For restaurateurs, peril always on the menu, but experts don’t read too much into closures
The recent closure of a longtime business in Greeley may feel like another nail in Greeley’s retail coffin, but that’s the nature of the beast in a high-risk industry, restaurateurs say.
Making a restaurant work and have staying power has as much to do with management and consistency as capitalization and the economic times of the day.
The owners of Jackson’s All-American Grill called it quits last week after 18 years in business in west Greeley, the second long-running restaurant to close this year. Western Sizzlin’ closed shop in January after a 22-year run, with owner Bob Boswell citing a poor economy and a variety of factors that led to decreases in customers since 9/11.
Closure “happens everywhere, Fort Collins, Denver, it’s happening all over the country,” said Rob Haimson, who owned Potato Brumbaugh’s in Greeley for 25 years before selling it in 2006. “It’s a tough time, but more importantly, it’s a tough business.”
The number of closures, however, doesn’t always herald doom. In fact, in an informal look through Greeley phone books and archives, roughly 50 restaurants in the Greeley and Evans areas have closed since 2001; but roughly 40 new restaurants were opened in that time and remain, about a dozen or so from the corporate chains. Another 50 or so have stuck it out for years in the business. More continue to look at Greeley as an option, city leaders say.
“That’s a very natural cycle,” Haimson said.
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