An ice-cream company who struggled to fill vacancies for van drivers last year has been inundated with job applications in just 24 hours after posting an advert on social media.
Smith's ice-cream vans, in Tullyallen, Co Louth were parked up when Covid-19 restrictions hit and have only been able to operate again since last week.
At present, they are concentrating on street trading in housing estates, as many beaches and parks are still officially closed for casual trading licences while all events that they normally attend have been cancelled.
As temperatures soar this weekend, owner Caroline Smith received the go-ahead from the HSE to go back on the road but only had enough drivers to work two vans.
She put a quick advert on social media and has been overwhelmed at the response compared to last year when she struggled to find any drivers.
“We were about to reopen in March after our winter hibernation when lockdown hit,” she said.
“The good weather over the last few months and our inability to operate has meant we have lost a lot of revenue this year already in what is a seasonal business.
“The beaches are closed and the county councils have put taking applications for trading licences on hold.
“I was ringing local politicians to find out where our business was on the exit list and no-one could answer me.
"I was told it depended on whether I counted myself as a delivery service which have never stopped or a non-essential service which are still in lockdown.
“Finally I was advised by the HSE last week that we could return to work, as long as we adhered to the government’s Covid-19 reopening guidelines, which we have implemented in all of our ice-cream vans.
“We’ve been really busy in estates as most people are still off work and kids are off school and people seem to be happy to see the ice-cream van - a bit of normality returning, I suppose.
“We have all washing facilities on board the vans and gloves and sanitzers and we are wary of social distancing in queues but it hasn’t been an issue so far.
“However so far, we have only been able to operate two vans because I have no drivers.
“Last year, I struggled to get drivers. We had to pay for ads everywhere and even at that, I might have received 20 applicants in two months.
“I posted a job advert on free social media sites this week and in 24 hours, I have got over 50 replies so far.
"Many people, especially in the hospitality sector who aren’t due to go back to work until August just want to be back working again and will take anything seasonal just to get out of the house.
“In over 30 years of business, I’ve seen nothing like this but at least on the hottest weekend of the year, Smith's ice-creams are back up and running.”
