Running a restaurant during the pandemic has been challenging with new issues popping up regularly, owners say.

They've dealt with everything from new packaging and handling costs related to the pandemic to the challenge of some pastry shops of making the food fresh and getting people in and out as quickly as possible, while still being hospitable.

But one constant headache, perhaps exacerbated by the pandemic, is turnover in the ranks of staff, they said.

The reopening for many restaurants after the shutdown was a stressful time, owners across southeastern Massachusetts have said. Some staff didn't want to return. They were making more money than they normally earn between unemployment compensation and the federal stimulus money, restaurant owners said.

So when they received the call from their employers that the restaurants were reopening, they declined to return.

Ever Amaya, who along with his wife owns the La Familia chain with restaurants in Taunton, Easton and Cumberland, Rhode Island, and Papagallo's Restaurant in Attleboro, said he had that exact problem.

The restaurants were closed for two months because of the COVID-19 virus and when they reopened in May some of the 15 to 18 wait staff in each of his restaurants didn't want to return because of financial reasons.

Amaya said he had the same issue at all four of his restaurants, he said.

He told workers, though, the law requires him to report they had been offered employment and declined to return to work, he said. His information would affected their benefits. Many then decided to return to work.

The issue didn't delay the reopening at any of his restaurants, he said. "We had enough staff," he said.

Jenny Fernandes, a manager and one of the owners of Town House Restaurant, Fall River, said staffing is always a concern.

"In general, it is a concern for anyone who has a restaurant," she said.

Reopening after a shutdown caused by the pandemic raised special concerns for the management of Town House Restaurant about staff, she said. They advertised for employees on Facebook and other places and let people know about job openings through word of mouth.

The results were overwhelmingly positive, she said.

They had over 100 applicants and they interviewed all of them and hired about 40 people, she said. "I don't feel we have gone through a bad time. We have a dedicated staff," she said.

Steve Clark, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, said certain segments of the restaurant industry traditionally have issues with turnover, but it is not a trend across the industry.

He said in some places there may be situations where employees are leaving a restaurant out of a fear of working indoors and having contact with people during the pandemic. However, there are also other restaurants where he knows applications have tripled.

"Certain segments of the restaurant industry have more turnover than others," Clark said.

For many people, a restaurant position represents a worker's first job and they learn the personal skills needed to be successful at future jobs. He also said it is the nature for many people in the industry to change jobs and professions as they try out different types of work.

The restaurant industry is also not for everyone, he said. It requires working nights and weekends, which are traditionally times when their friends are off and free to socialize. "It takes a certain person to work in the restaurant industry," he said.

Some restaurant workers are currently reevaluating their life situations all together, he said. "The pandemic has changed everyone's opinion," he said.

In Massachusetts, people can dine inside restaurants and there is seating outdoors, he said. Tables have to be 6-feet apart and there is no bar seating, he said. The capacity at each table is six people. There are no restrictions on take-out orders.

Barrett's Ale House, which has six locations, including Barrett's Alehouse and Barrett's Waterfront in Fall River, experienced the same issue when they reopened, according to Dave Barry, a spokesman.

He said many employees just didn't want to return because of finances. "Every conversation I had was a money conversation," he said.

"We were lucky that we also have many who wanted to come back and stepped up and helped us out," he said.

For Brandon Roderick, who owns The Baker on Pleasant Street in downtown New Bedford, it wasn't a rash of turnovers that affected him. It was the unexpected loss of two "key" employees.

He said turnover is "always higher" in small, owner-operated restaurants like his, but the loss of two key workers around the time of his reopening "totally blindsided" him.

One employee was a head baker, who left for a less stressful position with better hours, after being laid off for nearly three months, he said. "It kind of came out of nowhere," he said. The other was a front supervisor, who left to pursue a passion in photography.

He suspects the pandemic is causing some workers to reconsider their situations and act on other opportunities instead of focusing on a chosen career and learning, he said.

"Who knows what the world is going to be in another two months?," he said.

Employees at his restaurant don't make much money. In fact, they struggle to make a living wage, he said. That includes him. "This is not a place where we can offer that now," he said.

However, he hopes it is offset by the chance for some to learn something at his restaurant they would not otherwise someplace else, he said.

He had 14 employees and was open six days a week before the pandemic and now has 11 workers and is open four days a week, he said.