Island Crust Cafe announced that as of February 1st it will be closed until further notice.

The Va’ad HaRabanim of Greater Seattle sent out an announcement about the closure on January 30th, exactly three months after the pizza restaurant temporarily closed when a mashgiach (supervisor) discovered non-kosher cheese at the restaurant.

Owner Richard Williams says the issue is staffing. The mashgiach, who supervises the kashrut status of food in a restaurant, just retired and the pizza restaurant is in need of a host, cashier and server, he said. 

Due to the discovery of the non-kosher cheese, Island Crust is now required by the Va’ad to have full-time kashrut supervision.

Williams plans to keep the Island Crust building, but “in the event that we can’t find employees we would have to change the business model and the restaurant probably wouldn’t be kosher anymore, which is not ideal,” he said.

Williams says he and the Va’ad are on the search for new workers. The Va’ad declined to comment on the closure.

Va’ad administrator Chaya Sarah Walsh said, “At this time, the Va’ad is not planning on any interviews.”