Worker Shortage Challenges Small Businesses

Rosa’s Pizzeria is incorporating creative incentives to attract and retain servers like Greg Verner, shown here delivering the restaurant’s popular white pizza. Courtesy photo

Small Businesses Struggle with Labor Shortage

Lack of workers is the latest blow delivered by COVID-19 as exhausted owners and managers continue to do whatever it takes

By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN

Restaurateur Paul Moir may well have summed up how small business owners are feeling: “The labor shortage is the cherry on top of what has been a very difficult year.”

The co-owner of Brix and Proper Meats and Provisions and many other small business owners in the state are reporting a similar challenging timeline throughout the past 15 months. Businesses were closed in March 2020. Some were able to adjust and open through the summer and fall with curbside service and strict social distancing guidelines. Winter’s cold brought people indoors in a limited capacity.

“In December, everything went inside; business slowed dramatically. We made the decision to close Criollo for the winter,” he said about the downtown Flagstaff restaurant.

And then, the holidays hit Moir with another debilitating punch. “Brix had a COVID outbreak. We closed the restaurant on Christmas Eve because we had no staff. It freaked me out when everybody got sick.”

Pre-COVID, Paul and Laura Moir employed 45 people. During COVID-19, they were down to four who kept the Proper Meats artisanal butcher shop and deli open for grocery take-out.

Battle weary from the fight to have three restaurants staffed, supplied and running at various levels throughout the pandemic, the Moirs did not reopen Brix again until April 15, 2021. At the same time, they made the difficult decision to close Criollo Latin Kitchen permanently, after a decade of operation.

Today, casual fine dining at Brix on San Francisco Street is bustling again five days a week – down from six before the pandemic, because finding workers is a daunting problem. “We’ve been incredibly busy since re-opening Brix. We’re trying to hire, train and serve on the fly. I’ve waited stations and worked behind the bar. We’re doing what we have to do to get it done and slowly but surely bringing people on one or two at a time.”

Moir and other business owners say people are not showing up for job interviews and many do not want to work full-time. “I don’t know if that’s the result of laying low during COVID or attitudes and priorities have changed as people are trying to find that balance in their life. We feel badly when employees say they may only want to work three or four days. We need everyone working full-time to cover all the shifts.”

Meanwhile, Simply Delicious caterer Nancy McCulla is turning business away. With weddings back on the books, she says Sunday events are difficult for her to take on. “You have to give staff a day off, and usually we work really late on Saturdays. I work seven days a week and every single restaurant owner that I know is doing the work of three people.”

McCulla has turned to online hiring services for help, such as Indeed and Monster. “I scheduled two interviews last Monday. Neither one of them showed up. It’s very strange.”

“The workforce shortage has been a challenge for everyone,” said Prescott Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Sheri Heiney. “I hear the same concerns from my colleagues around the state.”

Margo Christensen, vice president of marketing and public relations for Ponderosa Hotel Management Services, which owns and manages five hotels in Arizona, including SpringHill Suites by Marriott Prescott and Residence Inn by Marriott Prescott, agrees. “We are having a very hard time finding people.”

Alondra Flores, general manager of Ponderosa’s Prescott properties, has been with the company for nine years. She says she’s never seen anything like today’s workforce situation. “This is really, really strange to me. The hotels used to receive 20 to 30 applications a week without advertising for applicants. I do know that I’ve never had that experience before where I don’t even get replies to my ads and if I do and we set up a