The Bangor Daily News has taken a look at the factors impacting recent changes in the restaurant landscape in Portland.
Locals assert that the wave of sudden closures smacks of gentrification — which is fair, and also related to the workforce shortage. Rising rents have displaced the city’s typically younger ( and indebted) service-industry workers into suburbs like South Portland and Westbrook, making it hard for restaurants to retain staff, whose wages often depend on tips that can dry up in the winter months when tourism dwindles.
May I note that I know that at least one of the restaurants that closed, Scattoloni Bakery, did not depend on tips to boost wages, and I doubt it was a major factor in the other ones. The fact is that are many reasons that a specific restaurant will close up its doors and these four cannot be lumped into a simple idea that they had a hard time retaining staff.