Restaurant Round Table Owners of local eateries chime in on staffing, food costs, and tip credit changes
By Craig Manning An extinction-level event: That’s what some experts predicted the COVID-19 pandemic would prove to be for the restaurant industry. Take a look back to March 2020, as restaurants shut their doors and the world went into lockdown, and you’ll see more than a few nightmare headlines spurred by the predictions of celebrity chef Tom Colicchio, who forecasted that 75 percent of restaurants wouldn’t make it through the pandemic. Fortunately, Colicchio proved to be wrong. A 2022 report on the matter from The Washington Post concluded that some 72,700 United States restaurants had closed their doors in 2020—still a high number, but only “around 11 percent of America’s roughly 660,000.” The bad news is that, for many restaurants, the troubled times aren’t over. While the days of shutdowns, strict capacity limitations, and acute fear of indoor dining are in the past, the pandemic also precipitated a slew of other challenges that are pushing restaurants to the brink. For one thing, restaurants and other hospitality businesses have struggled to win back the workers that left the industry during the pandemic. In addition, supply chain issues have sent the cost of many
ingredients into the stratosphere. It’s not even just COVID-related hurdles that are hitting restaurants: In Michigan, consideration of a bill that would drastically raise the minimum wage—and eliminate the tip credit structure that has long been the norm in the food service industry—
staffing challenges, lingering supply chain woes, and what the future might hold. Those restaurant groups are Stafford’s Hospitality, which includes Pier Restaurant in Harbor Springs, The Weathervane in Charlevoix, and Noggin Room Pub and Perry Hotel, both in Petoskey; and Wineguys
Between inflation, supply chain kinks, agricultural crises, and other problems, restaurants are having to spend more money to build their menus and keep operations moving. And those price increases, especially in the food cost category, are causing significant strain. has caused an uproar among restaurant proprietors who say the legislation would effectively kill their industry. With 2023 now underway—and with another busy summer season creeping closer by the day—Northern Express wanted to get a sense of where the local restaurant industry stands right now. To find out, we touched base with a pair of long-running local restaurant groups to hear their insights on business health,
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Restaurant Group, which encapsulates City Park Grill, Roast & Toast, and Palette Bistro, all also in Petoskey. Staffing Challenges “Help wanted” signs have become permanent decor in many local establishments. Even in the summer months, restaurants are frequently closed on Sundays, Mondays, and/or Tuesdays—often not for lack of customers, but for lack of
helping hands. (This, despite a low statewide unemployment rate that hovered between 4.1-4.9 percent for all of 2022.) “In 2019, on season, we employed 420 people,” says Brian Ewbank, president of Stafford’s Hospitality. “In 2022, at the height of the season, we employed 282.” Those numbers illustrate the sea change that northern Michigan restaurants have seen with staffing since the start of the pandemic. Stafford’s was still operating all the same restaurants in 2022 as in 2019, but had to make do with 67 percent of the staff. Unsurprisingly, a few sacrifices had to be made as a result: to avoid excessive overtime—and to protect employees from burnout and other risks to health and wellbeing—Stafford’s cut its restaurant scheduling “to offering four lunches a week, as opposed to seven.” For his part, Joe Keedy, a partner in the Wineguys ownership group and the general manager of Palette Bistro, is trying to see the staffing issue as a “glass half full” situation, even while acknowledging that the challenges have had consequences for the Wineguys restaurant family. “We are blessed with a strong core staff that handles business this time of year,” Keedy says, speaking of the off-season months. “The real challenge is ramping up for the summer season, and that has been an acute