How is job creation structured in restaurant projects for EB-5?

Be careful to make sure this is structured correctly and you have competent advisors. Part-time positions cannot be counted toward job creation, even if the total number of hours is equivalent to that of a full-time position. Job sharing arrangements, however, are permitted. In such cases, qualified employees divide the hours of a full-time position.

The rule for job creation is that the positions must be full-time, at least 35 hours per week. USCIS takes a position-focused, not an employee-focused approach, but you cannot count part-time positions. Two or more part-time employees can share one full-time position under a job-sharing arrangement. It is best to have such job-sharing documented in an agreement signed by the part-time employees, so you can easily identify to USCIS at the I-829 filing stage which part-time employees are sharing which full-time positions. Most restaurant jobs, such as chefs/cooks/hosts/servers, should be considered full-time because those positions are required 100% of the time during restaurant operating hours.

Part-time work does not count when counting the number of employees necessary for a direct standalone EB-5 investment. Job sharing may work, but it is typically rare in my view. The workers will otherwise need to work full-time, which is defined as 35 hours a week or more. You may wish to consider whether or not your investment can be sponsored by a regional center, which would then allow you to use an economic impact study to consider all of the operations costs, revenues, and direct workers towards the calculation of the jobs you need.

Yes, this is fine. EB-5 does not recognize part time jobs but job sharing is OK.

Shared jobs count, but part-time jobs do not.

It depends on the jobs. If it is a part-time job then it is a problem. But if not, it is not a problem.