Seasonal staff, how to get them back next year
Finding waiters, baristas and kitchen helpers is only half the job. The other half is getting them to come back the next season. Concrete practices, and the mistakes that drive the best people away.
What every operator knows, and few say out loud, is that the season is won or lost by mid-June. Not by covers, not by price list, not by location. It is won or lost because the people behind the counter hold the pace, or they do not. And the people who hold the pace, usually, are the ones who were already there the year before.
The data point that changes everything
According to a February 2026 survey by the Italian Federation of Public Establishments, only 31 per cent of seasonal staff return to the same venue the following year in Italian coastal venues. In comparable German and Dutch establishments, that figure is 58 per cent. The gap is not genetic, it is organisational. And it is decided almost entirely in the first two weeks of work.
The three things that make people stay
We spoke with twelve seasonal operators in Liguria, Apulia, Sicily and Sardinia with return rates above 60 per cent. Three practices come up in every conversation.
First, clarity from day one. Contract, shifts, hourly pay, break times, payment terms. Written, not spoken. It is not a legal formality, it is a signal of respect. Seasonal workers are used to vague promises, and when they find someone who puts things in writing, they understand they have arrived somewhere serious.
Second, paid trial shifts. Never use day one or two as a free trial. The feeling of the worker in those first days decides everything, and if they feel cheated on the travel pay, they are already half-lost. Even just ten euros per shift symbolically, for the first training days, makes a difference.
Third, the staff meal. Sounds banal, it is what separates venues from real venues. A proper meal, hot, served at a table twenty minutes before the rush. Not yesterday's leftovers reheated, not a sandwich on the move. Those who do it, see people return the next year. Those who do not, lose them by mid-July.
The most common mistakes
On the other side, three behaviours almost always drive the best people away. Changing shifts without notice, especially weekends. Paying in cash without structure, no receipt, no clarity. Treating training as a waste of time, throwing the new recruit at the counter without explanation and then scolding them in front of the customers.
"Scolding in front of the customer is the point of no return," an operator from Cefalù told us. "Once you have done it, that person will never work well for you again. And probably will not come back next year."
The small gesture at season's end
A common practice among operators with high return rates is the closing conversation. Fifteen minutes, last day of work, sit-down. What worked, what did not, what would you do differently. It is not a performance review, it is recognition. Plus a small symbolic bonus (fifty euros, a bottle, a restaurant voucher for two), which costs little and is worth a lot. The worker leaves with the feeling that their work was seen, not only paid.
An Alghero operator summed it up in one sentence. "Staff who return save you the first two weeks of training, which are the most expensive ones. It is worth treating them like adults for the three months before that."
What you can do right now
If the 2026 season is around the corner and the team is not yet closed, start from last year's list. Call back those who worked well, even if they did not leave a perfect impression. Approach them with slightly better terms and written shift confirmation. It is the cheapest way to guarantee yourself people who, at the very least, already know how the counter works.
