Despite the fact that many see food service as an "easy" industry to get into, the fact is that it's highly competitive and almost always has a large number of people applying for positions.
You probably need to do some things to get yourself noticed, to separate yourself from the crowd.
Firstly: Research shows that when you hand your CV over, it's immediately judged based on appearance. When i'm going through hundreds to thousands of CVs for a consultants position (medical), I have to be harsh. If there's a spelling mistake; if they've tried to make it look interesting with difficult formatting; if the first page is a picture of them and their name; if the font is too small; if they don't summarise their skills, then they'll get disposed of (I do wish I didn't have to be this hard honestly, but how else to get through so many?).
Make your CV front page "CV of YOURNAME" at the top middle, a good picture of you somewhere in the bottom right or left corners, and a summary of your key skills that are relevant to your prospective employer.
These should be changed for every job you're applying to ideally. This shows who you are, and what you're good at right away and my interest is there, i'm opening your CV to read.
Secondly: Now they're in your CV you need to make it pop. Keep it brief but informative. They don't want to know about the month you spent working in a bar because you needed another job and it wasn't that bad. They want to see what skills you have, and how you've come about them. Use the points you have on the front page and make sure each one of your previous employments match what you said on your front page. Make sure the reason for you being in this is because it's your career and you have a passion for the industry.
Finally: What makes you, you? What do you do in your spare time? One of the top top top most repeated most heard things I get from employers is that they want to know how you are as a person. If they think "oh yeah I could work with this guy" then you've won.
I would say to go and chase these up as well, to show that you're interested. If you speak to the manager about positions etc then you'll get quite a frank conversation most of the time. Being out and meeting people face to face is the best way to get involved as then when it's interview time you're not candidate B but "oh yeah that's dave! I met dave when he came in the other day! He seemed to know what he was on about and is a good laugh!".
Let me know how it goes.