Food Concession Worker

Work description

1. Our H-2B Filing History and Activities Robbeloth Concessions Inc. is a family-owned and -operated mobile food concession business since 2007. Our primary business is the operation of multiple food concessions from April to November at multiple locations and at small to large events like county and state fairs, carnivals, and festivals throughout the U.S. as listed in our itinerary. 2. Explanation of Temporary, Seasonal Need Our need for food concession workers is temporary, seasonal because of the weather, and predictable. This need is recurrent annually and tied to a season by a particular pattern. The event season begins with Floridas warming weather in January and run through November this year. Within the scope of this seasonal need, there is also a recurring, predictable, and seasonal pattern that is tied to the summer/mid-year months when our events have longer hours and higher attendance. This reflects the pattern in our season that schools are not in session and most of the public take vacations. We request that our certification start in late January for training, orientation, and set up and conclude in late November. 3. Documentary Evidence of Seasonal Need Our itinerary substantiates our seasonal need. Our route varies little from year to year because in the industry, it is common to have multi-year contracts. The exact dates change slightly because events consistently begin on a particular day of the week rather than a specific date in the month. We have no contracts for the off-season of late November to late January. At the end of the season, I have no work for food concession workers. This period of time is not considered a lay-off or vacation. 4. Our H-2B Filing History Our request for workers reflects a return to a single, uniform season for our operations. We are requesting 30 H-2B workers for the certification period of late January through late November. Historically, we staffed our seasonal operations with a single group of workers for one uniform season. For the 2025 and 2026 season, however, we experimented with staging the arrival of our workforce to account for what appeared to be a season within a season. We initially requested 17 H-2B workers beginning January to staff our food trailers, followed by a second ETA-9142B filing requesting the remaining 13 workers to assist with the busier and larger events occurring later in the season. Although their arrival dates were staggered, the total number of workers requested for the 2025 and 2026 season remained 30. Based on our experience with the staged staffing model, we have determined that our operational needs are better served by returning to a single seasonal period. Our food concession operations require seasonal workers throughout the season, and having the full complement of 30 workers available from the beginning provides the staffing necessary to support our operations as the volume and frequency of events fluctuate over the course of the season. Accordingly, for the 2027 season, we are returning to our historical staffing model and requesting all 30 H-2B workers for the single certification period of January 20, 2027 through November 20, 2027. 5. Explanation of Need We seek H-2B visas because it is so difficult to hire and retain U.S. workers who are willing to leave their homes and travel with us for our long season. We will not be able to retain our contracts and maintain our companys reputation for dependable service if we cannot set up, staff, disassemble, and move equipment from one event to the next on the agreed-upon dates. Despite the record of disinterest in these positions by U.S. workers, we will attempt to recruit U.S. workers through supplemental advertising, hiring workers who will not travel with us for our entire itinerary (spot help), placing help wanted signs during events, and using word-of-mouth. Thank you for your consideration.