No chips, no tips: How the computer chip shortage threatens thousands of restaurant service jobs

The chip shortage is troubling restaurants large and small. Stone Brewing runs two huge bistros in San Diego and a third in Napa, as well as six taprooms in Southern California and Virginia. When the 1,000-seat bistro in San Diego got a new POS system a few weeks ago, it got 14 terminals and 30 handheld units for servers, which may sound like a lot, says Gregg Frazer, vice president of hospitality, but it isn’t nearly enough. He says he could use another 14 handhelds, at least. “We’ve gone to order more and we can’t get more. It’s undoubtedly had an impact.”