With the recent surge in positive coronavirus cases across Scotland, north and north-east hospitality venues have been forced to close their doors temporarily due to staff shortages.
According to statistics shared by the Scottish Government, 10,392 new cases of Covid-19 were reported in the last 24 hours alone and, from the week commencing Monday, January 3, more than 90,000 people tested positive for the first time.
This means those who have tested positive, many of whom will have roles in hospitality, have had no choice but to self-isolate for as much as 10 days.
This results in businesses not being able to keep up with customer demand or meet the same quality of service they are, in normal circumstances, able to offer, and so have little choice but to temporarily close.
‘I feel totally helpless’
Jan Langdon, owner of Molly’s Cafe Bar, has shut the doors of her Stonehaven-based cafe due to staff shortages on two occasions to date.
One took place at the end of December while the other was from Sunday January 2 to Wednesday January 5.
Customers were informed via posts on social media.
Jan said: “The pandemic has caused a real struggle for hospitality, including my own business.
“After the stress of two lockdowns and now this new variant it continues to disrupt us.
“Last month, for the first time, half of our 14-strong team tested positive which meant we could not open the business for our normal opening times.
“We can’t open the business with limited staff as we would not be able to give a high standard of service, and our staff can’t be expected to work with half a team as they’d end up exhausted.”
With half of the team having to isolate on New Year’s Eve, the cafe owner made the decision to only open in the evening, a move that “cost the business a considerable amount in takings”.
“We had to make a decision whether to open during the day or open in the evening,” she added. “We had little choice.
“The decision was made to open in the evening as we were fully booked and had a piper organised to play for an hour outside.
“I feel that I’ve let down our customers through no fault of our own. I feel at times totally helpless and there is nothing I can do to rectify the situation.
“I can only hope that things will eventually get better and that this pandemic will eventually disappear. I can’t afford to be negative about the future.”
Customer experience is key
The cafe in Threaplands Garden Centre, in Elgin, has closed three times due to staff shortages which has not only affected restaurant trade but also revenue made from gift sales.
While the most recent closure was from Tuesday December 28 to Friday December 31, the team has resorted to offering reduced menus on occasion, too.
This was in place last Monday (January 3) to Friday (January 7).
Director, Ben Laing, said: “As our cafe is primarily a footfall driver for our gift sales, especially in December, we have lost not only our restaurant trade which can easily be 300-400 covers on a single weekend or holiday, but we also lose the ‘add on’ retail sales that cafe customers bring to our business.”
Customers are informed about closures through the centre’s Facebook page, which boasts a following of more than 10,000, as well as Instagram and local social media groups.
The cafe has 32 members of staff in total.
Ben added: “We feel customer experience is particularly important when visiting us as a destination.
“If we cannot offer what we feel to be an acceptable level of service for our customers then we don’t wish the future opportunity of them visiting again to be in jeopardy due to a bad experience.
“Customers appear to be more understanding of a closure rather than ‘unacceptable’ waiting times.
“We want to reassure them that we are taking every measure to ensure customer safety. We welcome the new isolation rules and the gradual return to normal.”
Other north and north-east hospitality venues that have closed due to staff shortages include:
- Girvans Restaurant, Inverness
- Lauders Bar, Inverness
- The Grumpy Chef, Inverness
- Utopia Cafe, Inverness
- Little Italy Family Restaurant, Inverness
- The Milk Hoose, Ballater
- Cafe Kombucha, Elgin
- The Eggxorcist, Aberdeen
- The Cults Hotel, Aberdeen