Multi-business owner Brenda Whitaker says that her restaurants were designed to be destinations, and pandemic has left her struggling to compete with fast food. | Unsplash
Multi-business owner Brenda Whitaker says that her restaurants were designed to be destinations, and pandemic has left her struggling to compete with fast food. | Unsplash
A downtown Granite City restaurateur shared her hardships caused by COVID-19 during a Senate Tourism and Hospitality Committee hearing, held on Southern Illinois University’s campus in Edwardsville, echoing other witnesses' staffing concerns.
Brenda Whitaker, a multi-business owner, lamented at the June hearing that her restaurants can’t keep up with other food establishments.
“I am a former steelworker so I'm familiar with that industry, and I also am the founder and executive director of Alfresco Productions which also operates the Alfresco Arts Center,” she said. “I have four restaurants. I have one restaurant only open two days. I can't get people to work.”
Whitaker lost her job in 1987 and used her pension in putting up her businesses.
“I started Alfresco Productions and Alfresco Meeting Outdoors,” she said. “We held events to bring the community together. With my steel background, I knew that if we could showcase that industry in an art form it would not only give probably civic pride to the people within the community, ... it would allow the outside community to see it in a different light. And so, what we did is we started hosting exhibits. ... before COVID, we were gaining great momentum. People were excited about being in the downtown area. People were coming from all over. ... Where we are today, I can only speak on my own experience, but what I've seen is that I can't get people to come back to work, whatever the reason.”
She is afraid the pandemic might end her ventures.
“I specifically made my places to be destinations, I wanted to create an experience,” Whitaker stated. “When the destination was taken away (because of the pandemic), I can't compete with fast food. If you want a burger and fries, you're going to go through McDonald's. We tried to do the drive-up thing, but that wasn't my business model. Unfortunately, my business model might not survive the pandemic. After 21 years I hope I'm not a casualty, but I have taken my entire retirement — my investments — to hold on.”
Whitaker also mentioned that the industry can shift the spotlight on the arts for tourism potential.
She owns the Garden Gate Tea Room, which has not been fully operational since 2020 due to health protocols and restrictions.
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