Popular Fife restaurant cuts hours over recruitment difficulties

The Ship Inn will be closing its restaurant each Wednesday and Thursday throughout June, describing the current situation as ‘not sustainable’.

The owners of the popular Elie restaurant said the business had enjoyed an ‘extraordinary start’ since re-opening in April and noted that staff had been working ‘unbelievably hard’.

In a statement on Facebook they added: “We are facing the situation that our staff are having to work many more hours than they should be. We have been recruiting hard since before we opened but as I am sure that you have read elsewhere, recruitment is proving to be very difficult throughout hospitality. It is no different for us here at The Ship. Our staff are currently feeling a bit broken and this is not sustainable.

“For this reason, and to be able to give our staff the correct work/life balance and look after their physical and mental well-being, we have made the very hard decision to close our restaurant each Wednesday and Thursday throughout June. We will, however, be serving our outside menu from the BBQ from 10.30am til 8pm each day and our bar will be open serving coffees and drinks until 10pm.”

The owners said that they would be focusing on recruitment over the next week or so and hope to be fully operational by July.

They concluded: “Thank you again for your enormous support and we look forward to a great summer ahead.”