Top executives at Bill and Hillary Clinton Airport/Adams Field in Little Rock have run out of patience with the concessionaire that runs its food and beverage operations.
HMSHost no longer will receive pandemic-related financial relief until it expends more effort to attract new workers, including boosting the starting pay it offers employees.
The director for HMSHost's Clinton National operations, Robert Qualman, acknowledged starting pay has been $12 or $13 an hour since July when he arrived.
Before the pandemic all but shut down air travel early last year, HMSHost employed 79 people, he said. Employment has reached 54, or 68%, he said.
Qualman said the goal is to eventually hire 96 people.
Although its lineup of restaurants in the airport have reopened, HMSHost lacks the employees needed to keep them open for the hours they operated before the pandemic. They include two Starbucks Coffee outlets, a Chick-fil-A, a Burger King and a Chili's, among other offerings.
HMSHost has been aggressively trying to hire, according to Qualman. The company has offered bonuses in an effort to attract and retain employees and engaged outside recruiters in an effort to attract new hires.
Earlier this month, HMSHost hired an operations coordinator, whose focus will be to hire and retain employees as well coordinate the background check process.
Most tenant employees must pass a federally mandated background check to work at airports.
Qualman also said a wage survey is underway, suggesting that HMSHost was open to raising wages.
The minimum hourly wage in Arkansas is set at $11.
Qualman said he wished he was able to fill the openings at the airport faster. "Unfortunately, we're inching" along, he said.
Neither senior airport executives nor members of the Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission were pleased with HMSHost's efforts.
Commission member Bill Walker long has criticized HMSHost for not accepting the realities of the marketplace and increase wages to attract and retain employees. Others joined him at Monday's commission meeting.
"You're not offering enough" pay, said commission member Patrick Schueck. "You're going to have to do something different. I would start with your wage."
"The world is changing, and $13 [an hour] is not a fair wage."
The airport's executive director, Bryan Malinowski, also had heard enough and said he would no longer recommend granting the concessionaire financial relief available through federal grants unless HMSHost changes course.
"November was the last month," he said.
He noted that he saw where the retail chain, Hobby Lobby, recently began offering $17 an hour.
"You're not remaining competitive," Malinowski said.