The restaurant industry has been wrestling with labor challenges for years—and those pressures aren’t easing. As of 2025, 70% of restaurant operators report having job openings that are difficult to fill, and 45% say they don’t have enough employees to meet customer demand. Meanwhile, 82% of U.S. foodservice operators are actively recruiting, even as many struggle to retain staff.

In early 2024, staffing in restaurants was still about 3.6% below pre-pandemic levels, translating to nearly 450,000 unfilled positions across the country, with 62% of operators saying they couldn’t find enough staff to meet demand.

What this all means for operators: even as wages, benefits, and workplace culture become more competitive, the labor pool remains tight. Many restaurants are turning to innovation—not just in HR, but in workflows, layout, and especially equipment—to close the gap.

Balancing Staff When Your Team Is Lean

When your labor supply is limited, getting staffing right across shifts becomes a high-stakes juggling act. Too few team members on a busy night, and you risk guest dissatisfaction, delays, or order errors. Too many on a slow night, and you’re carrying inefficiency you can’t afford.

Equipment investments can tilt the balance:

• Reduce skill/time demands: The more user-friendly the technology, the lower the threshold for training and error.
• Compress process times: Faster equipment means you can serve more guests with the same crew.
• Enable multitasking or cross-function roles: Equipment that automates or supports multiple steps allows staff to switch roles dynamically.
• Limit idle time: Intelligent or self-loading/unloading equipment helps ensure no station is waiting or blocked.

Let’s dig deeper into how this works at the front and back of house.

Streamlining Take-Out & Front-of-House Flow

With off-premises dining now dominating much of restaurant volume, the front line is under more strain than ever. Self-service kiosks, order pick-up stations, and food lockers don’t just reduce reliance on staff: they help improve speed, reduce errors, and free employees to focus on guest touchpoints where it matters.

When a customer can browse, customize, and pay on their phone, your staff can shift from “order taker” to “hospitality agent.” That frees up headcount to support delivery, packaging, or upselling instead. Combined with back-of-house improvements, this can meaningfully reduce dependence on front-line staffing numbers.

Rethinking Back-of-House

Overhauling your back-of-house equipment is where operators often see the highest returns on labor savings. Here’s how modern, thoughtfully designed equipment can help overcome staffing challenges.

1. Ease of Use & Reliability

Reduce training overhead

Every minute spent teaching or correcting is margin lost. When equipment is intuitive, staff members learn faster, make fewer mistakes, and supervise less. Many modern units come with:

• Full-color touchscreens and visual controls
• Recipe memory with presets
• Error alerts, auto shutoffs, and safety interlocks

These features let even less-experienced staff run high-volume items accurately. In labor-constrained settings, that’s a game changer. Ovention ovens include these features across the lineup.

2. Programmability & Variability

Support menu agility without extra labor

Ovention ovens can flex temperature by ±50°F between cooks and store up to 1,000 recipes. That means less downtime, fewer manual adjustments, and faster rollout of new menu items. Models like the Matchbox 1718 and 1313 make it easy to move from pizzas to proteins with no lag.

3. Automated Loading & Unloading

Multiply your throughput without more staff

Some models, such as the Matchbox and Shuttle series ovens, feature dual auto-load and unload technology. Employees don’t need to babysit every cycle: with the touch of a button, the cooking surface automatically moves into the cavity to begin the cook. When the cycle is complete, the food exits on its own and the next menu item is loaded to cook. This hands-free process keeps orders moving, saves time, and frees up staff for other tasks like plating and quality checks.

4. Compact design & workflow alignment

Maximize space and keep teams moving

Kitchen space is always at a premium, so equipment has to deliver more in less room. All Ovention models are 100% ventless, eliminating the need for a costly hood and opening up more installation options. That compact, flexible design not only boosts production capacity per square foot but also simplifies workflow. With fewer stations and programmable, easy-to-use controls, Ovention ovens reduce unnecessary handoffs and help lean teams stay efficient.

5. Energy Efficiency

Cut costs, improve comfort

Better thermal control reduces ambient heat, easing the burden on HVAC and creating a cooler kitchen environment. Ovention ovens are up to one-third more energy efficient than traditional countertop ovens. That efficiency helps lower costs and improves working conditions, which supports retention.

How Equipment Addresses Team Challenges

Here’s how common staffing pressures can be eased with the right equipment strategies.

What Equipment Can Never Replace

No piece of equipment can replace your people. Employees who bring their skills, passion, and hospitality instincts will always matter most. But with the right support in place, your team becomes more effective, better equipped, and happier, and that means your operation is also less vulnerable to turnover disruptions. True efficiency comes from aligning people, processes, and equipment. When these elements are in sync, even lean teams can perform at their best.

Ready to see how the right oven can transform your operation? Find an Ovention rep near you.