'I've never seen it this bad': Local business owner faces challenges amid nationwide labor shortage
Apr 05, 2025
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) - All across the nation, business owners are feeling the effects of the current labor shortage. Here in Rochester, the team at Ridge Donut Cafe has experienced the challenges that has come with this firsthand.
Jackie Marcello, who has worked at the donut shop for nine years
and is now the manager, said they've had trouble finding dependable help since 2020.
"I remember five or six years ago, people would come in all the time wanting a job here," Marcello said. "We don't have that happen as much anymore."
While many folks on her current staff have worked there for close to ten years, Marcello explained part of the struggle in hiring new team members is finding people who want to do labor-intensive work.
"It's hard to find people who care as much as you do about the business," Marcello said. "Many people would rather work from home remotely, and it's hard trying to find people to come in who want to work with customers and people daily and in-person."
According to a recent report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, there are currently an estimated 8 million job openings across the country. However, there's only 6.8 million people who are unemployed. This means there's over a million extra job openings with not enough workers to fill the vacancies.
Marcello added that being a small business makes the challenges that come with the labor shortage much more difficult to overcome.
"We have a ton of other local small businesses that we love around here, and we know they're facing a similar struggle too," Marcello said.
Many of the open positions at Ridge Donut Cafe are to make up for employees who are close to retirement, are enrolled in school or are for extra hands on the donut shop floor.
A few of the reasons listed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for the current labor shortage include early retirement and an aging workforce, lack of childcare access and an increase in household savings.
Ridge Donut Cafe has an employment application available for interested candidates on their website. ...read more read less
