Much-loved Cork shop faces partial closure due to staff shortages
Kerri O'Neill with staff members Yvonne Kelleher and Jack Sulej at the deli counter which has to close on Monday and Tuesday at 3pm due to staff shortages at Fitzpatrick's Foodstore, Glounthanue, Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan
A fourth-generation Cork business faces the prospect of closing some or all of its business at least one day a week as it is unable to find the staff.
Fitzpatrick's Foodstore in Glounthaune recently underwent a €3m revamp to turn it into a "destination foodstore" but staff vacancies in crucial areas are posing major issues.
Almost 80 years on from when the shop first opened and became a hub in the local community, owner Kerri O’Neill has just invested the bones of €3m into state-of-the-art refurbishments to the shop, bakery and deli.
Now, newly installed appliances like a bread-proofer and pizza oven have yet to be plugged in, as she can’t hire enough staff to use them. Aside from new avenues of business, Ms O’Neill said it was becoming “untenable” to even keep existing offerings running.
She has already reduced opening hours for her deli on Mondays and Tuesdays, reduced opening hours for the whole shop on Sundays, and is considering closing her entire business for at least one day a week if staffing shortages persist.
Having retained her core team and stayed open throughout successive lockdowns, Ms O’Neill thought she left “the hardest time [she] ever put down in retail” behind her when the new store opened in September.
She said it was “heartbreaking” to have realised her family’s dream of a new 16,000 sq ft store, and now not be able to get enough bodies to run it at full capacity.
“We have a €3m loan to repay here. We've just opened the doors to a beautiful shop, we're so proud of what we've done and what we can offer. To be turning down business and not be able to look after people the way our family always has is really soul-destroying. It’s absolute madness,” she said.
Ms O’Neill said she had tried online job boards, local radio stations, and social media, but “nothing is coming in”. One check-in assistant position she had advertised online for two weeks only received one response.
“I really don't know why it's as challenging as it is right now. Some of it is to do with people who have changed careers, moved home, or people being on the PUP for an extended time. It's a lot of different things, but I've been in this business a long time and my parents were in it for 30 odd years before me, and I've never experienced it the way it is now,” she said.
Looking towards Christmas, Indeed.ie’s latest Job Search Survey predicts the labour market squeeze is set to continue, and employers will struggle to fill seasonal roles.
Irish job postings are up 49% compared to pre-pandemic levels, but the number of people searching for seasonal roles is 24% lower than in 2019. The demand for seasonal Christmas staff this year is almost back to normal, with postings just 2% under pre-pandemic levels.
However, the survey found people’s urgency to find a new role is limited: 52% of respondents were not open to searching for a new job, while 27% were just passively searching. Just 8% of respondents were actively or urgently hunting for a job.
The most popular reasons cited by those not seeking work were “waiting until there are more job opportunities” (30%) or “taking time off” (20%).
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