Restaurants face staff shortages as diners return Dustin Grove
At the East End Grill in downtown Lafayette, business is back and it s booming. This time last year, we were closed, said owner Scott Trzaskus. We re really excited to see people coming back out and seeing confidence in the industry (a year after the pandemic began).
But servers have to be especially fast on their feet to keep up. That s because the restaurant is struggling with one key ingredient. Staffing s a challenge, Trzaskus said. I ve never seen anything like this.
Longtime restaurant owners across the country say now that their establishments are open again, the customers are back. But many of those employees who were laid off last year in the pandemic some 215,000 restaurant workers in Indiana alone are nowhere to be found.