How One Cape Cod Cafe Owner Is Tackling Worker Shortages Ahead of Summer’s Tourism Rush
Photo Credit: Cape Cod is anticipating a major surge in visitors this summer — but it's also facing a major labor shortage. Flickr Commons / m01229
Skift Take
Spoon and Seed's owner says tough times pushed him to wear his business hat first, and the chef one second. The result —resilience amid a major tourism downturn, with a reimagined menu and a new staff management model built to face the upcoming summer visitor surge.
“I wish somebody could have documented everything that happened from March 2020 to this moment because it could be a high level, Harvard restaurant management class." That's the rumination of Matthew Tropeano, chef and owner of Spoon and Seed.
"It’s almost like I was being trained for this moment."
For Tropeano, but also for fellow restaurant owners in Cape Cod, this moment is the return of crowds eager to escape and dine out in a post-vaccine, post-pandemic America, ahead of what Cape Cod officials have predicted will be a "banner summer season."
It’s a surge that restaurateurs are eager to embrace, but for one major conundrum: a shortage of workers just as demand returns. Yet while most restaurant owners are lamenting their staffing fate — driving them to lure staff with signing bonuses — Tropeano said it was an opportunity for his restaurant to reinvent its business model this past year.
From streamlining the menu offerings to training employees so they can swi
