The hours at the 19th Hole restaurant are changing, and the reason, said Executive Director of Parks Andrew Dwyer, is lack of staff at the moment.
“As staffing and hiring continue to be a concern, specifically in the food service industry, a lack of staff has forced us to modify the 19th hole’s kitchen hour temporarily as we combat short staffing,” a press release stated.
The kitchen will close at 1 pm on Thursday, June 22. In addition, the kitchen will close at 1 pm on Sunday’s moving forward, beginning June 25. On Tuesday, June 27, the kitchen will also be out of operation. The restaurant will continue to be open for drinks, golf sales and restrooms during those times.
The Kewanee Park District is currently looking for cooks and wait staff and have posted an application link on their website. Last year, the park district struggled with a similar issue and, after a few staff members quit, the restaurant sold cold sandwiches and food for several days. At the time, Dwyer was able to hire three cooks, after losing six employees throughout that year, and the restaurant reopened with its regular menu.
The new hours of operations were chosen with the restaurant’s slow times in mind, said Dwyer. “We are hoping it will be just Sunday afternoon that we will be closed after this week,”
Currently, the restaurant has just one cook, and one cook in training, and five or six wait staff members, with two in training. Ideally, he said, a full staff would consist of three cooks and about eight to 10 part-time wait staff. But Dwyer said he is optimistic that his staffing issues will resolve soon.
“We’re hopeful we’ll have some staff in place and be able to go on from there,” he said. “We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate the understanding and thank our customers for their understanding,” he stated in the press release.
