“We received 135,000 applications for positions within the resort and are pleased with the caliber of candidates that we have been able to attract,” spokeswoman Rosie Salisbury told the Herald. “It’s clearly been a disruptive force,” Luz told the Herald.Įncore itself has had little problem getting applicants. But hiring 5,000-plus people - an unprecedented number in modern Boston history, he said - inevitably tightens the market. Luz said the casino has been respectful to existing businesses, and is not resorting to underhanded tactics to poach people from local restaurants. “The casino just drove the cost right up,” said Cohen, whose company owns Coogan’s, The Black Rose and Clery’s. Glynn Hospitality operations manager Sheldon Cohen said the nine restaurants his company owns have seen more than 10 bartenders and cooks leave. “That’s one of the fears that we have,” Luz said, saying that restaurants begin to pay people more and, “You reach a breaking point because you can’t just keep passing it onto the consumer.” Massachusetts Restaurant Association chief Bob Luz noted recent high-profile restaurant closures, including Boston landmark Durgin-Park - and said his members tell him they worry that trend will continue. Restaurateurs say Boston’s strong economy in recent years already had left scant pickings for hires even before Encore opened in Everett in late June, ramping up hiring to over 5,000 hospitality workers. “We already had issues with finding staff - the casino has added a whole other dimension to it,” said Mark D’Alessandro, the general manager of Mistral and operations manager for the Columbus Restaurant Group. Encore Boston Harbor’s huge hiring spree is squeezing an already tight restaurant labor market, yanking workers from Boston bars and restaurants and stirring fears that local spots will close under the pressure.

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