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Latest hit to hospitality industry: Black Dog Café closes doors

Owner Sara Remke says she and her siblings survived the challenges of LRT construction and most of COVID, but couldn't overcome recent staffing shortages.

ST PAUL, Minn. — In the latest sign that the hospitality industry continues to struggle during a persistent pandemic, the owners of Black Dog Café in Lowertown, St. Paul, have decided to close their restaurant doors.

“This would be the beginning of our 24th year. We’d hoped to make 25 but, you know, life has other plans for you,” said Sara Remke, who owns the restaurant along with her siblings.

Remke said the restaurant survived – and even evolved – with the community and through bouts of LRT construction and, of course, COVID-19. The restaurant credits loyal customers for helping them sustain their business during the pandemic by ordering their take-out options, but Remke says the latest COVID curveball proved too much to overcome.

“The past couple of months, with staff shortages, it’s just been really, really difficult. You wake up each day, going, ‘Am I bartending? Am I serving? Am I cooking? Who’s not there today?’” she said, adding, “We’re just tired, and we’re just done.” 

The closing of yet another neighborhood staple proves what industry advocates say is common knowledge among those who hold hospitality jobs: The recovery is far from over, and the industry needs more help.

“This industry is still in trouble and still in jeopardy. And it’s a very fragile recovery that we’re seeing right now,” said Ben Wogsland with Hospitality Minnesota.

Wogsland noted that a recent survey conducted by Hospitality Minnesota, Explore Minnesota Tourism and the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank showed that, despite a strong summer, 45 percent of food service operators experienced lower-than-normal fall revenues. What’s more concerning, Wogsland said, is that more than half of survey respondents are expecting lower-than-normal revenues during the winter; and a full quarter of restaurants expect “significantly” lower-than-normal revenue this winter.

Beyond that reality, Wogsland also noted a combination of factors hitting the hospitality industry at a critical time. Among them, ongoing supply chain and labor market issues, inflation and debt that restaurants have already accumulated in an effort to survive during the pandemic.

“We’re certainly not out of the woods, and I think it’s going to continue to be again, continue to be a multi-year recovery,” Wogsland said, adding that lawmakers could help support that recovery through a series of tax breaks and grants.

All of those measures are critical, Wogsland said, to ensure that people have a “place to come back tomorrow.”

But that recovery won’t come in time for the beloved Black Dog Café.

“It’s been an institution in the neighborhood for 20-some odd years. So it’s just tragic to see it go,” said Darrell Lloyd, who was one of several customers that bemoaned the loss of a café that has served a combination of art, music, coffee, food and company.

“Just a nice, warm, inviting place. And you always run into people from the neighborhood,” said Maren, who works near the café.

And when it came to that love and loyalty of the community for the café, the feeling has been mutual.

“It’s heartbreaking. Even though we feel it’s the right decision, it’s heartbreaking,” Remke said, noting that the messages she’s receiving on Facebook and from people around the world, “has been really, really touching.”

“We felt that love and support from people,” she said, adding, “We had a really rich life here. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

The café is inviting customers for one final drink on Jan. 15.

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