VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The coop is getting smaller for Pollard’s Chicken family-owned restaurants in Hampton Roads.
Two more locations are closing this week.
Hungry customers headed to the Pollard’s Chicken off Buckner Boulevard in Virginia Beach on Wednesday ran into a locked door with the sign, "permanently closed."
Leo Hilliard owns Millennium Quality Styles, right next door.
"It was a shocker to me because I just found out like everybody else,” Hilliard said.
The reason? Growing staffing shortages.
“We are having a staffing issue, just like everyone else is having a staffing issue,” said Pollard’s Chicken Operating Manager Mary Gagnon.
On Friday, the Portsmouth Pollard’s Chicken off George Washington Highway is also slated to close.
“It’s sad for us because we tried for years to get out there,” Gagnon said. “When we opened the one in Portsmouth, a month later COVID hit.”
Just last year, Pollard’s closed its Witchduck spot in Virginia Beach. Gagnon said the team has tried everything to keep their remaining seven locations running.
“We have tried closing one day a week,” Gagnon said. “We have reduced our hours.”
Gagnon said employees at closing spots could transfer to open locations.
“We got to do what we can to take care of our employees,” Gagnon said. “We are exhausted, but we want to keep serving the people.”
She believes the family-owned business has a lot of life left.
“We are going to be strong, we are going to stay here, and we are going to make this,” Gagnon said.
Pollard’s Chicken will still have five locations: two in Virginia Beach, two in Norfolk and one in Chesapeake.