With the fall 2019 events season now underway, all event companies are heavily engaged in their respective fields. Fall weddings and events in Dallas remain a staple of the culture of North Texas. Primarily because the oppressive summer heat finally gives way to a divine autumn crispness. This limited window of perfect temperature ushers in the busy fall wedding season. Fair-weather wedding guests and party-goers flock to outdoor wedding venues. Rooftop patios and backyard parties fill with guests celebrating the clear skies and cooler temperatures. Among this sea of brides, planners and guests, event staff busily shuttle the entire affair on trays throughout the party. But what should well-spoken and polite, yet temporary event staff in Dallas Texas cost when you only need them for a few hours on a particular day?
The cost of event staff in Dallas Texas will rise next year
Currently, workers within the hospitality and events industry are largely dictating labor costs and worker pay rates themselves. Because unemployment has shrunk to 3.4% in Texas, they now have a say in the matter. At the same time, event companies remain paralyzed with indecision about how to handle higher event staff hiring costs while retaining their clients and reputation. So, while pricing and hiring in 2020 may seem like distant priorities to event companies, ample reasons exist to look ahead. Every company will be forced to raise prices in some fashion to compensate for their rising labor costs. The market forces of low unemployment and abundant job opportunity dictate this truth. Combined, they will be the primary drivers on upending outdated pricing models for event staff in Dallas Texas in 2020.
Event staffing agencies and caterers caught in the middle
Even this year, rising labor costs in relation to preexisting pricing arrangements are wreaking havoc on profitability for many companies. So, how can planners correctly budget weddings and events for 2020 when labor costs continue to rise? And what will that mean for caterers and temp agencies caught in the middle? On the one hand, people and businesses hosting events possess more choices than ever. On the other hand, event staff in Dallas Texas and other parts of the state want more money for the temporary use of their time and services. This dynamic spells trouble to event companies who cannot revise their pricing structures sooner rather than later. That is why looking ahead now and revising event pricing accordingly will be critical to surviving the labor crunch in 2020.
Event Companies in Dallas having to make tough choices
However, both planners and caterers remain upstream from event staffing companies in terms of negotiating prices for weddings and events. And they remain hard-pressed to raise their prices with so many boom-economy startups competing against them. This increasingly forces caterers, country clubs and venues to make tough choices between immediate labor costs versus long-term quality and reputation. Unfortunately, this has resulted in a noticeable slide from ‘excellence in service’ to substandard at best across the industry. But beyond quality issues, the diminishing quantity of event staff in Dallas Texas affects the four corners of the events industry. Largely because most jobs within hospitality represent physically demanding positions. And while immigration reform represents a potential long-term solution, US political deadlock makes that an unlikely near-term solution.
Opportunity or dilemma for event staffing in Dallas Texas?
Does this then represent a dilemma or an opportunity for event staffing companies in Dallas in 2020? Each will navigate the perilous path forward in their own method and manner. Many staffing agencies will keep prices steady in a frenzied bid to hold accounts, even as their own costs rise. However, low pricing and therefore thin margins, create an insidious side effect. Lower profit margins will mean fewer people internally doing important functions. Margins on event staff in Dallas Texas remain thin enough already. Further margin loss will ultimately erode some companies’ ability to recruit talented workers and retain seasoned professionals. And from skilled internal roles to event leadership, every position remains critical to an event staffing company’s effectiveness.
The way forward for hospitality and event companies
All hospitality and event companies in Texas stand at the same crossroads. All share the same issues in weaker recruitment and higher retention costs. But food and service comprise two major components of weddings and events. So, without a massive influx of applicants back into hospitality, the new paradigm will become permanent. This becomes especially true of event staff in Dallas Texas, because the economy remains incredibly stable even during global upheavals. Even the recent media suggestion that a recession may be looming will likely prove to be a mild case for Texas. Thus, the fork in the road for event companies throughout Texas in 2020 revolves around their choice between maintaining standards or bottom lines.
Cost of bartenders, waitstaff and chefs will continue to rise
Only by repackaging bartender, waiter and chef opportunities into better paying and benefit-driven careers will workers once again return to the events industry in large numbers. As a result, pay rates for event staff in Dallas Texas will likely not stop rising in 2020. This will continue until a new cultural equilibrium establishes itself between worker sentiment and market demand. For labor-intensive services such as fast food, transport and construction, the road ahead remains treacherous. They will largely be forced into a prolonged retreat as they seek to replace labor with technology. The same will hold true for hospitality and event companies. As for employment staffing agencies, this will absolutely divide them into either luxury-level services or stripped-down commodities.
The rise of luxury event staffing in Dallas Texas
Luckily, hospitality and events have long been rooted in the consumption of their services by the socioeconomic elite. This financial ‘upper crust’ has always managed to maintain fine dining service standards by paying more. So while everyone will eventually be forced to pay some amount more, the luxury-level service model represents an important piece to the future. It will help to protect the highest standards of service from being lost during this period of change. Given time, luxury-priced event staff in Dallas Texas will begin to represent a larger percentage of the whole. Therefore, the boldest event companies must be prepared to go where others dare not go.
Low-cost event staff in Dallas Texas will evaporate
Ultimately, commodity-priced event staff in Dallas Texas will start to evaporate from the bottom up. Event staffing companies that choose to tread water with lower profit margins face risky consequences. Many will begin sinking beneath the waves of debt and insolvency. And pleading for survival will not alone be enough of a reason to raise costs on clients if the quality does not follow. Especially when the best event staffing agencies are managing to do so. Only those looking ahead and partnering well will have a chance of surviving intact. The resulting ‘die off’ of poorly-managed staffing companies will in turn diminish total available service volume in Texas.
The future of events in Dallas Texas
This culling of the weakest event companies will redefine the boundaries of how many can exist in North Texas. This will undoubtedly change the face of the Dallas weddings and events industry for the next decade. This hard reset will entail large increases in worker pay. Prestige will then naturally follow that higher pay to form a new socioeconomic equilibrium within the industry. Because the price for a person’s time remains as interwoven into a culture as the price for food. But with countless tech-driven and gig economy opportunities, workers will dictate the price more often than consumers. That in turn will drive the pay and cost of event staff in Dallas Texas to alarming levels.
Cost of event staff will be passed on to consumers
The awakening of new social and ideological beliefs in the US bars a return to yesteryear. But reactionaries have never weathered a revolution intact because they lack vision. And with the grassroots revolution of worker ideals becoming a groundswell, labor will largely mold the future. Employers have held down wages for a decade. But from here onward, employees have more leverage to dictate terms. Baby boomer retirement, millennial ideology and rudderless immigration policy will only accelerate pay hikes in 2020. Even a recession cannot turn back the clock on the cost of event staff in Texas. Event companies must be prepared to pass on higher labor costs to consumers. Consumers in turn must prepare to pay even more for weddings and events. Ultimately, these disruptions and innovations will affect the entire North Texas events industry for several years to come.
Read more about the author Justin Atkinson
