Worker Shortage Forces Halifax Donut Shop To Temporarily Shut Down
HALIFAX — A Halifax doughnut shop has been forced to temporarily shut down thanks to persistent staffing shortages.
Jagger’s Café is just the latest victim of a massive labour shortage that has been plaguing the foodservice industry for months.
In Nova Scotia, the shortage came unto full view this summer, when restaurants began reopening after Covid-19 restrictions lifted.
Even before the pandemic hit, the food and beverage industry had been facing significant staff shortages. When restaurants closed because of lockdowns, many left the industry rather than wait for their jobs to come back.
Now, Statistics Canada says there are as many as 14,000 fewer people in Nova Scotia’s tourism-industry labour force than there were two years ago.
Jagger Winterbourne, a co-owner of Jagger’s, says Jagger’s would normally have three staff members, plus himself, on a typical workday. But often this month it was just him and one other person trying to hold down the fort.
He says he and his partners shut the café down because they didn’t think it was fair to their employees to keep the place running while so short-staffed.
“We were stretched so thin that even with me working open to close it was unfair to the staff, and it was unfair to the customer,” Winterbourne said.
Winterbourne says he was so busy working the floor that he didn’t have any time to interview or properly train new staff.
“We were originally trying to throw staff members in and train them. But we weren’t able to take our normal training path because we were so short, so it would be overwhelming for a new trainee…they were just kind of getting thrown to the wolves,” he says.
The idea behind closing, he explained, is to shut the doors — just for a few weeks — and take time to conduct interviews and properly train new staff.
But even that will be a challenge.
Winterbourne says he’s seeing lots of applicants that have been bouncing from job to job for the past year. People aren’t worried about leaving a job, he says, because there are so many people hiring. That makes it tough to find someone he knows will commit.
He says he’s trying to do whatever he can to make Jagger’s a good place to work—making it easier for employees to get tips and creating a fun environment — but he’s not sure if that’s enough.
Other small restaurants in the region have been taking increasingly bold steps to try and attract more workers. Recently, one café started offering a $500 signing bonus. Others have upped wages.
RELATED: N.S. Restaurant Offeers $500 Signing Bonus Amid Chronic Labout Shortage
Winterbourne starts his new hires at $13.25 an hour, a few cents above minimum wage, he’s hesitant to pay more.
“It’s in the back of our mind. But if you start going down that road then we have to start looking at raising menu prices. And, you know, it can turn into a domino effect of difficulties throughout the whole thing,” he says.
He says Jagger’s, like many small businesses, hasn’t budgeted for big wage increases. And with things already so tight thanks to Covid-19, there’s not much money for bigger paychecks.
For now, Jagger’s remains closed as Winterbourne looks to get a full staff hired and trained. The cafe will reopen on October 4.
To read more stories like this in Huddle, sign up to receive our free daily newsletter.