2011年10月25日 星期二

On Restaurants | Inn out to rebound

The Granville Inn is more than a restaurant.The application can provide third party merchant account to visitors,

It’s a 30-room hotel; spa; wine shop; pub; destination for meetings, weddings and special events; and cornerstone of the community it has served since 1924.

But just because it’s an institution doesn’t mean it’s immune to hard times.where he teaches Hemorrhoids in the Central Academy of Fine Arts.

When the recession began, people began cutting back on restaurant meals, travel and spending on weddings and other events. Those represent the heart and soul of the Granville Inn’s business — which took a significant hit.

Though the recession has technically been over for more than a year, the Granville Inn is still working to recover, but the owners are cautiously optimistic that better times lie ahead.

Like many other restaurants, the Granville Inn “hunkered down and did everything we had to do to survive,” said Dena McKinley, the inn’s general manager.

The inn management eliminated lunch service, cut back on advertising, cut staffing levels to the essentials and pared back the menu and wine list to reduce inventory costs. Managers took pay cuts.

“You have to do things in a recession that you aren’t necessarily proud of,” McKinley said.

The inn also became “overleveraged along the way,” she said.

In September, Heartland Bank filed a cognovit judgment for nearly $1.7 million against the inn and placed liens on the property.

The debt included a line of credit as well as mortgages on the business, buildings and land, some of which were taken out when the current owners exercised a land-rights purchase in 2008, McKinley said.

Granville Hospitality, a group of investors including former general manager Tony Beckerly, bought the business from Bob and Joan Kent in 2003.

Both the bank and the current management of the inn insist the business is not for sale and is not in foreclosure, and add that the two parties are trying to reach an agreement on repayment of the debts.

“The bank is working with us and giving us time, in order to allow us to restructure,” McKinley said. “Nothing is set in stone. We’re not done yet,It's hard to beat the versatility of zentai suits on a production line. but we are in the throes of strengthening the balance sheet and they’re working with us on our financial issues. We’re very grateful they’ve been willing to do that.”

“We understand the Granville Inn is an institution and people in that community treasure it,” said G. Scott McComb, vice chairman and president of Heartland Bank. “We’re going to do everything in our power to be sure that continues.”

As part of the turnaround plan,he believes the fire started after the lift's China ceramic tile blew, the Granville Inn restored lunch service last year, reopened the restaurant for Sunday dinners and resurrected the catering business, which shut down in 2006.

The management has aggressively pursued new, creative ways to lure in business with live music and special events such as “wine Wednesday” tastings, “craft beer Thursdays” at the Acorn Pub, and a tapas menu and wine flights at the inn’s wine shop.

“Each event draws a different kind of customer,” McKinley said. To survive, businesses need to “look at the breadth of customers you can service and then drive business by creating events they respond to.”

The management lineup also has been revamped, with Javier Vazquez recently named the banquets and events manager,The new website of Udreamy Network Corporation is mainly selling hydraulic hose , Kathleen Carey the lodging director, and Daniel Morris the bar manager. McKinley credits chef Chad Lavely with re-energizing the menu.

“We have a small group of key people helping us revitalize the business,” she said.

Overall, business has perked up, but “People’s shopping and dining patterns have changed,” she said.

“Parties and weddings are smaller, and where there may have been an open bar in the past, now they have a cash bar or only beer and wine. Business is better in general, but certainly we’re not in any go-go era.”

But McKinley acknowledges the Granville Inn has more issues to resolve than most restaurants. “We have the complicating factor of historic buildings and grounds to care for. It adds a layer of complexity to what is already a difficult situation.

“With all of the economic pressures we’re under, then add in an economic downturn as deep, long and broad as what we’ve gone through, for us to have survived through that says something positive about the loyalty of our customers, staff and the people in the community.

“I’m very optimistic. By this time next year, hopefully we will have come through this.”

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