Mainebiz

V O L . X X V I I I N O. V I I I A P R I L 1 8 , 2 0 2 2 18 H O S P I TA L I T Y / T O U R I S M "We were only able to hire one person for our restaurant last year and that created a cascading series of issues along with the necessity to change our business model," says co- owner Glenn Charles. Operations changed to an order- at-the-counter model instead of hav- ing traditional wait staff. "is model worked as well as it could, but caused frustration with longtime customers and no doubt cost us revenue," he says. e pub also reduced hours to five days per week and 3.5 hours per day, from six days and 10 to 12 hours. "We are expecting things to be worse this year than last," says Charles. "It will either be worse because we continued to be over- whelmed due to increased demand and a lack of staff or it will be worse because of the 'world' conditions." If the pub is unable to find staff for 2022, it will likely continue with last year's model while looking for creative alternatives to deal with lost revenue, he adds. Further down the Lubec coast is Inn on the Wharf, which houses the Fisherman's Wharf Restaurant. "We were very much overrun, but we were able to stay open for break- fast, lunch and dinner," says co-owner Victor Trafford. e three Lubec restaurateurs all note that multiple other local eateries were closed in 2021. "Not often do you wish your com- petitors were there," says Trafford. Fisherman's Wharf typically closes at 8 p.m. But the line of people wait- ing to get in was getting so backed up that he would close at 6:30 in order to take care of the backlog. "We were short-handed," he says. "We kept it afloat but it was tight." Visa backlog In Camden, Natalie's, a restaurant that's part of the Camden Harbour Inn, saw an increase in the number of guests in 2021, compared with 2020 — double the number in the shoulder season months and an increase of 51% for the year. Sales were up by 70% to 80%. "at resulted in a lot of pressure on our staff and the kitchen," says owner Raymond Brunyanszki, who attributes the growth partly to other restaurants in the area being closed or operating shorter hours, plus more visitors during the shoulder seasons. For the year-round fine-dining restaurant, "we made the decision to overstaff just in case we'd lose people in the process. at benefited us," he says. Retention strategies include above- average compensation and benefits that reach the high five and even six figures for some management positions, he says. e restaurant's 23% average gratu- ity on an average $148 check per person is an attraction for employees, he adds. "We're able to give people a year- round income and benefits, so it's easier to actually have a life here versus being five or six months unemployed and maybe have to move to Florida for a season there," he says. e establishment also benefits, he says, from being a member of Relais & Châteaux, a global trade association headquartered in Paris. "Forty percent of the employees we hire decided to choose us because we are a Relais & Châteaux property," he says. Still, for 2022, Brunyanszki is having more problems getting a team together. "We took a very long time for the kitchen and restaurant staff to come together," he says. at has mainly to do, he says, with a backlog in H2B and J1 visa applications, a source of seasonal workers from abroad. About half of Natalie's staff is non-U.S. workers. "American embassies around the world have massive backlogs after limited ability to operate during the pandemic," he notes. e interview for one foreign worker he was expecting to hire was delayed until 2023. "If visa applications can't be pro- cessed, you might as well do nothing," he says. Positive mindset Restaurants also strategized to deal with negative customer attitudes. "We saw a level of rudeness for the general traveling population that we had never seen before. is was expe- rienced by most in the industry and was quite demoralizing," says Charles. He adds, "All you can do is try to smile and work it out." At Side Street, Young instituted a somewhat unorthodox approach, including team workshops on how to have a positive mindset. "We're embracing the challenges and proactively asking, 'What can we do about this?' Rather than getting lost in the frustration, I'm trying to create a shift toward having compas- sion and thinking, 'ey must be hav- ing a bad day. Let me get them some food.' Just keeping it simple and not personalizing the experience." But many customers are supportive. "People go out of their way, to say, 'We appreciate what you're doing,'" says Young. Charles agrees: "ere were plenty of people who were very grateful and very happy that we and other estab- lishments made it through and were there to be open." Laurie Schreiber, Mainebiz senior writer, can be reached at lschreiber @ mainebiz.biz F O C U S » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E Raymond Brunyanszki, owner of Natalie's, a restaurant that's part of the Camden Harbour Inn, says a visa backlog delayed his hire of a foreign worker until 2023. P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y O F C A M D E N H A R BO U R I N N People go out of their way to say, 'We appreciate what you're doing.' — Jena Young Side Street Café Fisherman's Wharf Restaurant, part of Inn on the Wharf in Lubec, saw long lines of waiting customers last year, says co-owner Victor Trafford. P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y O F I N N O N T H E W H A R F

• Cover