ROCHESTER, N.Y. — As COVID-19 restrictions continue to relax in New York state, the hospitality industry’s latest challenge is getting employees to return to work.

BTB Wood fired Pizza Bar & Grill opened at the Mall at Greece Ridge a month ago, and general manager Matt Reis says business has been great.

“It’s been insane, it’s been busy,” Reis said. “More than we could’ve ever asked for, for sure.”

But though capacity is only at 75% right now, he says he still doesn’t have the staff he needs to accommodate the traffic.

“With us moving here we’ve more than tripled the business we were doing down there,” Reis said. “So we've doubled our staff, we still need more. And if you don’t have enough cooks cooking, it’s a long time to get that food out.”

And he says it’s a problem he knows many restaurants are facing right now.

“I know a couple other bar and restaurants owners, and they just can’t find anybody,” Reis said. “It's hard, and it’s a little concerning, you know?”

Customers we spoke to are understanding of the longer wait times this causes…

“You gotta understand what’s going on, and if you don’t get it to go or something,” Mark Barron, of Greece said. “But we need to support our small businesses.”

But Barron says it’s still a sad situation.

“Generally people do want to work, but you can’t give up what you’re getting,” he said. “If you’re on unemployment and you go back to work and the place closes, then you’re done because you can’t go back on it.”

Reis says many employees are uncomfortable returning to work with the ongoing pandemic, and others would make more money remaining on unemployment with the additional state aid.

“It’s $800 a week, so in order to get a cook to come in and work for that, you’d have to pay them $20 an hour for 40 hours,” Reis said.

So Reis says BTB is now offering incentives to come in and work.

“We’ve started offering sign-on bonuses at this point,” Reis said. “If you work here for 90 days, you get X amount of dollars for staying on. So hopefully with the sign-on bonus, that will help a little bit.”

And for those that might still be nervous about coming in to work, he just asks for a chance to show their health policies in action.

“We’ve made it very safe around here, it’s a very comfortable atmosphere - no one is taking this lightly,” Reis said. “So it’s safe, come out, work and make some money.”

Reis is hoping for another 10 to 15 employees.