KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Businesses across West Michigan are still dealing with a shortage of workers, but experts said it's restaurants that are having the hardest time getting back to full staff.
Fisher Lake Inn in Three Rivers is just one of the restaurants around West Michigan having to temporarily close its doors due to a labor shortage.
A small business consultant said it's happening all around Michigan and even across the country, but there is some hope going forward.
"When businesses have been closed down, we can't just flip a switch and expect everything's going to open right away," said Michigan Small Business Development Center's Small Business Consultant John Schmitt.
Restaurants across West Michigan changed their models over the last 16 months through opening, closing, takeout and capacity restrictions.
Now, many are working to bring staff fully back, but it hasn't been easy.
"Nobody has got the exact answer. There's, you know, a lot of schools of thought. One school of thought is that with the enhanced unemployment benefits people would rather, you know, stay home. They're still getting the check. Others feel that, you know, the restaurant industry is a stressful business," said Schmitt.
With that stress, many of those employees have moved to other industries.
In addition, Schmitt said until kids go back to school, there are many families that are without childcare due to the amount of parents who have been able to stay home during the pandemic.
All of these reasons have helped contribute to the labor shortage, and restaurants, they're having to adjust.
"Restaurants are just trying to, you know, they don't want to downgrade their product. So consequently, restaurants are shrinking their hours. Some restaurants, even though they can be 100% occupied," said Schmitt.
Some are even keeping a lower capacity or closing certain days to preserve staff for busier ones.
Fisher Lake Inn in Three Rivers announced it would close down Thursday and Friday due to a labor shortage.
"I’m about 80-85% staffed up for my summer season, so we are making it work. Periodically though, staff can’t work, and if I don’t have enough staff to operate the business then I can’t open," said Fisher Lake Inn General Manager and Owner Jeff Truckey.
Other restaurants, like Central City Taphouse, owned by Millennium Group, announced it would close its door until further notice to move staff to their other restaurant locations.
"Those are the factors that a restaurant owner can control. You can't control customers, and you can't control people coming in to apply for work, necessarily," said Schmitt.
Schmitt said he is confident the labor shortage will start to resolve itself within the next four, five and six months as more people head back to work.
If you're currently looking for a job, check your local restaurants and businesses' Facebook pages and websites to see if they're hiring.
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