While the broader economy continues to face headwinds, the restaurant industry under Jody Palubiski’s leadership is heating up.
Palubiski, CEO of the Charcoal Group, oversees 18 restaurants across Southern Ontario, including the iconic Charcoal Steakhouse in Kitchener, which has been in operation since 1955. “That’s still in constant operation and it does very well — having its best year ever,” he says.
Despite economic uncertainty, rising costs of living, and changing consumer habits, Palubiski says the restaurant group is growing. “We’re still exceeding last year and feel optimistic. We’ve currently just signed off on four more leases and have three in discussion for the next two and a half years.”
He acknowledges broader challenges in the industry: “There’s a lot of uncertainty in the marketplace – a lot of noise in the media,” which he believes contributes to “some lack of consumer optimism.” Yet, restaurants, he says, continue to resonate with people.
“We’re in an industry that people love, that people aspire to. Everybody who’s ever worked in it has dreamed about owning their own place,” says Palubiski. He adds that while some chains are growing and others are pulling back, “it gets down to operation, style of restaurant, but also very largely geography and locations and all the old stuff that we’ve always looked at.”
The Charcoal Group has recently expanded with new Beertown locations in London and Whitby. When asked about the labour market, Palubiski says, “We’re tremendously fortunate. We are fully staffed from a culinary standpoint, from a front of the house management standpoint, from an hourly standpoint. We’re actually finding it to be a really positive job market right now.”
Attracting and retaining talent, he emphasizes, is a strategic priority. “The main thing you have to do is retain good people, create an ecosystem or an environment that can benefit everybody within it. If you do that, not only do you retain people, but word of mouth and willingness to refer their friends becomes far easier.”
Palubiski also takes a deeply personal perspective on what working in hospitality offers, particularly to young people starting their careers. “I’m a father of four. Over the years, I look at it through the eyes of my experience and as the experience of an employer, having kids enter the workforce and looking at it through their eyes as well as the eyes of a parent.”
He says the industry provides critical life skills: “Learning employability skills, being on time, looking sharp, having a winning mindset. How to be a positive team member. How to communicate effectively. That’s a great piece.”
He adds, “I want my staff to be able to greet people, look them in the eye, confidently say, ‘How are you this evening? Thank you for joining us at Beertown.’”
Confidence, communication, teamwork, leadership, and resilience are all traits Palubiski believes the restaurant environment can build. “We can work in a high-pressure environment and at the end of the day, come out of it, have a successful shift, high five each other — to know that you worked through pressure and came up the other side in a really positive way helps build resilience.”
And for restaurants, getting staffing right is non-negotiable. “You have to get it right,” he says. “There has to be a continued focus on attracting, onboarding, training, and positively managing the very best people in the industry and building superior teams. That’s how you do well in our industry. It is the hospitality industry, and so hospitality has to be the leading factor in those things.”
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