Desperate for Workers, Small Companies Pump Up Health Coverage

New Orleans dining spot Boucherie heavily touts its new health-care plan when it recruits staff. Combined with a 30% pay hike, it’s helped the restaurant survive the Great Resignation and attract new workers.

The two-site company, which includes fine dining Boucherie and the Bourrée at Boucherie smokehouse carryout, is an example of the lengths small companies are going to with the current labor shortage.

“Since the Great Resignation, we’ve really just been trying anything,” business manager Jack Fredericks said. The company began to experience a labor shortage in 2021.

Boucherie isn’t alone. It’s all part of the arms race to ...