Tap & Vine in Wallingford Expects to Stay Open After Job Applicants Come Forward

Tap & Vine in Wallingford feared it would have to shut its doors last Sunday as the restaurant struggled to find enough help to open.

Now, it looks like Tap & Vine will be able to remain open after job candidates came forward to fill the openings for a chef and a line cook.

Hector Samuel, the owner of Tap & Vine, posted on Facebook Monday that some good applicants have come forward and they are interviewing job candidates.

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Instead of closing its doors, Tap & Vine will close for two weeks to hire staff, clean, repaint and “re-charge our batteries,” the post says.

For the last 18 months, which is when the COVID-19 pandemic began, Tap & Vine in Wallingford has been short a cook or two. Now, they said, they have only one cook and one person can't prepare enough food fast enough to satisfy anyone’s standards.

This comes after Samuel announced on the restaurant’s Facebook earlier this month that Tap & Vine has been short on cooks and people were not looking for work. The restaurant was down to just one cook and said one person could not prepare enough food fast enough to satisfy anyone’s standards.

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When other Wallingford restaurants learned about Tap & Vine’s staffing shortages, they came forward and offered to share staff so it could stay open.

After learning Tap & Vine in Wallingford announced it would close its doors for good due to staffing issues, other restaurants in town put out the call to help cover shifts until the owner can hire the employees he needs.

As the offers to help came pouring in, some applications did too.

On Monday, the owner of Tap & Vine posted a thank you messages and said a miracle happened.

Scott Dolch, president and CEO of the Connecticut Restaurant Association, said earlier this month that customer demand is up, but restaurants are having a difficult time because of a shortage of workers and also supply chain issues and costs.