One of San Francisco’s top restaurants closed for four days this week to give beleaguered staffers a “mental health break.”
The Morris, which has over four-and-a-half stars on Yelp and Google, closed Sunday to provide relief to workers who have been battling a staffing shortage, even as customers come flooding back.
“This is by far the most stressful part of the pandemic for us: coming back and guests wanting to go out and wanting to spend their money and have a great time and us not being able to accommodate them,” owner Paul Einbund said in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle.
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Like other restaurants, the Morris has a staffing shortage as the country emerges from the pandemic and the lockdowns it brought.
“Right now, it’s, like, ‘We’ll be with you in a minute; we’ll be with you as soon as we can.’ We’re running nonstop. We’re having to run just to refill waters when we didn’t have to worry about that as much before. We had more hands on deck,” Einbund said.
The nonstop hustle of operating a restaurant without a full staff has taken a toll on those holding down the fort.
“We’re all exhausted. My body, all of my joints literally ache. It’s always hard. We know that. I’ve been doing this for 32 years. I know what it’s like. But waking up in the morning and not feeling any better than the night before when I went to sleep is quite taxing,” said Einbund.
The difficulties that the restaurant and its staff face are due to the volume of customers and the lack of staff, not the way the patrons are treating the staff, he stressed.
“The Morris has the most amazing regulars. They’re so supportive. Several regulars have offered us money if we need help getting through. We stayed vibrant and clawed and scratched and made sure that the Morris survived. Now, it gets even harder. If we had less-understanding guests, it would be very soul-sucking,” he said.
If the shortages persist, the restaurant may shift its business model, transitioning from its present model into a “prix fixe” menu, allowing staff to prepare fewer meals.
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During the pandemic, the restaurant never cut benefits or pay for its staff, Einbund said.
