‘Help us stay open’: Will Eagle restaurant close because nobody wants to work there?

Things have never been this bad, Michele Bacquet says.

Bacquet’s, the high-end French restaurant she owns with her husband, chef Franck Bacquet, is in danger of having to close at 1117 E. Winding Creek Drive in Eagle. “This is absolutely 100 percent a threat,” she said in a phone interview.

Why? Bacquet’s can’t find anyone to hire. Job applicants have all but vanished. And when potential employees do apply, many disappear before the interview.

“HELP US STAY OPEN!” Bacquet pleaded Sunday on the restaurant’s Facebook page. “We are in urgent need of servers, a line cook, and a dishwasher. There are very few applicants and they rarely respond to calls/emails.”

“It would be tragic to have survived the year of COVID-19, only to shut our doors due to the lack of labor.”

Difficulty finding employees escalated in the past six weeks, Bacquet said by phone. “Usually, I have people coming in the door every week looking for work,” she said. “That is not the situation now.”

The phenomenon coincides with restaurants in Boise returning to action and patios reopening after being closed during the pandemic and winter, she said.

The result is an unusual, troubling predicament for Bacquet’s, which opened in 2018.

“We’d be open more hours,” she said. “We’d be open for brunch, and we’d do other stuff. I. Don’t. Have. Workers. We’re already considering closing Sundays because I can’t get anybody to work, and I’ve burned (current employees) all out by the end of the week. Not to mention us. My husband’s already working 16 hours a day. It’s just crazy.”

Bacquet’s pays better-than-average wages, she said. “My dishwasher makes more money now than I made with a four-year degree out of school. Ours servers start at $6.50, but the best servers are pulling $45,000 a year. But in Boise, that ain’t bad. And that’s not even full time.”

Bacquet’s didn’t lay off employees during the pandemic, she added. “That’s the part that gets me. Everybody stayed paid. … So now here we are, everybody’s hiring. We’ve lost a couple people, and I can’t back fill.”

There are multiple causes behind the labor shortage, she suspects. They range from government aid to job competition from other Treasure Valley industries, such as construction.

“People are taking advantage of the additional unemployment benefits,” she said. “The stimulus has kind of helped soften up the work force, I think. Employers like Amazon who are offering benefits. All the other restaurants that have reopened after COVID.

“Most of that is good things, but it makes it hard for the little guys like us to compete.”

Bacquet’s cry for help on social media was shared 227 times on Facebook. It generated lots of discussion, she said. But has it resulted in hires?

“Not yet,” Bacquet said. “I had two interviews scheduled today. One canceled already. She took a different job. And the dishwasher is coming in to interview, so we’ll just cross our fingers.”

The dishwasher interview turned out to be a no-show.

This story was originally published April 5, 2021 at 2:49 PM.