Staffing issues and problems stemming from longer evening shifts have narrowed the hours of Dirt Cowboy Café. The hours will remain irregular until September, owner Tom Guerra said.
A yellow sheet of paper, laminated and posted on the front door of the establishment, explains in bold black font that the business will close at either 2:30 p.m. or 7 p.m. to allow the staff to “regroup” and “focus on the essentials of the business.” The cafe previously closed at 10 p.m.
Business had been going well, with a high volume of customers, Guerra said, but staffing issues along with longer days made it too difficult to manage the business well. Out of a 15- to 20- person staff, he said, two to three individuals would typically be unavailable to work any given week, requiring that he step in and fill their role.
This extended work time — at times, Guerra worked 16-hour days — had significant physical and mental consequences on both himself and his staff, creating a stressful work environment, he said.
“I wasn’t able to mange my staff as well as I’d like to,” he said. “It wasn’t good for me, it wasn’t good for them, it wasn’t good for the customers. Honestly there was just no way I could continue.”
Citing what he referred to as an old Italian phrase, “a fish stinks from the head down,” Guerra ultimately faulted himself for the harried work environment.
“I’m not going to blame my staff, I’m going to blame myself,” he said. “I made the mistake of opening the night shift.”
Guerra said expanded the store’s operating hours from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. following the opening of a new Starbucks on Main Street in September 2012. At the time, Guerra feared the potential loss of costumers due to the national chain’s later hours, he said, and he wanted to be able to compete.
In October of 2012, Guerra said that nearly 25 percent of his business had been “grabbed” by Starbucks, noting that while the night shift had increased his sales by 22.2 percent the previous April, sales that fall had been only 2.2 percent higher than in the previous year.
While he still said that the extended hours had proved to be a financial success, enabling him to pay off debts and improve his business bottom line, Guerra added that the hours had ultimately provided too difficult for his staff and their morale. He said he also had additional difficulties finding suitable candidates for the service portion of the business, primarily the staff who operate the upstairs café, and that over the last year his business experienced serious turnover going through what he said was approximately 50 people.
Town manager Julia Griffin said she was not surprised by the cafe’s high staff turnover rate, noting that many stores and coffee shops in the Hanover area experience a surge and purge of workers as residents return from college in the beginning of the summer and then depart around August. She also noted that the nature of a job in service, with long hours and a frantic pace, may not always attract career employees.
“It’s a port in the storm — it’s not necessarily what everyone chooses as long-term career path,” she said.
Of eight students interviewed, one said that he had not been impacted by the change in hours, with all other students reporting that they were aware of the change in hours and had at least once not been able to visit the store due to the changing hours.
In the past, Emma PeConga ’16 said she had often stopped by the store on her way home from class to get a cup of coffee for her evening’s work. This summer, she said she has been disappointed by the inconsistencies in service. She said that she has recently found it hard to find a good cup of coffee in Hanover.
Faith Sylvia ’16, a Hanover resident and Umpleby’s employee, said that she is familiar with the cycle of student employment during the summer months. Sylvia observed that several establishments in Hanover tend not to hire student employees, particularly Dartmouth students, as the respective managers prefer to have full staffs that do not need to be retrained.
Local branch managers for Starbucks, Lou’s and Umpleby’s could not be reached for comment by press time when contacted Thursday afternoon.
The article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction appended (8/1/14):
Due to an editing error, the turnover rate of Dirt Cowboy Cafe was misstated. Guerra noted the turnover of about 50 employees, not a turnover rate of 50 percent.
