New restaurants in Santa Maria push for more staff

SANTA MARIA, CALIF. - One of the newest fast food restaurants in Santa Maria is Jack-in-the-Box at Enos Ranch Shopping Center.

"… Great it’s a good spot where they’re at … I like it," said customer Lydia Noriega.

But since its opening just three weeks ago, managers say business has been slow in part, due to lack of staffing.

"… we came in with a few staff … but even then it was still kind of hard to
find personnel … to get them started … to get them trained," said manager David Gutierrez of the new Jack-in-the-Box.

Managers say sometimes the only people inside the restaurant are the staff
workers.

"The beginning of the week it’s very slow … some people don’t know if were
open so and they were waiting for us to be open and when we weren’t open
they would leave … and just decide to go elsewhere," said Gutierrez.

Gutierrez says due to lack of staffing they’ve decided to delay the grand opening by several weeks.

"We have positions open for crews cooks, cashiers, maintenance… we have it
all," said Gutierrez.

Another new restaurant, Me and Ed’s delayed their opening date by
several weeks.

"We were delaying the opening because we don’t have enough staff at the
moment but now we’re starting to get more job applications," said district manager Jose Sanguino of Me & Ed's.

Sanguino hopes the momentum for more applicants picks up as
they get ready for their opening day.

"Calling out anyone who is looking for a job ... from 18 years and over … we are
in need of bartenders, servers, managers … everything," said Sanguino.

Both restaurants say they hope to double the number of employees by next month.