Do you have any stories about neighborhood restaurant closings that you want to share? Do you have restaurants in your neighborhood that have closed? Or a favorite place that’s struggling to stay open, cutting back hours or taken some other preventive measures to try to stay open?
I want to hear about it.
Neighborhood restaurants, independent restaurants, the places that define our cultures and make our communities vibrant, the places we celebrate a softball game win (or loss), go for date night, propose marriage or recognize a colleague for decades of service are closing at an alarming rate. I am a co-founder of the Independent Restaurant Coalition. Go to www.saverestaurants.com and see what we are up to, and please spread the word. Help Save Restaurants.”
I'll nominate Day By Day Café in your home Twin Cities. The café was started as way to help people with addictions transition into the working world with transferable skills and has been running since the '80s. Good food and a killer patio for the nice days. They seem to have fared through the pandemic by pivoting to takeout and putting a wood-fired pizza oven outside. But lately they've had to shut down for afternoons and even days because they lack staffing due to COVID. Lots of restaurants are being hit with staff shortages, but coming on the heels of two years of dining restrictions, it's been tough. For the restaurant and for their mission, they deserve some better luck.
Every day I miss the Latin Cafe 2000 on Miami's Biscayne Boulevard, a neighborhood staple whose founder left us barely a year before the pandemic. It was a typical Cuban restaurant, open from 6 a.m. for hearty breakfasts I used to take my dogs and my young daughter to eat at all the time until 2 a.m. for the cops who periodically turned off their patrol cars to share a colada to stay awake (and on edge) during their night shifts. They took an unusual looking building with a log cabin façade and turned it into an indispensable community meeting point, surrounded with an unusually large for the area and ever-growing collection of parking lots to accommodate its steady flow of traffic. Six years ago, the restaurant chain's founder sold the land to a developer but kept the lease rights. When the pandemic hit, they re-opened after the first wave, but by the second, we saw fences surround its outdoor patio seating and it was apparent that the end of the road for our Latin Cafe had arrived. Today, it's a new startup restaurant that is sparsely attended, if ever as it seems to never be open.
Yes...the Cup 'N Saucer in Sherborn MN (pop. 1400) is such a place. Over an 8 year period, restaurant established itself as the heart of the community, serving breakfast and lunch five days a week and on weekends sometimes serving 120+ tickets in a space that only sat 32.
Kitchen was one four burner stove in an 8x14 foot area. No fryer. Just a chef/owner that, previously being a Sous Chef at the known Lafayette Club on Lake Minnetonka MN he knew how to manage his products and tools.
As the business grew, he also branched into twice a month Chef Dinners, intimate evening dining experiences with expanded gourmet offerings that reflected those he prepared at the private club. Prior to Covid, they were on a 2 year wait list.
Since that period, the restaurant was forced to close as a result of a lack of staff, and business conditions. The town is again shriveling, and eating pleasures are in limbo...
We lost several spots in my town just outside of Chicago. One had been in business over 40 years, owner tried to pivot & offered take out…just wasn’t enough. Almost every restaurant in town is a family owned…the community really stepped up…created social media pages where the restaurants could post daily specials, or closures. Someone even started a private delivery to discourage the 3rd party delivery services. He had partnerships with multiple spots, at zero cost to the restaurant patrons paid him directly a fee to pick up & deliver. Many don’t realize how little a restaurant actually benefits from some 3rd party delivery after fees.
Currently..same as others said, many staffing shortages, many have decided to only operate 5 days a week. It’s heartbreaking. These business are stretched mentally, physically & financially.
I live in Pennsylvania. Local dining establishments have really been hit hard. Many of the places we used to go are no longer. Other places have drastically cut not only the menu but hours. We hear the same thing from all of them. Can't get anybody to work! Hurts my heart so much. Our oldest is a chef in Louisiana, same thing, nobody wants to work. They make more money sitting at home getting hand outs from the government. Shame businesses can't get that same break.
I live in Ireland and I own a beautiful old pub/restaurant called the Broken Jug 2300 sq metres in size. It has been closed for two years because of Covid and the uncertainty in the Irish Hospitality business We are looking for a capable qualified Chef who would like to be involved in the business
I live in Truth or Consequences (yes, that's really the name!), New Mexico and we have a few really wonderful indi-owned restaurants: Grapevine Bistro and Giddyups. The owners are the chefs, their food is consistently DELICIOUS, and they have a hard time getting fully staffed. I'm retired and have considered volunteering to help them out. A large part of the staffing issue is finding people willing to work, instead of staying home to collect unemployment. These restaurants and their owners deserve better.
Please come visit us, maybe you can provide inspiration!!!
Chen's is the neighborhood Chinese/Thai restaurant in our small town of Montague, MI and their food is wonderful. We've really missed dining-in there as their dining room has been closed for several months now due to Covid. However, they still have carry-out. It's not always easy to reach them by phone, however. They've obviously cut their staff way back. There only seems to be a cook and someone to handle the phone and register most of the time. If the phone person is helping in the kitchen, your call may go unanswered. When I asked if they were doing ok without their dining room, they told me they were doing quite well. The reason given was that no in-dining had cut way back on their food waste. Not having to pay for extra staff is obviously cost-saving too. However, they lost at least $40-50 dollars on each of the 2-3 occasions I couldn't place an order, and I figure I'm probably not the only Chen's customer that has experienced this.
