A Jersey Mike's shop opening in California is offering a hiring bonus of up to $10,000, as fast food chains struggle to bring back workers
- The Santa Cruz Jersey Mike's is offering a hiring bonus of $10,000 for its assistant manager role.
- The owner said the sandwich shop is working to adapt and find new ways to draw in workers.
- It is one of many companies that has implemented new incentives to combat the labor shortage.
As fast food chains struggle to find workers, one sandwich shop is offering new hires up to $10,000.
A Jersey Mike's in Santa Cruz, California told Fox Business it will pay a $10,000 incentive for a new assistant manager. The payment will be made in three installments during the manager's first year at the shop.
The chain told the network that it has already received several qualified applications for the position that will pay $18 to $20 per hour.
The Jersey Mike's location is set to open soon just 75 miles outside of San Francisco and is working to fill its employee roster by offering several other incentives for multiple roles. The Santa Cruz restaurant is offering $5,000 bonuses for new shift leaders and $500 for incoming full- and part-time employees, Fox Business reported.
"We're going to have to run a very efficient business to make this work but I think we all need to adapt to this climate for our businesses [to be] successful," Brett Johanson, the co-owner of the shop, told the network.
The company did not respond to a request for comment from Insider. It is one of many companies that has begun offering new incentives to lure in prospective candidates. In April, Insider's Kate Taylor reported that a McDonald's in Florida was paying people $50 just to show up for a job interview.
Major companies, including Amazon, Walmart, and Chipotle, have also recently boosted pay in order to make their jobs more competitive in a labor shortage that has left restaurants and retailers scrambling.
Forty percent of restaurants say they're understaffed, and 80% say that they're keeping at least one hiring role posted at all times, QSR Magazine reported in April. Last week, the US Chamber of Commerce called the labor shortage a "national emergency," pointing to data that there are more job vacancies than available workers in South Dakota, Nebraska, and Vermont.
On Sunday, Insider's Áine Cain reported that long hours, unruly customers, and low pay have caused minimum wage workers to quit their jobs in droves.