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Help wanted | Local restaurant owners struggle to hire, keep staff
Extended and larger unemployment benefits, coupled with stimulus checks keep many from wanting to work , say some restaurant owners
The Dispatch
When Tyleata Jones opened Jj s Mama s Soulfood Restaurant & More with her fiancé in Lexington in December 2020, she said she thought the toughest part of being a restaurant owner would be keeping up with all the paperwork for orders and payroll taxes.
Jones said she never dreamed the most frustrating and time-consuming part of owning a local restaurant would be getting people to apply for open positions and get the few who do apply and are hired to stay.
Posted:
April 6, 2021
Measure to support local restaurants to expand outdoor patio spaces
City of Cranbrook council has officially enacted measures to support local food and beverage establishments to expand outdoor patio spaces in Cranbrook until October 31.
At a special meeting Tuesday, April 6, council adopted amendments to the Downtown Seasonal Patio Bylaw to allow for enhanced use of seasonal patios during disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting provincial health orders.
Mayor Lee Pratt
This is an emergency expansion of Cranbrook’s existing outdoor patio program initiated by the City of Cranbrook in response to the provincial order put into effect at midnight on Tuesday March 30, which limited restaurant services to take out or delivery only unless the business has an outdoor patio where patrons can be safely physically distanced from others.
But this January and February, some changes are taking on added significance for chefs and restaurateurs.
There are promising signs that business is improving. In North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper announced the easing of restrictions for restaurants and bars last week as cases of COVID-19 decline. And across the county, restaurant sales are projected to climb more than 10% this year, according to the National Restaurant Association.
It isn’t quite enough to cover from the pandemic, though, the group said. Instead, 2021 will be a year of transition and rebuilding for the industry. In these cases, that’s in a literal and not just figurative sense.
“I’d get off work and then go to her house and cook dinner,” she said.
It made for long, exhausting days.
“I kept thinking that if I had something like Nippy’s, that offered good home-cooked food, I wouldn’t have had to do all that.”
By Nippy’s, she means Nippy’s Soul Food Restaurant, currently located at 17th and Queen streets in Wilmington. She opened the business in 2018 with her brother, William Bordeaux, and husband, Russell Corbett.
Named in honor of her mother, Corbett wanted to provide other families in the community those same recipes that she made with love for years oxtails, turkey wings, fish and grits, liver and onions.
NEPTUNE - These four former Black-owned restaurants fed people across Neptune and Asbury Park, but the people behind them did so much more.
These owners fed families who couldn t afford to pay the bill, employed members of their community and encouraged others to open their own businesses.
Those four Black restaurateurs Clara Bowens, who owned Clara’s Place; Geneva Foreman of Geneva’s Soul Food Restaurant; Moses Keel of Moe s Greenhouse Luncheonette; and Frank and Mary Baity of Frank & Mary’s Luncheonette are being honored in Neptune s virtual Black History Month celebration. To say they helped others, yes, that’s a common thread, said Dianna Harris, chairwoman of Neptune s Black History Month Planning Committee. They were always willing to help the community whether they fed them or encouraged or employed them.