Locally Sourced

Fine-dining restaurants geared to provide locally sourced meat and produce with white-tablecloth service are sprouting in states and cities outside traditional food meccas.

An increasing population is leading to more restaurants in Arizona, which along with Texas, is expected to generate more dining jobs in the next decade than in any other state.

“We had two kinds of food when I was growing up: Mexican food and a different kind of Mexican food,” said Steve Chucri, president of the state’s restaurant association. “Now people are always looking to try new concepts.”

Phoenix-based Chef Justin Beckett, who plans to hire 30 people this month for a new venture, said it is difficult to find employees as consumer appetite for gourmet cuisine grows and “more talented chefs in town are starting their own restaurant, or second or third restaurants.”

Five-Star Experience

“There are restaurants paying two to three dollars an hour more than our current pay scale,” said Beckett, who seeks a five-star experience at a three-star price for deep fried deviled eggs and chocolate dipped bacon s’mores at Beckett’s Table. “We are a smaller restaurant group -- we don’t have the financial resources that some of the larger groups do.”

The expansion of Arizona’s restaurant industry comes as 300,000 people have left the state since 2007 following passage of anti-immigration legislation and the housing crisis, including workers chefs relied on, Chucri said.

Food and drinking establishments lack a visa program, said Angelo Amador, a vice president at the Washington-based National Restaurant Association. Immigration legislation approved by the Senate included such a provision. The House isn’t scheduled to take up the bill.

“In places where there are shortages I see a move in many restaurants to do more automation,” Amador said. “That trend will continue unless there is immigration reform to bring other workers.”

A hunger for new restaurants in the nation’s capital is frustrating seasoned chefs.

’Very Difficult’

“A busy night at Marcel’s is 120 people and I’ll have 13 cooks, plus two sous chefs, plus a chef de cuisine running the kitchen,” said Chef Robert Wiedmaier, who opened the French Belgian restaurant 15 years ago. “It’s very difficult to find talented, hard-working chefs.”

Marcel’s needs 37 people, 20 in the front of the house including bartenders, servers and managers and 17 in the back such as chefs and dishwashers.