Fast Food and Counter Workers – Mobile Food Concessions

Work description

Our family has been in the Carnival Business all our lives, providing entertainment, and food concessions on a seasonal basis. This company was established in 1954 and incorporated in 1998. Congress has recognized the inherent seasonality of the mobile entertainment business as detailed in the Fair Labor Standards Act section 13(a)(3). The U.S. DOL has also noted the unique nature of the mobile entertainment business, and this application is being filed under the long-standing special procedures that the Department established and incorporated into the current regulatory framework for these mobile, multi-generational, seasonal, small family businesses. We have a seasonal need for these workers, recurring on a predictable annual basis. We are open for a specific season each year, a traveling business, the work is evenings and weekends, and therefore it is very difficult to find workers willing to leave their homes and families to travel to each of our venues. We have needed temporary seasonal workers to augment our U.S. Workforce and to sustain our business. For the past several seasons, this need has been recurrent annually from mid-January through mid-November. Our start date has shifted slightly to early-January. We completely cease our mobile operations from early-November through early-January and do not have any permanent workers in this job category. Our exact opening and closing dates are dependent upon the dates set by event sponsors. At times, event sponsors change dates, and their event then conflicts with other events that are booked. This causes minor shifts in starting and ending dates. This is a normal and reasonable shift due to changing external business conditions beyond our control and does not affect the fact that we are a seasonal business, with a need for Temporary Foreign Workes that is a seasonal, predictable, and recurrent annually. The number of workers required to operate our show is obviously dictated by the equipment (food concessions) that we operate at our various locations, the hours of operation, and the number of workers that are required to safely (for the workers themselves, their fellow workers and for the public) maintain and operate those food concessions. These are the factors that I take into consideration as I calculate my need for workers so that I can accurately complete this application process, remain compliant with and strive to protect the integrity of this vital H-2B non-immigrant foreign worker program. The temporary need is seasonal, predictable and recurrent annually. For the current fiscal year, we calculated and filed for 54 Fast Food and Counter Workers Mobile Food Concessions, for the period of January 16, 2027, through November 15, 2027. FY26 we filed with your department and were certified for 48 Fast Food and Counter Workers Mobile Food Concessions, for the period of January 20, 2026, through November 12, 2026, certificate H-400-25310-383471. FY25 we filed with your department and were certified for 48 Amusement and Recreation Attendants Food Concessions, for the period of May 26, 2025, through November 12, 2025, certificate H-400-25071-770359. That year, we filed for a short period of time due to our prevailing wage determination issued late that season. We had to change our start date to meet the filing requirements. Our seasonal need remained the same which has been consistent with our prior filings as per our Temporary Need Registration Number: H2B-REG-00012111. FY24 we filed with your department and were certified for 48 Amusement and Recreation Attendants Food Concessions, for the period of January 13, 2024, through, November 12, 2024, certificate H-400-23288-432234. We engage in extensive recruiting in hopes of fulfilling our seasonal needs. This recruitment process includes social media, recruitment through industry contacts, and relevant media, complying with the established Department of CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT