Remember when you were a kid, and your older brother used to pin you to the ground and make you say "uncle?"
I feel like 2020 is that older brother. And this week, I finally said it.
With a heavy heart, I temporarily closed my restaurant yesterday. It was just becoming financially, mentally, and emotionally unsustainable. From February, 2015 until December, 2018, I transformed that old building in Rockford into a Nordic cabin of a dining room, made to transport my customers to a cozy, mountaintop nook where they could meet their neighbors, hear local musicians, and sample great foods from a scratch kitchen.
There's just no good way to put that experience into a carry-out box.
And so I'm pivoting once again. The staff and I are turning the space into a holiday Snømarket and fresh food shop. I'm not sure it'll work, but I have to try something new. I'm out of tricks in the old format. Time to start fresh.
Reader, I've worked so hard to have a "never-say-die" attitude. And that attitude remains. But that attitude really can't fix absolutely everything. If you too find yourself banging your head against the same wall, remember: you don't have to give up.
You may just need to find a new wall.
Wish me luck! See you next Monday. -Em