The Dutch Village Restaurant and Gift Shop in Clymer has had to reduce hours due to the lack of available staff. According to general manager Brittany Gerould, the shortage began around the fall and winter time in the kitchen and has continued into the summer.

Gerould believes the shortage is due to the pandemic.

“The pandemic has affected us greatly,” Gerould said. “It’s basically just hard to find people or keep them on. They do have unemployment as a backup, and it just makes it hard to do both.”

Whether it is because of staff not wanting to come back, or not currently needing a job because of unemployment benefits, Gerould said the issues are likely the result of the pandemic.

“I’ve been here for seven years now,” she said. “It has never been like this.”

Additionally, Gerould mentioned that it’s not just the Dutch Village struggling; many small restaurants have been hit because of the “super thin margins” that they already operate on, including the current increase in prices and wages, she said.

Pine Junction in Sherman also recently reduced hours — not because of a staff shortage, but to give their workers time off for the Fourth of July holiday. “Our reducing hours has nothing to do with a shortage in staff,” said Michelle Lloyd, general manager. “We are one of the very fortunate ones that don’t have that problem.”

For Our Own Candle Company in Findley Lake, staff shortages have not been much of a problem, though it has hit one of their factories in Erie, Pa.

“We’ve been OK here in Findley Lake,” said the company’s owner, Larry Gross. “We haven’t had any issues. The only real problem we’ve had is that it has hit us slightly at our Erie factory.”

Gross anticipates no staff problems, though they have had to increase prices on some of their items.

“Even with the shortages and price increases, I see these as only small bumps in the road,” Gross said. “I think they should settle pretty quickly.”

Gerould agreed with this, stating that the problem should right itself sooner or later.

“We just have to weather the storm,” Gerould said. “It will hopefully correct itself within six months or so. Just yesterday I hired two people and it’s just a matter of getting them in and trained. We are looking forward to getting back to normal. We also are very appreciative of our customers and how flexible they have been. I know that’s a hard thing to do as well.”