An alarming number of restaurants across the province are being forced to reduce hours and services due to staff shortages.
Jac’s Burgers and Shakes in Bridgewater is just one of many restaurants struggling to find workers.
Jac’s owner, Debbie Dorey had to make the decision to temporarily close her restaurant every Thursday to give her staff a much needed break before the weekend.
Dorey said the inability to find workers has had a huge impact on her business.
“We are closing an extra day so we are losing an extra day of sales and the burden on the staff that’s here is overwhelming.” explained Dorey.
She added that recently there was a day that the restaurant got so busy that they had to close their doors in the middle of the day to catch up.
“We were out of everything on the line because we don’t have that extra person doing prep,” said Dorey. “They couldn’t keep up, so we had to shut down for an hour and a half in the middle on the day to give staff time to get out of the heat, have something to eat, restock the line and then open again for supper, otherwise we wouldn’t have made it through supper.”
Dorey said the staffing issues are directly related to COVID-19 causing the industry to become so volatile.
“We were open, we were closed, you were hired, you were laid off, so it was a roller coaster ride for a good year,” Dorey said.
She believes many have turned to government relief programs, or landed jobs allowing them work from home which has led to a lack of interest in restaurant work.
Dorey said that despite posting the available positions, she’s barely received any applications.
She added the staffing issue is so prevalent that some restaurants have even resorted to competing for each others current staff.
“Their calling everyone in the industry,” said Dorey. “My cooks have been called by other restaurants asking them to leave and come work for them.”
Dorey adds that its not only the restaurant industry that has been struggling to find staff.
“Everywhere you go there’s a help wanted sign,” said Dorey. “It’s every industry, but I think it more noticeable in our industry because people are wanting to go out and places are closed that aren’t usually closed.”
She said she’s unsure of what needs to be don’t to fix the issue, but remains optimistic that her business will be able to be fully staffed again soon.
