By CEARRA O’HERN
With the bright, salty scent in the air and the noisy, congested traffic on the roads, summer is finally in full swing on Cape Cod. The season marks an influx of sunscreen sales, lobster rolls and “Help Wanted” signs in the windows of year-round and seasonal businesses.
There are numerous seasonal employment opportunities across the Upper Cape, including lifeguarding along the coast, caddying at a local green or scooping ice cream inside a small cottage. Accommodation and food service businesses, such as year-round restaurants and seasonal ice cream shops, are the largest industries on the Cape, according to a Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce article, and are the cornerstone of the region.
Polar Cave Ice Cream Parlour in Mashpee
GENE M. MARCHAND
Polar Cave Ice Cream Parlour in Mashpee is one of the countless seasonal ice cream spots across the Upper Cape. T
he eclectic, pink-and-white cottage serves “happiness by the scoopful” with an extensive and sometimes complex menu of hard ice cream, sundaes and frozen concoctions, according to owner Mark Lawrence.
Lawrence has owned Polar Cave for more than two decades and acknowledged that owning and operating a seasonal business can be difficult. With shifting demographics and rising rental costs, individuals in college or those with a J-1 visa, which allows participation in work-based exchange visitor programs, cannot afford to live and work in the region, according to Lawrence.
Lawrence has also observed changes in customer service skills, availability and motivation in teenagers and young adults. He said Polar Cave remains selective in its hiring process, as it seeks to provide exceptional service to all customers and refuses to sacrifice its “personal touch.”
“People say ice cream scooping is so easy; it is far from easy,” Lawrence said. “It is very fast-paced, you get very hot, and we provide a level of service that is above and beyond, so we certainly are not for everyone…a lot of places will just take a warm body, and we will not. We hire for personality, and we train those who are outgoing and forward-facing.”
Most of the Polar Cave crew are teenagers or young adults in high school or college, with most employees ranging in age from 14 to 16. Lawrence said ice cream shops like Polar Cave are common first jobs for young people, and that nearby shops all compete to retain staff and establish prices or wages.
Like a banana split, Lawrence said, all ice cream shops are “in the same boat.”
“It would be difficult, almost impossible to operate Polar Cave without seasonal staff,” Lawrence said. “It is hard to find workers who can do it, and I am more than willing to pay for more staff because it keeps the wheels turning…we are all looking for good help.”
Lobster Trap In Bourne
Upstream in Bourne, the Lobster Trap, a landmark year-round restaurant on the Back River, agreed it would be “pretty much impossible” to run its eatery without seasonal employees in the summer. Coastal dining supervisor Katrina E. Anderson said that while the restaurant has since expanded, it has stuck to its clam shack roots.
Dave Delancey has owned and operated the Lobster Trap for almost three decades, expanding the restaurant to include a full-service bar, sprawling outdoor waterfront seating, and a full menu of seafood, entrees and sushi. Anderson first worked at the Trap 15 years ago as a server, and after moving out West for a decade, returned to the restaurant as one of its managers.
CALLI REMILLARD
When Anderson waited on tables, she said, the staff were much more seasonal. Now, most of its front-of-house staff are fairly year-round, but the Trap still has “quite a few” who return home from college or on summer vacation in high school.
“As the business has grown, the number of employees we have and need has grown,” Anderson said. “That is why the need for summer workers has not gone away.”
Anderson, other managers and Delancey sit down before the start of the season to determine the restaurant’s need for summer employees from a “numbers perspective.” Anderson said the Trap hires enough staff to fill its schedule and leave room for flexibility, a tedious process that is completed once the restaurant understands what positions need to be filled and who is returning for seasonal work.
College students Gianna E. Varady and Ella L. Dunlap are seasonal employees at the waterfront restaurant. Varady, who has served at the Trap for two summers, said it hires about 15 to 20 seasonal employees, many of whom are loyal and return every year. Anderson said Delancey has created a “literal family” at the Trap, and that its culture and growth are a testament to his ownership.
Dunlap grew up visiting the restaurant—her father is a close friend of Delancey’s—and now works as a hostess and at the counter with the same individuals who served her years ago. Dunlap said seasonal employees add new faces to the Trap and allow more individuals to meet and connect.
Varady said working with more experienced coworkers in the summer has helped her become “better on my feet” in internship interviews and conversations with professors back at school. She said she feels much more well-versed because of her experiences in her seasonal position.
Varady also said the extra hands improve readiness for the “influx of people” who visit the Cape in the summer. Without seasonal employees, its outdoor seating might not be possible, and its service may not be as great, which is most important, according to Anderson.
“The biggest reason we need seasonal hires is the major influx of people on the Cape, since it is such a hot-spot destination for tourism in the summer,” Anderson said. “I would say there are nice things to visit on the Cape all year round, as someone who grew up here, but obviously, summer is when everyone flocks here.”
Dunlap agreed that most people visit the Cape in the summer for its signature coastal hospitality. She was trained to greet guests at the door and thank them for visiting the establishment, and said that kind of hospitality is what the Trap aspires to provide.
“I always loved the hospitality vibe and energy change in the summer on the Cape,” Anderson said. “The weather is nicer, everyone is happier and brighter, and it is busier around here, so that hustle-and-bustle energy will go through after Labor Day. It is just so fun to be a part of.”