Restore Illinois moved to phase 5 last month, but businesses are still struggling to fill staff positions.
Phase 5 of Restore Illinois allows businesses to open to full capacity, but businesses usually need a full staff to handle the increase of customers.
Back in May the manager of Italian Village told me they were having trouble keeping a full staff.
Lack of applications and students going home for the summer contributed to the problem.
“Not many applications and we usually talk to just about everybody and we hire most of them.”
Italian Village owner Debbie Bridges says they made some changes to their restaurant by closing earlier and not over working what staff they have.
“Everyone seems to come in like around six, six-thirty when they’re getting off of work heading out to eat and so then that’s a problem because I don’t have the crew and I do not want my employees to get overwhelmed and leave because they’re overwhelmed, so we may lock the door for thirty to forty-five minutes and let them get caught up.”
Bridges hopes once students return in the fall they’ll be able to hire more staff.