MERIDIAN, Idaho (CBS2) — The worker shortage continues to impact the Treasure Valley and local businesses continue to tell CBS2 about the challenges they are facing.
CBS2 talked to a new restaurant in Meridian that is hoping for some applicants. The owner says he has been struggling to get employees ever since he opened the restaurant a couple of months ago.
Brenden Taylor started the Burnt Lemon Grill More than 11 years ago in Twin Falls. He opened a location in Jerome shortly after.
Taylor says Burnt Lemon Grill is known for its homemade lemonade. He demonstrated how he makes the lemonade by burning the lemons on a charbroiler. During the cooling process, the natural sugars sweeten and condense for a sweeter lemonade.
He says he wants more of a pub atmosphere for his newly opened Meridian location and is planning to fill a wall in his restaurant full of pictures of employees and customers enjoying Idaho. The only problem? The Burnt Lemon Grill is struggling to find staff.
“It's been extremely hard. We actually intended to open in March but just trying to find staff was tough,” Taylor said.
When the Meridian location first opened it had 11 people. Now there are only nine people working.
“I would like to be around 12 to 15 people, especially if they are full-time, and have experience," Taylor said.
A lot of his current staff are high school age, which is a challenge with school schedules and not having staff old enough to serve alcohol.
“For a lot of them it's their first job so it makes it tough trying to get them trained but at this point, they are doing a great job and know what needs to get done but come school time we lose a lot of these kids and don't have the ability to operate the way we’d like to,” Taylor said.
Taylor believes the construction boom has something to do with people leaving the restaurant industry.
“With the growth in our population, there are so many construction jobs and so many businesses opening. It's just kind of running everybody thin," Taylor said.
Taylor said you can email burntlemongrill44@gmail.com for a job application or stop by the restaurant at 1735 W. Chinden Blvd.
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