CLEVELAND — Ken Hatfield owns Hatfield’s Goode Grub. Normally, he would have nine people getting food prepped, cooked and served. Now he has three or four.
“On a busy night, I would have two guys standing where we are here,” Hatfield said. “The other half of my kitchen, which is my pantry side pizza oven and fryers and stuff, I’d have two guys over there, I’d have one guy standing here doing expo. A dish guy there and a dish guy there on the other pit.”
He has two food trucks that he sends to events, including sporting events. But since the pandemic, he doesn’t have the staff to run both the food truck and restaurant.
“I have a giant screen in my restaurant and a lot of people come to watch the game there,” Hatfield said. “And I can’t not have that staffed and have a restaurant that’s opened and be at the truck at the same time.”
The staffing shortages even keep Hatfield from opening an entire half of the restaurant some days.
“There’s all this bar, and I can’t offer it during the day,” he said. “I don’t have the staff to do it.”
Hatfield just finished building an outdoor patio. He will likely need to find some servers to make the most of the new dining space.
“If I can’t find somebody to wait these tables, it’s a great place for people to sit and enjoy,” Hatfield said. “But unless I have a special event or something, it’s tough.”
Hatfield said he has a dedicated staff, but without enough people to consistently man the food truck, he’s missing out on potentially $100,000 in sales during food truck season.
