Queensland restaurants forced to close due to staffing shortages

A Queensland RSL was forced to shut down temporarily as it scrambles to find staff.

The popular Currumbin RSL, which has about 50,000 members, shut on Monday for the evening to avoid overstressing its staff and under delivering on its service.

“We apologise for the inconvenience,” the club posted on Facebook.

“If you have a reservation tonight, you will be contacted soon.”

When asked how the shutdown happened, the RSL responded: “We’re understaffed in the kitchen tonight due to circumstances out of our control.

“Instead of stretching the chefs we had, we decided to close the kitchen for the night,” a spokesperson posted.

“Our current chefs are great … we’re just a bit short tonight, which is we had to close our restaurant.”

The RSL reopened on Tuesday night.

The nearby Saltwater restaurant was forced to close for 10 days “due to critical staff shortages”.

It will reopen on 7 December.

“It has not been an easy decision for us to make and we apologise for any inconvenience,” it said on Facebook.

“If you have a reservation during this time, we will be in contact soon.”

The chief executive of hospitality industry jobs platform Barcats Australia predicted that several venues would be forced to close their doors for almost half the week, with limited menus and a 25 per cent longer customer service time over summer.

Jeffery Williams estimated Brisbane had 1000 vacancies for bar staff, 500 for wait staff and 1000 for kitchen staff. Over 400 managers were also required, along with 1500 baristas and 1200 hotel housekeepers.

Jonathan Jackson - 23-11-22