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Café Trio Park City cites hiring trouble in decision to close doors

Café Trio plans to close on Saturday, Oct. 6. Owner Dan Camp said several factors played into the decision to close, including staffing, inconsistent business and construction.
Tanzi Propst/The Park Record | The Park Record

On Saturday night, Café Trio Park City will serve its final meal before closing its doors for good.

The restaurant, located at 6585 N. Landmark Drive, made the announcement last week.

Dan Camp, owner of Café Trio Park City, said several factors played into the restaurant’s decision to close. Since opening in May of 2017, he said the restaurant has had highs and lows, including staffing shortages and dealing with construction and road closures a couple hundred feet from the front door.



“We just kind of looked at it and figured it made more sense to (close) than to lose money for a couple months and go into another winter, hoping to have snow,” he said.

Camp said he decided to open the restaurant, which has two other locations in the Salt Lake Valley, in order to serve the Park City area. He said a number of regular guests at the Salt Lake locations were from Park City, so he decided to bring the restaurant to them.



He found the building and opened soon after.

It was not long before Camp experienced one of the biggest struggles many restaurants and businesses face in Park City. The workforce shortage made hiring a struggle.

“Staffing is a huge issue,” he said. “Staff can’t afford to live in Park City, so the talent pool is very, very small.”

A large part of his staff is from Salt Lake City or towns nearby Park City such as Heber City and Kamas.

Plus, he said the shoulder seasons made it difficult for employees to maintain consistent hours at the restaurant. Not many people can take a couple weeks off every few months, he said.

Then this summer, the construction on Kilby Road near Tanger Outlets reduced the amount of cars passing by the restaurant and, in turn, the amount of guests.

Lindsey Rieker, a server at Café Trio Park City, said working at a restaurant during the off-season has been frustrating at times. She would drive from her hometown of Midway to only make a few bucks.

She said she is sad and surprised to see the restaurant close, because she believes it had a lot of potential.

While some of Rieker’s co-workers are planning to work at the Café Trio locations in the Salt Lake Valley, Rieker said she will be finding other work closer to home. Camp said he is not sure what he will do in the future.

He said he will miss his staff the most, as well as regular patrons who supported the business from the start.

“Hopefully we helped some people have good memories,” he said. “I’m going to miss it.”

Property owner Ralph Reidel with Cushman and Wakefield said no business has been chosen to fill the vacancy left by Café Trio closing.


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