“For us, it wasn’t viable to have a takeout business and not go into debt with it,” said Darrell Carlberg, owner of the Rusty Cow Cafe in Circle Pines. “We decided we would just close.”
In Blaine, Carol’s Restaurant came to the same conclusion after going to take-out only in the last closure. Despite a group of loyal customers it wasn’t enough.
“We tried. We tried with owners and a handful of staff to try and make it work, but it wasn’t busy enough to keep us open,” said Teresa Benson, a Carol’s Co-owner. “Just the heat and turning the lights on, the stove, the oven, is costly.”
Closing is hard, but owners say they want to be financially able to re-open when it’s allowed again. Between the two restaurants, more than 80 employees are impacted. That’s raised a lot of questions.
“They’re looking at us what do we do? When will we know? We’re saying basically until further notice. Hopefully it’s no more than 4 weeks,” said Benson.
Carlberg says more relief from Washington for small businesses and workers is overdue, and not just for restaurants.
“We’re not open that means our delivery people don’t have jobs. That means our warehouse people don’t have jobs. Sales people aren’t making any money because the restaurants are closed. It’s something we can’t forget about, the trickle down effect,” said Carlberg.
The timing for this closure is particularly bad, during the run-up to Christmas.
“It’s holiday time, its a fun time people are looking to get out,” says Benson.
Both restaurants hope they can eventually re-open at 100 per cent.
“It’s the hardest thing I’ve been through in the restaurant business,” said Carlberg. “The ups and downs of it all.”
“We need joy right now, I’m telling you,” says Benson.
At Carol’s, the Vintage Rose Gift Shop is still open. For the Rusty Cow Cafe, it’s essentially the third shutdown in a year. The previous owners closed the long-time former restaurant in the space, Matthew’s Family Restaurant, in October 2019, seemingly unexpectedly.
