Chocolate shop has plenty of business but not enough staff

Business is booming at Dean’s Sweets, a chocolate shop in Portland, Maine. According to Yelp’s quarterly business report, consumer interest has picked up overall in Maine this summer. But, as Dean’s Sweets co-owner Kristin Thalheimer Bingham describes, being busy also means trying to find extra help in a labor market where everyone is hiring.

We’ve had kind of crazy growth just in the past six weeks. We’ve gotten through it, but we need more people to help with customers, more people to help make the chocolate, more people to help tie little pretty ribbons on boxes. Everybody’s hiring right now, and so it’s a really tight market for that. There’s a really wonderful coffee shop nearby, and they’re looking to hire, you know, three people. And down the street, there’s a wonderful women’s clothing store, and they’re looking to hire two people. So…

Read more…