Gavin Alexander Hardie, manager at the long-established Mad Murphy's Irish pub in Raekoja plats said finding service staff had already been a challenge in recent years.

"I've had people who only speak English, and it's pretty ok in this bar in particular. We're kind of touristy, right in the center of the old town, so you can get by with just English, especially if you're working on the terrace," he told ETV news show "Aktuaalne kaamera" (AK) on Wednesday.

While communication in Estonian is supposed to be ensured at every catering business, not every service worker needs to master the language – in other words some wait staff need to be conversant in the state language.

At Mad Murphy's, four people had responded to a job ad for the upcoming summer season, and all of them in any case could speak Estonian, AK reported.

The Estonian hotel and restaurant association (Eesti Hotellide ja Restoranide Liit) told AK that while the situation is better than it had been during and immediately after the Covid pandemic, a continued workforce crisis has even then brought businesses to the stage where they often have to hire staff who cannot speak Estonia, or potentially face closure.

The association's head, Ain Käpp, told AK: "Certainly given the surge in demand across Estonia during the summer, businesses will eventually find themselves in a real predicament in finding new people, training and employing them."

"A more flexible employment relationship which would allow flexible schedules alongside study might be a solution here," he added.

One, Anisija, who is currently job-hunting, told AK she does not see a lack of Estonian language skills as a hindrance.

"I really want to work in the service sector this summer. My Estonian isn't very good, but I'm eager to get a job at Vapiano," she said, referring to the pasta and pizza chain.

"I have a friend who already has a job in the service sector, and their level of Estonian is the same as mine. Language hasn't been a barrier for them and they were simply hired, and have been working for over a year already," Anisija went on.

Wednesday's unusually warm weather had already brought people out onto the terraces at some Tallinn eateries.

Of those who AK spoke too, only a few said they had not encountered service in a language other than Estonian.

The preference for the local language remained anyway.

One customer, Heidy, said: "I feel more comfortable communicating in Estonian. Certainly if they were to speak Russian, I would either respond in Estonian or leave."

Another, Triinu, told AK: "Elsewhere in the world, people generally speak the local language, as much as they know. I can manage, of course, in various languages, but there are some people who can't, so maybe there should be a bit less of this youth-centric culture in Estonia, to enable everyone to manage."

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