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Hospitality Staffing Shortages Finding Solutions Through Technology

South Carolina Business Review
SC Public Radio

By now, most people are aware of the staffing shortage in the hospitality industry. It was severe before the pandemic, then it became catastrophic. And those in the industry will tell you that it remains difficult even as the economy returns to normal. To make matters worse, recent polling indicates that 1 in 3 hospitality workers are actively looking to get out of the industry. Our next guest’s restaurant technology company was hatched in 2019 to help alleviate this problem and is now expanding across the Southeast.

Mike Switzer interviews Ben Ellsworth, chef, CEO, and co-founder of Gigpro in Charleston, SC.

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After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.