Apr. 6—GRAND FORKS — Half Brothers Brewing Company will close its kitchen at the end of the weekend, the brewery announced in a Saturday Facebook post.

Owner Chad Gunderson said it's no longer feasible for him to work regularly as the brewery's head pizza chef on top of his work as the establishment's head brewer and as a firefighter.

Half Brothers has struggled in recent months to fill staff positions in light of low unemployment and competition from other employers.

"I've been working this kitchen for I don't know how long with limited staff and it's come to the point where we're not getting applications and we're not filling the positions that are lost," he said.

Gunderson said he plans to reopen the kitchen as soon as he has the staff to do so, but he's putting the kitchen on pause until then.

Staff shortages have dogged the brewery for months. The company moved to

reduced hours in November

after it was unable to fill enough kitchen roles.

At the time, Gunderson reported he was working as the head pizza chef with one other regular kitchen employee.

He told the Herald in December he'd been unable to recruit more kitchen staff despite offering a $16 per hour plus tip wage, saying larger employers and fast food chains were consistently pricing him out.

The Grand Forks metro consistently has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation, a signifier of a labor shortage.

The metro area had the 12th-lowest unadjusted unemployment rate in the nation in February, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, tied with Fargo-Moorhead among others.