- December 13, 2025
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Courtesy. Jennifer Castellani, director of internal operations for Naples-based Culinary Concepts, says the hiring crunch is the worst she's ever seen in 20 years in the hospitality industry.
Courtesy. Michael Collins, an associate professor at the School of Resort & Hospitality Management at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, says the worker shortage is nothing new.
Courtesy. Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association President and CEO Carol Dover says the restaurant industry is competing with the government for workers.
Courtesy. Cihan Cobanoglu, the McKibbon Endowed Chair at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus, believes restaurants need to invest in their workers.
File. Tampa-based Little Greek Fresh Grill President Nick Vojnovic says one of the problems in not having enough staff is that the current staff is getting burned out.
Courtesy. Darrin Rohr, owner of Sarasota-based HH Staffing, says there's reasons to believe the employee market will get better for restaurants.
In a world full of ghosts, Jennifer Castellani is a unicorn.
The director of internal operations for Naples-based Culinary Concepts, with five brands in Southwest Florida, Castellani has been with the company for 21 years. She started as a server in Yabba Island Grill in Naples and has since worked her way up in the company, to now overseeing human resources, among other departments. In a high-turnover industry, that makes Castellani rare — like that unicorn.
