'It's heartbreaking': Nimrod Nagy temporarily closes cafe doors after staffing issue hits hard

Mr Nagy, who usually has two staff working along side him at his Lords Place cafe, said he felt embarrassed and frustrated at having to take the drastic action after an employee called in sick.

"I've been advertising for two weeks for a casual, I'll pay above the award, and I had one trial, I hired a girl on Friday and she basically no-showed on Saturday," Mr Nagy said.

"I've had a no-show today and my key staff member called in sick. So there's nothing I can do about it."

Mr Nagy had been forced to close last month for a week but he stressed that was a result of COVID-19 whereas this time, he just didn't have the staff to provide the cafe experience.

"I'd rather deliver the whole cafe experience that I've got, with a menu, compared to pretending I can run it myself, so I had no decision but to close today which breaks my heart."

Like every hospitality business in Orange, the effects of the pandemic are still lingering with cafe's frequently forced into a week's hiatus through COVID-19. Staffing is also an issue with a number of venues reducing their hours of trade to match thin rosters.

Nick Gleeson, who owns Factory Espresso in Kite Street with wife Ruby, said his business had cut its hours of trade earlier this year when staff were in short supply.

"COVID's an ongoing thing that takes you out for seven days," he said

"How we've attacked it is, we've put more staff on, trained up more staff because it's never going to go away.

"It's obviously very challenging and we need to adapt to it. How we've adapted to it is to train people up in multiple roles because you can't afford to close.

"We just have to deal with it day-by-day, week-by-week. That's the reality of it."

Mr Gleeson said finding reliable staff had also been an issue.

"Unfortunately you do have no-shows when you advertise, you do have people that have 'applied', and they'll put in resume but not pick up the phone when you contact them. For every staff member we have you've probably had about three or four knock-backs or no shows but that's just hospitality. That's not COVID related."

Like Mr Nagy, Mr Gleeson said he offered above-award wages and while it helped attract staff, it wasn't the main reason.

"We pay above because I think it's the right thing to do. This day and age, you've got to look after your staff, they're your greatest asset, which is why we invest so heavily in them," Mr Gleeson said.

For Mr Nagy, the timing of Monday's closure, in the middle of FOOD Week, was not ideal.

"I know it's everywhere, in all industries, not just hospitality but it breaks my heart, in 30 years I've never done this."

"To shut the door and have all these regulars that want to come and see you and the chance of losing customers to a competitor - it breaks your heart so much."

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