Digital Business & Future 03.04.2026

8 Min. Reading time

2,900 restaurant bankruptcies in 2025, almost 30 percent more than the previous year. 24,500 business closures in two years. At the same time, the number of reported vacancies fell from 43,000 to 2,700. That sounds like relief. It isn’t. The gap isn’t shrinking because the problem is solved, but because the firms that would need staff are disappearing. For the businesses that remain, competition for good people is getting tougher, not easier. Employer branding is no longer a marketing luxury. It’s a survival strategy.

Key Takeaways

• 2,900 restaurant bankruptcies in 2025, almost 30 percent more than the previous year. 24,500 business closures in two years.
• At the same time, the number of reported vacancies fell from 43,000 to 2,700.
• The bottleneck analysis of the Federal Employment Agency shows only about 2,700 missing skilled workers in the hotel and catering sector for 2024/25. In 2023 it was still over 43,000.
• At first glance a massive improvement.

Key Takeaways

Why the declining figures are misleading

The shortage analysis of the Federal Employment Agency shows for 2024/25 only about 2,700 missing skilled workers in the hotel and catering sector. In 2023 it was still over 43,000. At first glance a massive improvement.

The reality is different. Demand does not fall because teams finally are fully staffed. It falls because operators are shortening opening hours, streamlining concepts or shutting down completely. The Handelsblatt headline summed it up perfectly: “Skilled‑worker shortage in the hospitality industry – a thing of the past.” Not because the situation improved, but because the businesses that would have needed staff are no longer there.

Job ads speak the same language: In October 2025 the number of hospitality job ads fell by 24.4 % compared with the previous year – far steeper than the overall economic decline of 9.5 %. In the accommodation sector it was minus 17.5 %. The industry is shrinking faster than the labour market as a whole.

DEHOGA estimates the actual need at more than 65,000 missing employees when you include unskilled workers and temporary help. The IW Cologne calculated an additional need of 8,000 skilled workers just for the period of the 2024 football Euro. The official BA figure of 2,700 reflects only the fraction that is still reported actively.

Sources: Creditreform 2025, Federal Employment Agency October 2025

The Minimum Wage Effect: Higher Pay, Fewer Jobs

In January 2026 the statutory minimum wage rose to 13.90 Euro – an increase of 8.4 percent, one of the biggest single hikes in the history of the Minimum Wage Act. For a full‑time employee (40 hours) that means an extra 189.60 Euro per month, 2 275 Euro per year – gross salary only, without ancillary wage costs.

For the hospitality sector, where a disproportionate share of staff earn the minimum wage, this represents a massive cost shift. The DEHOGA annual kickoff survey shows: 75.2 percent of establishments cite personnel costs as the strongest cost pressure. Labour costs in the hospitality industry rose in Q4 2025 compared with Q4 2019 by 39.6 percent. Only 19.3 percent of businesses rate their situation as “good”, 38.7 percent as “bad”.

For the remaining firms a paradox emerges: personnel costs rise, the pool of workers shrinks, and the businesses that can afford it must fight even harder for good staff. In an industry with a turnover rate above 50 percent, every solid new hire is worth its weight in gold – and every departure is costly.

„We are experiencing the sixth consecutive year of real revenue losses. The sector is simultaneously battling rising costs and shrinking staff.“
DEHOGA Federal Association, Annual Kickoff Survey 2026

Why “Post & Pray” No Longer Works

A classic job posting on a job board reaches people who are actively looking. But in hospitality most employees don’t switch jobs via job portals; they rely on personal recommendations, social media and the employer’s reputation.

The numbers are alarming: 30 percent of young people actively search TikTok for apprenticeships, according to a Bertelsmann/IW study. At the same time 96 percent of firms completely ignore the platform. This gap between the target group’s search behaviour and employers’ recruiting approach is one of the biggest missed opportunities in the sector.

Job communities like shjft address exactly this: over 230 000 workers in the pool, 58 percent of them under 30. The platform connects job seekers in hospitality, retail and logistics with employers – not through classic job ads, but via community, referrals and a mobile‑first experience that fits the audience.

What Employer Branding actually means in gastronomy

Employer branding in the restaurant business isn’t a glossy campaign. It rests on three levers:

1. Visibility beyond the job board. When a prospective cook or service staff member Googles a restaurant’s name, more should appear than just a menu. A editorial article in a trade magazine, an employer profile with genuine insights, a story about the team – those are the touchpoints that make the difference. And they show up in AI search engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity when someone asks, “Which restaurants in Munich are good employers?”

2. Differentiation through culture, not salary. In an industry where almost everyone pays the same minimum wage, work culture decides. Flexible shifts, training opportunities, internal mobility within a group, flat hierarchies – these are the arguments that can be told in an employer story but a job ad can’t convey. The hotel group 25hours demonstrated this: under the promise “Come as you are” it built an employer‑branding programme that explicitly targets career changers and school‑dropouts – with 25 additional benefits besides salary and a talent‑management programme featuring “Experience Weeks”.

3. Reach the right target audience. When an employer‑story article is distributed through a trade or lifestyle magazine to a young, mobile audience, it reaches exactly the people who aren’t actively looking but are open to the right employer. Combined with platforms like shjft, this creates reach that traditional job ads alone cannot achieve.

The DACH Comparison: No Country Has Solved It

The problem isn’t German, it’s European. In Austria, a WKO survey reports that 82 percent of gastronomy and hotel businesses suffer from a skills shortage. In Switzerland, apprenticeship placement rates in the hospitality sector have been declining continuously since 2012 – GastroSuisse has responded with the state‑funded “Avanti!” programme: participatory leadership, industry recommendations for employer attractiveness, and image campaigns.

