DOOR COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The busiest time of year in Door County is almost here. County leaders say two million people visit each year and more than half of them come in the summer.
The county has an event scheduled for every weekend this summer.
Many of the local businesses are just now opening for the season and getting ready for the large crowds, but that means they need more staff.
At Sonny’s Italian Kitchen and Pizzeria in Sturgeon Bay, when the bar is full, it takes more than one man to tend it.
“We go from about 40 employees up to 120 for summer,” said Sonny’s general manager Kenny Albert.
Albert tells FOX 11 the restaurant also has a patio and a tiki bar right on the water, plus a place to dock your boat, making it a busy place in the summer.
“Middle of the summer we go about 3,500 to 4,000 people through the door each day.”
Sonny’s is still looking to hire 20 more people before June.
“There are several hundreds of jobs available,” said Jon Jarosh with the Door County Visitors Bureau.
Jarosh tells FOX 11 the need for workers grows every year.
“Here in the next two weeks or so almost all of our seasonal businesses will open up with everybody raring to go by memorial day weekend.”
Once the docks are full of boats, the people getting off of them will be headed to different businesses- from restaurants like Sonny’s to stores like Bayshore Outfitters.
“Its night and day. We’re a seasonal county,” said Mark Schuster part owner of Bayshore Outfitters.
Schuester is part owner of a couple of retail shops and waterfront equipment rentals throughout Door County.
“There’s a really big crunch right now trying to find seasonal employees and by the grace of luck we’re fully staffed this year.”
Egg Harbor businesses say they’re feeling that crunch.
“In the summertime, we do ten times the business we do in the winter time,” said Joe Smith the general manager of Shipwrecked Brew Pub.
Smith says the lack of housing makes it hard to find workers, but this year they didn’t really have a problem.
“This year we just recently purchased some employee housing, so we’ve got rooms for about 20 people now who will stay in properties that we own.”
Keeping the employees through the fall, the second busiest season for Door County is the other challenge.