I'll nominate Day By Day Café in your home Twin Cities. The café was started as way to help people with addictions transition into the working world with transferable skills and has been running since the '80s. Good food and a killer patio for the nice days. They seem to have fared through the pandemic by pivoting to takeout and putting a wood-fired pizza oven outside. But lately they've had to shut down for afternoons and even days because they lack staffing due to COVID. Lots of restaurants are being hit with staff shortages, but coming on the heels of two years of dining restrictions, it's been tough. For the restaurant and for their mission, they deserve some better luck.
Every day I miss the Latin Cafe 2000 on Miami's Biscayne Boulevard, a neighborhood staple whose founder left us barely a year before the pandemic. It was a typical Cuban restaurant, open from 6 a.m. for hearty breakfasts I used to take my dogs and my young daughter to eat at all the time until 2 a.m. for the cops who periodically turned off their patrol cars to share a colada to stay awake (and on edge) during their night shifts. They took an unusual looking building with a log cabin façade and turned it into an indispensable community meeting point, surrounded with an unusually large for the area and ever-growing collection of parking lots to accommodate its steady flow of traffic. Six years ago, the restaurant chain's founder sold the land to a developer but kept the lease rights. When the pandemic hit, they re-opened after the first wave, but by the second, we saw fences surround its outdoor patio seating and it was apparent that the end of the road for our Latin Cafe had arrived. Today, it's a new startup restaurant that is sparsely attended, if ever as it seems to never be open.
Yes...the Cup 'N Saucer in Sherborn MN (pop. 1400) is such a place. Over an 8 year period, restaurant established itself as the heart of the community, serving breakfast and lunch five days a week and on weekends sometimes serving 120+ tickets in a space that only sat 32.
Kitchen was one four burner stove in an 8x14 foot area. No fryer. Just a chef/owner that, previously being a Sous Chef at the known Lafayette Club on Lake Minnetonka MN he knew how to manage his products and tools.
As the business grew, he also branched into twice a month Chef Dinners, intimate evening dining experiences with expanded gourmet offerings that reflected those he prepared at the private club. Prior to Covid, they were on a 2 year wait list.
Since that period, the restaurant was forced to close as a result of a lack of staff, and business conditions. The town is again shriveling, and eating pleasures are in limbo...
Cup 'N Saucer Sherburn MN.
See their Facebook page or website
We lost several spots in my town just outside of Chicago. One had been in business over 40 years, owner tried to pivot & offered take out…just wasn’t enough. Almost every restaurant in town is a family owned…the community really stepped up…created social media pages where the restaurants could post daily specials, or closures. Someone even started a private delivery to discourage the 3rd party delivery services. He had partnerships with multiple spots, at zero cost to the restaurant patrons paid him directly a fee to pick up & deliver. Many don’t realize how little a restaurant actually benefits from some 3rd party delivery after fees.
Currently..same as others said, many staffing shortages, many have decided to only operate 5 days a week. It’s heartbreaking. These business are stretched mentally, physically & financially.
I live in Pennsylvania. Local dining establishments have really been hit hard. Many of the places we used to go are no longer. Other places have drastically cut not only the menu but hours. We hear the same thing from all of them. Can't get anybody to work! Hurts my heart so much. Our oldest is a chef in Louisiana, same thing, nobody wants to work. They make more money sitting at home getting hand outs from the government. Shame businesses can't get that same break.
I live in Ireland and I own a beautiful old pub/restaurant called the Broken Jug 2300 sq metres in size. It has been closed for two years because of Covid and the uncertainty in the Irish Hospitality business We are looking for a capable qualified Chef who would like to be involved in the business
I live in Truth or Consequences (yes, that's really the name!), New Mexico and we have a few really wonderful indi-owned restaurants: Grapevine Bistro and Giddyups. The owners are the chefs, their food is consistently DELICIOUS, and they have a hard time getting fully staffed. I'm retired and have considered volunteering to help them out. A large part of the staffing issue is finding people willing to work, instead of staying home to collect unemployment. These restaurants and their owners deserve better.
Please come visit us, maybe you can provide inspiration!!!
From your big fan and fellow M.O.T.
Chen's is the neighborhood Chinese/Thai restaurant in our small town of Montague, MI and their food is wonderful. We've really missed dining-in there as their dining room has been closed for several months now due to Covid. However, they still have carry-out. It's not always easy to reach them by phone, however. They've obviously cut their staff way back. There only seems to be a cook and someone to handle the phone and register most of the time. If the phone person is helping in the kitchen, your call may go unanswered. When I asked if they were doing ok without their dining room, they told me they were doing quite well. The reason given was that no in-dining had cut way back on their food waste. Not having to pay for extra staff is obviously cost-saving too. However, they lost at least $40-50 dollars on each of the 2-3 occasions I couldn't place an order, and I figure I'm probably not the only Chen's customer that has experienced this.