month.

The owner of Addison's, Matt Jenne, said the addition of students has not only helped the staffing issues but it has brought back the business that they were lacking.

Jenne said they are still short in some areas. "We are still short-staffed. Students tend to want to work as hosts, servers and busboys, so we need help both front of house and back of the house."

In efforts to get more full-time kitchen staff, Jenne said their locations offer competitive medical benefits and benefits for veterinary care so that people know they can have peace of mind when they come to work there.

Spencer said he is also doing incentives right now to get staffing issues figured out.

"We have a shared tip program that is adding about $4-$5 an hour to every single employee that we have in both of our stores. Everybody's got to be creative and think outside the box at this time," Spencer said.

Other employers haven't been fortunate to find a lot of new hires. Matt McGee, the owner of On the Rocks, said his business is still running with about half the usual staff.

"We've had shockingly few applications so far this fall. We expected to see a lot, but that hasn't been the case, so we're trudging through the best that we can with the staff that we have," McGee said. McGee said they would continue doing outreach both online and in the bar.

All three owners agreed that most customers know that the staffing shortage affects places everywhere and have been patient.

"Everybody understands that things may take a little longer, or there may be at a table that is sitting open and you want to get sat, but we just can't seat it because we don't have the staff to do it," Jenne said.

Missouri unemployment numbers at the end of the week of Aug. 28 were 10,961, compared to the week of Sept. 11 when 5,659 claims were filed.