A cafe in Baltimore, Maryland, shut down on Friday after nearly 13 years in business, due to a lack of kitchen staff.
As The Baltimore Sun first reported, the owners of Village Square Cafe, Roseann, and Robert Glick, blamed the closure on the ongoing labor shortage. “We simply cannot find qualified kitchen staff to keep up with the volume of business,” they wrote on the company website.
They added: “With no end in sight to the present employment crisis, we can no longer compromise and disappoint you, our wonderful friends.”
Village Square Cafe is located in the upscale Cross Keys Village, which is undergoing renovation. According to The Baltimore Sun, the closure will leave the Village without any restaurants.
The labor shortage is still having a significant impact on small businesses. Recently, the owners of a pizza restaurant in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, announced it was closing its doors after a 64-year run because it is struggling to recruit workers.
And in California, a sushi restaurant chain was forced to close all nine locations once a week because of a staff shortage. Its CEO said he had been looking for workers for months, without success.
Larger multi-chain restaurants are also struggling. A Dunkin’ coffee shop in Colorado recently announced that it was temporarily closing after the number of staff fell from 15 to three.
Back in Baltimore, many customers expressed their disappointment at Village Square Cafe’s closure on its Facebook page. One customer wrote: “And I was just wondering how this year could get any worse.”
*story by Business Insider
