Gigpro app puts food and beverage industry back to work

ATLANTA, Ga. (CBS46) - At Lake & Oak BBQ in Atlanta’s East Lake neighborhood, good food is one thing you can count on.

“Oh, the brisket all day. Our brisket is 14 hours smoked and coffee-rubbed. There is no better brisket in town. I’ll challenge anybody to it,” Lake & Oak BBQ Owner Stephanie Williams said.

But when it comes to hiring employees at the restaurant, it hasn’t been easy.

“I think the biggest challenge has been finding people. Where have they gone? Reaching those folks,” Williams said.

Restaurant owner Stephanie Williams opened the business in 2020 right in the middle of a pandemic, right when 4-million people left the food industry, right when Samuel Mylrea said the Gigpro app launched to put people back to work.

“To date, we have about 100 businesses across Atlanta using it on the business side and we’re approaching about 5,000 professionals that are on the app,” Mylrea said.

The Gigpro app allows food and beverage businesses to locate people actively looking for work.

“Within the first fifteen minutes of posting the job I had 19 professionals that wanted to fill my job,” Williams said.

And if a match is made, Gigpro handles insurance and taxes for the worker and collects a 20% fee based on the total cost of the shift.

“We’re seeing from a lot of our pros this is supplemental income. This is a way for them to pay off that extra grocery bill, that increase in gas prices, and if they have the time like I’m not doing anything Thursday night. I can go work a wedding shift and work as an event server and make $250,” Mylrea said.

At Lake & Oak BBQ, they hope it will help heat up their business while helping others find work during record-high inflation.

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