HARRISBURG, Pa. – The end of the Easter holiday weekend will bring about the beginning of a new phase for restaurants and bars in Pennsylvania as 75% occupancy goes into effect Sunday, but some places are having trouble filling staff spots.

"Currently they have enhanced unemployment benefits which we are happy that employers that are laid off are well taken care of," said John Longstreet, president, Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association, "but now some are electing to not come back to work."

Longstreet says that's only one small part of the problem. He added that some workers have left the industry or are still awaiting the vaccine.

"In many states, restaurant workers have already been vaccinated but in PA they won't be cued up for that 'til April 12," he said.

For those behind restaurants and bars in Berks and beyond, they're inching toward what they hope will be full capacity but Longstreet says there may still be more businesses that we lose along the way.

"There's no question that we are gonna lose a lot of great restaurants by the time we are through this but we are not through this yet," Longstreet said. "In our most recent survey, 20% of restauranteurs said they couldn't last another three months."

As some establishments struggle to fill staff spots ahead of this weekend and expanded capacity, the closure of more restaurants in the coming months could create a much different situation going forward, with potentially more workers available, fighting for fewer positions.

"While that's sad for the restaurants that closed, those that are still open are going to find that this crunch that they have right now — there is a staffing crunch — it's gonna fix itself in the next several months," said Longstreet.