In the United Kingdom, UKHospitality says 170 000 positions vanished in 13 months as a result of the employer National Insurance increase. At the same time, 132 000 jobs remain vacant, 48 percent above pre‑pandemic levels. The turnover rate stands at 52 percent annually. Germany is at a similar level with turnover exceeding 50 percent.

What all DACH countries share: the solution won’t come from higher wages alone. The Swiss “Avanti!” initiative deliberately focuses on employer attractiveness as a lever – not on subsidies. For German restaurateurs this means: waiting for the next minimum‑wage hike and hoping it will lure applicants is futile.

Sources: IAB/Destatis, WKO Austria 2023

The Cost of Inaction

An unfilled position costs, on average, 29 000 Euro per vacancy. In hospitality, where vacancies tend to stay open longer and every missing staff member directly hits revenue and service quality, the real damage is often higher: lost sales from reduced opening hours, overtime costs for the remaining team, and declining service quality that leads to poorer reviews.

The counter‑calculation: an employer‑branding package in a trade magazine starts at 890 Euro. Filling just one position faster recoups that investment many times over. And unlike a job ad that disappears from search indexes after two weeks, an editorial article stays online permanently, SEO‑optimized and discoverable by AI search engines.

The Consolidation Advantage

The industry is shrinking. But the businesses that remain become stronger. Those who invest in their employer brand now build an advantage that grows with every competitor that exits the market. The Berlin University of Applied Sciences for Business and Law has created, for the first time, a scientific basis with the Employer Attractiveness Rating for the Hospitality Sector, based on more than 30,000 responses from employees. The insight: employer attractiveness can be measured, compared and deliberately improved.

For restaurateurs who want to survive and grow, there are three concrete next steps. First: define your own employer story – what makes your business special as an employer? Second: place that story where your target audience will see it – in trade magazines, on social media, through job communities like shjft. Third: measure the impact – application numbers, time‑to‑hire, turnover rate before and after the campaign.

Conclusion: Employer branding is not a costume, it’s a survival strategy

Hospitality is caught in a double crisis: rising costs and a shrinking workforce. The businesses that make it through are those with the strongest teams. And the best teams go where the employer brand resonates. 2,900 insolvencies in 2025 show that waiting is not a strategy. Companies that act now will attract the skilled workers from a contracting sector. Those that wait will become part of the next insolvency statistics.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does employer branding cost for a hospitality business?

Entry packages with an editorial employer article in a trade magazine start at 890 Euro. Packages with guaranteed reach (Verified Reads) and a social‑media kit are priced at 2 490 Euro. Premium packages with multi‑magazine presence and a dedicated employer profile page start at 4 990 Euro.

How many skilled workers are missing in the German hospitality sector?

Figures vary by methodology: the Federal Employment Agency cites roughly 2 700 vacancies on average in 2024/25, while DEHOGA speaks of over 65 000 missing staff, including unskilled workers. The low BA number mainly reflects declining demand due to business closures, not a genuine easing of the shortage.

Why aren’t job ads enough on their own anymore?

Job ads only reach active seekers. Thirty percent of young people look for apprenticeships on TikTok, yet 96 percent of companies ignore the platform. Employer branding through editorial content and job communities also reaches passive talent and builds a long‑term employer brand.

What role do job communities like shjft play?

Platforms such as shjft claim a pool of over 230 000 workers, 58 percent of them under 30. Combined with editorial employer‑branding content in trade magazines, they generate reach that traditional job ads alone cannot achieve.

Is employer branding worthwhile for small businesses?

For smaller operations, a single employer‑story article can make the difference: it stays online permanently, is SEO‑optimized, and appears in a professional magazine environment. An unfilled position costs on average 29 000 Euro. An investment starting at 890 Euro is only a fraction of that.

Read More

Return to Office 2026: Why Mandatory Office Attendance Drives Top Talent Away (MyBusinessFuture)

Skilled‑Worker Turnaround: Five Strategies That Actually Work (MyBusinessFuture)

Workforce Analytics: Data‑Driven HR Decisions Instead of Gut Feelings (MyBusinessFuture)

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s important about Why the declining numbers are misleading?

The bottleneck analysis by the Federal Employment Agency shows that for 2024/25 there will be only about 2,700 missing skilled workers in the hotel and catering sector. In 2023 it was still over 43,000. At first glance, a massive improvement.

What’s important about The minimum‑wage effect: Higher pay, fewer jobs?

In January 2026 the statutory minimum wage rose to 13,90 Euro – an increase of 8.4 percent, one of the largest single hikes in the history of the minimum‑wage law. For each full‑time employee (40 hours) that means an extra 189,60 Euro per month, 2 275 Euro per year – gross salary only, without additional labor costs.

What’s important about Why “Post & Pray” no longer works?

The classic job posting on a job board reaches people who are actively looking. But in hospitality most staff don’t switch jobs via job portals; they rely on personal recommendations, social media and the employer’s reputation.

What’s important about What employer branding actually means in hospitality?

Employer branding in the gastronomy sector isn’t a glossy campaign.

What’s important about The DACH comparison: No country has solved it?

The problem isn’t German, it’s European. In Austria, according to a WKO survey, 82 percent of gastronomy and hotel businesses report a skilled‑labour shortage.

Source cover image: Pexels / Huy Nguyen Dang (px:3437689)