But in Palo Alto, restaurateurs say the combination of high rents and staffing challenges has pushed their occupancy costs to 12 percent of gross sales. They have not been able to fully staff their Silicon Valley locations since they opened about two years ago. “Now we’re just selling ourselves on Craigslist, posting pictures of cooks butchering pigs, sautéing, and good-looking waitresses to recruit staff,” Mr. Stoll said. They had backing from other Silicon Valley investors eager to bring a slice of younger, innovative and relatively affordable San Francisco-style cuisine to downtown Palo Alto. The privately held software company now occupies over 12 percent of the rentable commercial office space downtown, according to the research firm PrivCo.

Source: New York Times September 18, 2016 21:56 UTC