Cedar Rapids Restaurants Being Closed Monday May Be Here to Stay

Is this the new norm? Walking up to the door of your favorite eatery and they're closed because it's Monday? Maybe this was your experience yesterday as you made plans to dine out, only to find "X restaurant" wasn't open on Mondays anymore. Sadly, this trend may be here to stay.

Many restaurants don't have the help needed to be open 7-days a week

Many of our favorite local restaurants have plenty of food, and the desire to serve area customers. The issue is the servers and cooks are in high demand, and very short supply. Not just in Iowa, but nationwide. For restaurants like the Brass Tap in Cedar Falls, a Monday closure was previously joined by a Tuesday closure as well. We're told now they're open once more on Tuesdays. This seems to be hitting smaller, independent restaurants harder than chains as they have the resources to better advertise job openings, but they're not immune either.

As COVID-19 ramped up, most smaller, local restaurants were forced to make devastating workforce cuts. As a result, many working in the service industry went and found other work during the heart of the pandemic. As businesses reopened, many restaurants were forced to handle heavy customer demand, without the staffing to handle it. As a result, priority was placed on time periods when restaurants are most successful: late week and weekends.

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Closed Monday - it's not something new for all businesses

Some businesses were closed Mondays prior to the COVID pandemic. Especially in the food undustry, Mondays have long been considered a poor day saleswise as most people who dined out, likely did so Friday, Saturday, Sunday or, multiple days over the previous weekend. As a result, they'd skip out on a nicer dinner out Monday.

So, if your favorite eatery is currently shut down Mondays due to staffing, as those issues eventually clear up, it doesn't necessarily mean you'll see 'em open their doors Mondays in the future.

Stuck at home needing to cook? Maybe our simple recipe guide can help!