For restaurant operators, the labor market is migraine-inducing stuff these days. Quit rates are high – among Gen Z, Gen X, and virtually all categories of employees – and some workers simply don’t seem worth $15-plus per hour.

According to Cornell’s Center for Hospitality Research, the average total cost of restaurant turnover is $5,864 per employee. Meanwhile, a fast-food restaurant’s turnover can exceed 100% annually.

Workforce expert Scott Siff believes restaurants may not have a labor problem as much as an untapped-talent issue. The answer, he believes, is hiring more employees aged 55-plus.

“We need to update our assumptions about the retirement age and about how long people can continue contributing,” said Siff, the founder of Pivoters, a job-matching platform. “We need … to move our labor pool into the 21^st century. We just can’t afford to keep operating on a century-old model, set of assumptions, and infrastructure.

“If you’re in the restaurant business and not hiring these (older) folks, you really are missing out.”

Older Employees Often Overlooked

Foodservice isn’t the only industry that, historically, prefers younger employees. When the Social Security Act was enacted in 1935, it left most Americans envisioning those around 65 years old as being bound for a nursing home. And that is painfully antiquated logic, Siff said.

“Back then, in 1935, life expectancy was only 61,” Siff told The Food Institute. “Almost a century has passed, but the law and assumptions have barely budged; people are still expected to retire around 65.

“A retirement age of 65 is way out of date. People today [often] live into their mid-80s.”

Siff feels that the modern job-matching infrastructure is due for an overhaul. After all, job-matching platforms tend to skew toward younger and mid-career workers, potentially leaving older job seekers as a less-visible segment of the hiring pool.

“The average age of job-seekers on the major job-matching platforms is about 28 to 30 years old,” Siff said. “That means if you show up as someone 55-plus, you’re going to stand out as out of place, and your chances of getting a job – even one you’re totally qualified for – are not very good.”

Foodservice’s Hiring Edge?

Restaurant operators are hiring these days, but they’re rather cautious, as indicated by National Restaurant Association research.

NRA statistics show that the number of workers quitting their jobs in the accommodations and foodservice industry rose from 598,000 in May 2026 to 638,000 in June. Workers don’t typically leave their jobs voluntarily during periods of heightened economic uncertainty – like the present – yet the sector’s quit rate has averaged a still-elevated 4.3% year-to-date.

In Siff’s opinion, those stats should make older employees – who are typically rather loyal – all the more appealing to restaurants. He has found that, in general, employees aged 55-plus tend to boast the following traits in 2026:

• Extensive work experience
• Impressive soft skills
• Better-than-expected tech savviness

“Today’s 65-year-olds are about the equivalent of someone in their mid-40s a couple decades ago. They have years of work ahead of them,” Siff contended. “They stay in their jobs longer, and they’re happier employees – in fact, the happiest of any age cohort – which means a happier workplace (that) translates directly to better customer service.”

Siff has found that older employees often possess a rich set of interpersonal skills, which can help restaurant staffs defuse tense situations. In his experience, employees 55-plus boast the type of positive disposition that can be ideal for building staff morale.

Conversely, younger employees are often focused more on their careers, with an eye on quickly progressing along their career path, the expert said.

“Workers 55-plus are looking for jobs, not careers,” Siff said. “They get that the purpose of work is to contribute to the organization employing them, not just to develop their own professional profile.

“When (older employees) find a job they like, they stay. That translates to huge cost savings in terms of recruiting and training, but also to stability on the team.”

Source: Kelly Beaton, The Food Institute