If you run a hospitality business on the Sunshine Coast, you already know what the staff problem looks like. The chef who's been with you 18 months drops a resignation email at 11pm on a Sunday. The senior bartender takes a job at the new venue down the road. Your best floor staff member tells you she's moving to Melbourne in three weeks.

Here's the data you need to actually internalise. One Hays figure often cited is that 61% of Australian workers are planning to change jobs this year. In hospitality, where turnover is already chronic, that number should terrify you.

Let's talk about why your best chef is about to quit, and what to do about it.

The state of hospo right now

Hospitality is booming on the Coast. Tourism is strong. New venues are opening across Mooloolaba, Noosa, Caloundra, and Maleny. Existing venues are expanding. Cafes are everywhere.

But while demand for hospo workers is rising fast, the supply is going the other way. Backpacker labour has only partially returned post-pandemic. Casual workers cycle through jobs faster than ever. Career hospitality professionals are getting older and a smaller pool is replacing them.

For any decent chef, cook, or experienced front of house, this means options. They can walk into a new kitchen tomorrow. They can earn more by switching every six months. They can pick the venue that gives them the best lifestyle, not the one that's closest.

If your business isn't actively keeping them happy, someone else's business is actively trying to take them.

Why hospo has a reputation problem

Hospitality has a reputation. Loud kitchens. Toxic chefs. Long hours. Underpayment. Treating staff like a number. Bullying. Burnout.

Whether or not it's true for your business, candidates assume the worst until you prove otherwise.

This is the thing most hospo owners don't realise. The candidate weighing up your venue is bringing the baggage of every bad hospo job they've ever had. Every screaming chef. Every shift cancellation at the last minute. Every "trial" that turned into unpaid labour. Every roster posted at 11pm on a Wednesday.

If your job ad says "great team culture" and "family vibe," that means nothing to them. Every venue says those words. Their default assumption is that you're going to be exactly like the last terrible place they worked.

The only way to change that assumption is to show them otherwise.

The toxic kitchen stereotype, and how to destroy it

The single most powerful piece of recruitment content a hospo business can make is video that proves you're not the toxic version of the industry.

Not a video that says it. A video that shows it.

The head chef working with the team during service, communicating clearly, calling out plates without screaming. The kitchen at 9pm on a Friday actually running smoothly. The team finishing service and high-fiving each other instead of collapsing into a sullen exit. A quick shot of the chef saying thanks to the kitchen porter at the end of the night.

For a hospo worker who's been burnt, that 30-second clip is more powerful than any pay rise. It's evidence that your venue is not the place she's already trying to escape.

Fast footage of service. Real energy. Real laughs. Real teamwork. That's the proof candidates are looking for.

Permanent versus casual: say it loud

Here's a specific Coast advantage most hospo owners don't lean into hard enough.

The Coast has a huge proportion of casual hospo work because of tourism. Venues hire casuals for peak season then drop them. Backpacker jobs are everywhere but typically short-term. Workers are constantly chasing the next gig because the current one doesn't offer stability.

If you're offering a permanent role, with regular hours, with consistent pay, with the chance of long-term career progression, that's gold. Not bronze, not silver. Gold.

A lot of hospo workers on the Coast have given up on permanent work because the venues they applied to either ghosted them or only offered casual hours. If you can credibly offer permanent, you're already in a different tier of employer.

But you have to say it. Loudly. Specifically. Not buried in the small print of a SEEK ad.

What makes hospo recruitment content work

For hospo specifically, the best recruitment content has these elements.

Fast cuts. Match the energy of the industry. Service moments. Plates going out. The team in motion.

Real team dynamics. Not staged. Not corporate. The actual way your kitchen and floor staff interact when they're in the zone.

The head chef on camera, briefly, being human. Not lecturing. Not selling. Just being themselves. The whole vibe of your kitchen is set by the chef, so candidates need to see them clearly.

Lifestyle. End-of-shift moments. The team having a knock-off drink. The walk home. The Sunday off. The Friday morning farmers market run. Show what life around the job actually looks like.

Permanent role messaging clearly. Not buried. Up front. Because in a sea of casual work, that's your differentiator.

Why retention matters as much as recruitment

There's another angle most hospo owners miss. The content you make for recruitment also works for retention.

When your existing team sees themselves featured in your content, looking great, being celebrated, they feel valued. Same content, two purposes.

This matters in hospo because the people you've already got are constantly being approached by competitors. The new venue down the road is actively trying to poach your senior bartender. The flash hotel is messaging your sous chef. Your floor manager is being headhunted on Instagram DMs.

If your business looks vibrant, healthy, and somewhere worth staying on your social media, your team has a reason to stay. If your social media looks like a graveyard, the offer from the competitor venue starts looking more interesting.

The content fights both fights at once.

What to do this week if you're losing staff

If you're a Coast hospo business with constant turnover, here's the first move.

Film one short interview with your best, longest-tenured team member. The one who's been around long enough to remember the bad places. Ask them why they stay. Don't script anything. Don't redo takes.

Film 60 seconds of your kitchen and floor during a normal service. Not the busiest night. Not staged. Just real.

Cut it into a 30 to 60 second clip. Post it on Instagram and Facebook. Run it as an ad targeted to hospo workers within 25 kilometres.

Meanwhile, the same content goes on your social grid. Your existing team sees it. The candidates considering you see it. Both audiences trust your venue more.

Do this every few months and you've built a moat. Competitors trying to poach your team have to fight against the evidence that your venue is genuinely a good place to be.

The takeaway

61% of workers are planning to change jobs this year. In hospitality, where turnover is already chronic, you can either be losing your best people or quietly attracting other businesses' best people.

The difference is whether you're showing the work or just claiming it. Whether your kitchen feels like the bad reputation hospo has, or the good version most workers have given up on finding.

Show it. Run it as ads. Make it impossible for hospo workers on the Coast to scroll past you without noticing you're different.

Want help building a recruitment campaign for your hospo business? Book a 15-minute call and we'll talk through what would work for your venue.