By Agnieszka Gryz
Barbora Chaloupková
Claudiu Pop
Ester Ziffová

Prague’s restaurant owners, eager to embrace the summer season, are now struggling to attract workers—during the pandemic, some left the business for good.

Only 54% of Czech chefs and 47% of servers wished to return to work full-time, gastronomic startup Grason found in March 2021.

Four months later, the reality is not as bleak as the poll suggested. “Currently, we miss 10–15% of workers,” said Luboš Kastner, a board member of Czechia’s Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Crafts. Kastner added that roughly 10% of restaurants have already closed down for good.

With the Covid tide turning over the continent, Czechia—the former pandemic hotspot—has suffered three lockdowns. “Last year, the tourism industry in Czechia reported losses of 161 billion crowns, half of it in Prague. We are expecting this season to be very similar,” Klára Malá, the spokesperson of Prague City Tourism, told Seznam Zprávy.

People who left the industry during lockdowns are not sure whether they want to come back, said Kastner. “It's a lot about uncertainty. Who knows what happens in the fall?” he said.

“The pandemic changed the game for restaurants. We had to close and a lot of people didn't want to wait and just see what happens,” said Mike Cito, an American expat, the owner of The Globe Bookstore And Café. “But in jobs like this, there’s always a turnover, Covid just exacerbated the problem.”

It was easier to find workers six months ago when the majority of businesses were closed, Cito said. Now he has to unwillingly compete in a bid for the job offers.

Mrs. Rong and Mr. Wang, a Chinese couple living in Prague, are also seeking a workforce for their small café that re-opened a month ago. “We are vegans and we are looking for someone who shares our philosophy,” they said.

But with the Delta variant on the rise, they are being cautious: “We want to come up with an e-shop so people can buy from us online.”