The lunch time is short, and there is no corned beef and eggs during the peak lunch period. At Rein's Deli in Vernon, this is a New York-style kosher deli popular with locals, urban immigrants, and road travelers. The shortage of staff and the interruption of the supply chain mean that some deli staple foods are lost or interrupted.

In a letter posted on the restaurant’s website and distributed to dine-in customers, Rein’s explained that eggs and omelettes will no longer be served between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. to “speed up our production time and reduce The burden of our existing employees."

"People like our eggs, but for the sanity of our production line personnel, we had to sacrifice it," said John Shebat, manager of Rein's.

He explained that it only takes three fried eggs to fill the entire grill. Rein's has reduced its staff from about 160 to 120 before the pandemic, and now only two of their four grills operate normally on a typical day, which means orders will pile up quickly. "If we have full-time employees, this is not a problem at all," Shebat said.

Rein's is one of many restaurants that have been hit by industry-wide staffing and supply challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The deli also pointed out that the nationwide shortage of kosher meat has caused severe damage to its iconic dishes: Reuben and Rachel sandwiches with corned beef or pastrami.

According to Shebat, Rein's serves 10,000 to 12,000 meals a week and provides 700 to 800 pounds of corned beef and pastrami.

But Hebrew National, a company that specializes in kosher beef products and has been Rein's main supplier since 1972, told the restaurant that it faces the challenge of receiving enough products for processing and distribution. The meat supply is sporadic; last week, Rein's did not sell corned beef or pastrami between Sunday and Thursday.

Shebat said that Rein's sometimes substitutes other Kosher meats when Hebrew National products are in short supply, but it is not without notifying customers. The staff felt that the taste of Hebrew National's vegetables could not be surpassed, and customers tended to agree.

In a place where the motto is "The taste of quality is remembered for a long time," Shebat said that they would rather not sell vegetables than provide inferior products.

"For us, what is not the best for you is not our philosophy. We will not do that," he said.

Like several other restaurants in the state, Rein's has had little success in retaining new employees and alleviating the staffing crisis. They pay the minimum wage for entry-level positions, but employees can enjoy retirement plans as well as medical and dental care.

Shebat thinks it's not money. Even if the business hours are shortened—Rein's is now open from 8 am to 8 pm, and from 7 am to 10 pm—the peak periods for lunch and dinner are equally intense. On the elongated thin thread, the pressure level is high.

Most of Rein's customers understand it when they are told that they cannot provide their favorite dishes that day, or that their order takes longer than usual. After nearly 50 years of business, some regular customers have established goodwill for decades.

Nevertheless, there is still a strange place. Eat IN Connecticut recently launched a social media campaign called #bekindtorestaurants to remind restaurant customers to be patient and understand reports of employee harassment.

"The best thing [customers] can do is to understand, try to understand what we are going through, and try to remember that this is a brand new game...We didn't get a game plan," Shebat said.

According to the slogan posted on the restaurant’s window, Rein's will only be open from 11 am to 4 pm on November 3 to “meet with management and employees to determine that we are moving forward in an era of staff shortage, product shortage, Covid and authorization path of" . "

"This will pass, but we will all come out of things that look different," Shebat said. "How is it different? I wish I knew how to tell you."