CHICAGO -- The number-one concern for U.S. restaurant managers is human resources, in particular, finding, training and keeping the best employees, according to a new study at Cornell's School of Hotel Administration. The study, in which managers of independent operations and chains were surveyed, showed the second top concern to be government rules ill-designed for the food-service industry.

"Key Issues of Concern for Food-service Managers" by Professor Cathy Enz, executive director of the Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell's Hotel School, reveals the findings of a survey she designed that was distributed by the National Restaurant Association and responded to by 448 restaurant operators, senior managers and owners throughout the United States. The study's results are being formally released at the association's Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show at McCormick Place in Chicago this week, May 17-20.

"Managers were asked to think about the one or two issues or problems that they find themselves worrying about most or wish they had a better way of addressing," said Enz. The survey asked open-ended questions so that the respondents could cite anything that was on their minds, without being directed to a particular answer or forced to select an already identified problem.

Thirty-six percent of those responding named problems connected with human resources as their number-one concern, making it by far their top issue. The second highest issue was government taxation and regulation, named as a top concern by 25 percent of those responding. Other issues, cited by a much smaller percentage of the respondents, were categorized by Enz as follows: marketing, 9 percent; food and food safety issues, 8 percent; accounting, 8 percent; the economy, 7 percent; competitive dynamics, 4 percent; and operations, 3 percent. "The study's results are particularly intriguing because they capture the concerns of independent restaurateurs, as well as those of chain executives," said Enz. "While the two groups have much in common, they focus on different aspects of problems in various categories."

For example, while respondents in both groups showed considerable antipathy to government intrusions, independents (including sole proprietors and partnerships) found regulations on tipping, minimum wages and health insurance to be especially onerous. On the other hand, corporate executives were more concerned about legal liability and interference generally. One common theme: restaurant managers are convinced that regulators and legislators do not understand the industry's distinctive challenges.

Under the human resources category, respondents named employee skills as the biggest issue, followed first by benefits, next by recruiting, and then by a range of issues that included retention, motivation, compensation and training. Such issues, which remain a problem even during a down economy with rising unemployment, are connected with the industry's long-running challenge of finding and keeping talented workers, said Enz. Indeed, some respondents decried the industry's image as a place where people mark time while waiting for something else to come along, she noted. While those surveyed did not speak with one voice on such issues as compensation and training, the problems they identified may offer the industry an opportunity to revolutionize current human resource practices, Enz pointed out.

In addition, while issues other than human resources and government regulation were named by far fewer respondents, they clearly were cognizant of such matters as food safety and the need to expand markets, among other concerns, she said.

Enz expressed her appreciation to the National Restaurant Association for assisting with survey distribution. "This is an example of the collaboration between industry and academe that is a central purpose of the Center for Hospitality Research," she said.

About the Center for Hospitality Research

Based at Cornell's School of Hotel Administration, the Center for Hospitality Research informs scholarship in hospitality with an industry perspective. The center's mission is to bring together the best insights of scholarship in hospitality and industry expertise. Development of the CHR's research efforts is augmented by industry perspective from its advisory board and its 26 industry corporate sponsors and friends. For the study's findings, and other CHR-sponsored studies, see the center's Web site, http://www.chr.cornell.edu or call (607) 255-9780.