On Jan. 22, Chalet House of Omelettes announced via Facebook the 45-year-old restaurant on Eureka’s Fifth Street would be closed permanently. Over the phone from the Chalet’s Cutten location, owner Bill Tuttle told the Journal his mother, Vera Johnson, opened the restaurant March 1, 1975 in the former Mr. Swiss ice cream parlor after having worked as a server at a number of places, including Ben Chin’s Canton Cafe (the first Chinese restaurant in Eureka since the expulsion of Chinese residents in 1885) and the storied Lazio’s. It closed March 15, 2020 after shelter in place was declared.
“It needed remodeling, new
carpeting and the walls done … nothing real big and major — it just had to be shut
down for a while and when it shut down I didn’t have the money for it,” said Tuttle. While the Cutten Chalet has a patio and tent for outdoor dining, he didn’t feel the lot at the old restaurant on Fifth Street could work for outdoor seating, nor did he have confidence it would get enough takeout traffic to sustain it.
Staffing, Tuttle says, has also been a challenge during the pandemic. “Nobody wants to work, they’re getting too much
unemployment,” he said, though the additional $600 COVID-19 related unemployment benefit ended in July, and other employees didn’t feel safe coming to work because of the virus. He added difficulty maintaining staff, especially cooks, was already a problem after legalization of cannabis. “We also started having trouble once they opened up the pot businesses [which often offer higher wages] …
and it’s a unique trade to be a short order cook. … it takes quite a while to
train ’em,” he said, noting working a flat-top grill and handling special orders takes a special skill set, and that he’d just lost one that day. Tuttle said he’s talked to other
owners who are struggling with the same challenge. “Your employees are your business.”
Tuttle, who’s keeping his chin up, said he got into the business when he returned from 30 years in the Marines to care for his ailing father in 1998 and started helping his mother out at the Chalet. He started bussing tables and washing dishes, both duties he still pitches in with at the remaining restaurant, where he works daily. “I still do that now, whenever they need help,” he said. “I’m either really good at it or really bad and they keep training me.”
This article appears in Taxed.
I think I can sum this story up:
Man doesn’t want to pay employees a livable wage so he is shutting down due to not having enough employees.
I couldn’t have said it better. It’s worth noting that this place charges $10 for an omelette that costs about $1.50 in ingredients.
It’s very true same reason there are no longer any lyft or Uber drivers too much unemployment. Literally every single homeless person has applied for PUA small business and gotten it. The lack of for thought that went into that legislation was horrendous. You don’t even have to show any proof of anything if you claim you made less than a specific amount. They have incentivized not working and unlike regular unemployment PUA is backdated so it’s beyond ridiculous but like most things people don’t want to impose stricter controls to prevent fraud.
LOL
Fat cat bidnessmen are now “very concerned” that the poors are not desperate enough to sell themselves willingly into slavery in a mass pandemic situation, even as they suckle at the teat of Big Government which threw a massive stimulus package in the lap of the bidness owning class and left the class which actually PRODUCES all wealth 600$ worth of table scraps and crumbs.
This is the same shithole where a local Dominos once enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the low-end, cafeteria-style Pizza market and exploited it for all it was worth until word apparently got out about the opportunities afforded in Eureka for PRICE GOUGING and others such as Little Casesar decided to get in on the act.
No Sympathy for price gouging bidnesses.
Nobody wants to work, they’re getting too much unemployment,”
It’s a amazing how people blame unemployment instead of low salaries for staffing problems, pay a living wage salary that is better than unemployment.