Hay River has lost one of its restaurants.

Just before Christmas, Driftwood Diner closed after six-and-a-half years of operation.

Jane Groenewegen, who owned the restaurant with her husband, Rick Groenewegen, explained the closure was largely due to staffing issues.

"We had one cook that was with us from the day we opened our doors, but unfortunately he had to take a leave and that left us really shorthanded and it was just kind of a domino effect, and there just weren't enough people to keep it going," she said.

Groenewegen said she and her husband are now considering options for the building.

When asked if it's possible that it may reopen as a restaurant, she noted, "The highest and best use of that facility would be a restaurant, but that doesn't mean it's the only thing it could be used for."

She noted that running a restaurant is not an easy business.

Groenewegen said other possibilities are the building could be used for events or meetings, and the front could be used for any kind of programming.

"We don't plan to decommission the kitchen at all," she added.

Groenewegen said it was a very difficult decision to close Driftwood Diner, although she noted it was not a difficult decision in other ways because of the staffing issues.

The building was originally built as a KFC outlet.

"It had sat empty for a number of years when we bought it," said Groenewegen. "I was kind of attracted to the challenge of restoring it and showing that it could be something useful again, and I think we accomplished that and I even think we proved that it was a viable operation, but not without staff."

Groenewegen noted that, because of the staffing issues, she and her husband would often end up working at the restaurant when necessary, although not as cooks, and it took more and more of their time away from their other businesses.

She said the building is definitely not for sale.

"It might be for lease under the right circumstances, but that's a pretty big piece of infrastructure just to hand over to someone," she said. "It would have to be under very favourable conditions that we would consider handing the facility over to somebody because it's a huge investment that we have there."

For now, she and her husband will reflect on their options for the building, which they operated under Greenway Food Services Ltd.

Groenewegen noted there were many nice social aspects to running Driftwood Diner and she will miss that part of the business.

"We miss having breakfast with all our friends and our customers," she said, noting she and her husband would have breakfast there every day.