28 October 2022
It absolutely was a normal Thursday at Scottie’s Grill and Cafe within Blythewood. The tiny United states food cafe next to the BP gas station upon Wilson Boulevard had the usual lunch crowd — a mix of construction workers, outdated couples and office staff members — when owner Scottie Opolyn realized he had attained his breaking point. However come into his restaurant, which usually he’d run for near to 14 years, to find that will his staff “did not really give a crap” about the high quality of service or the purchases that needed to be filled. Just for Opolyn, a no-nonsense Brand new Yorker and longtime cafe owner, that was enough regarding him to throw in the towel. “I said, ‘If this is the method we’re going to operate, I did thirteen years, I’m done, ‘” Opolyn said, behind huge black glasses and a solid salt-and-pepper mustache. That mid-day, on Oct. 13, the particular 61-year-old Long Island indigenous abruptly told his personnel he was shutting throughout the restaurant. An hour later, he or she broadcast on Facebook Reside that the restaurant had formally closed its doors.
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“Our job is to give you the greatest food at the best cost with the best service… I actually felt like at this time, with the workers and staff we had, we’re able to not achieve what we had been trying to achieve, ” Opolyn said over the social media system to the restaurant’s nearly five, 000 followers. Within hrs, comments of support — close to 400 — started pouring in from local people asking Opolyn to continue working his spot. What Opolyn thought would be his pension from the restaurant industry grew to become a weeklong break. The particular pleading comments and assistance led him to reopen Scottie’s Cafe and Barbeque grill on Oct. 20, specifically a week after the announced drawing a line under, with less than half the staff members from a week before. Even though the restaurant is back open up for business, things appear different now. What was every full-service lunch and supper spot now offers mainly to-go, with the option to sit down inside after ordering in the counter, because of the skeleton personnel — which dropped through 28 employees to 9 when Opolyn shut down then reopened the operation. At the Tuesday after reopening, Scottie’s was as busy because ever.
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Two middle-aged females took orders at the front counter-top while two other workers prepared food and brought this out to diners in styrofoam to-go containers. A handful of individuals waited next to a display situation of large, decorated bread. Outside, a sign read “Scottie’s retirement is over” within big white letters. “We’re doing OK. The cooking area been doing great, everyone in the kitchen has pulled collectively. The team out front side has pulled together. Whenever we can build off of that will now, I think that we could get back to normality, but it depends upon new staff, ” Opolyn said. Rebuilding staff following the COVID-19 pandemic has been a good uphill battle for cafe owners across the country, including Opolyn. When the pandemic began, he previously 34 employees. That fallen to 28 people throughout the pandemic and now rests at nine. Opolyn mentioned he recognized that he necessary to pay more to attract workers, so he raised their employees’ wages from close to $10 to anywhere from $15 to $18. He mentioned despite this, he’s still fought to find staff that satisfy his expectations for support. “The new people we employed just didn’t care. This seemed like, to me, that it was like an infection. That you could take all of your good people and put some individuals in there that didn’t treatment, it made everybody not really care, ” Opolyn mentioned. He said before he or she decided to temporarily close, this individual noticed a two-month recession in business that he attributed to bad service. Opolyn, who relocated to Columbia from New York more than two decades ago, opened the particular cramped cafe in the previous space of a Taco Bell in 2008. When this individual first opened, Scottie’s just sold sandwiches and green salads. What’s now the dining area was an empty parking great deal. He never expected the location to be successful. “(My friend) Lewis offered me this area and he didn’t even would like rent. He said, ‘Just open it’ so I failed to know what to do. I mean, who desires a restaurant next to the gas station? ” Opolyn said. According to Opolyn, a minimum of two chains, Taco Bell and a Sub Station II, had failed in the place before he opened their restaurant. But the restaurant started out sandwiches and salads for an eclectic slate of menus offerings. They still function sandwiches and salads, yet they’ve added on a dining area with less than a dozen booths and tables. Their menus features over 50 products including things like hibachi poultry, a handful of seafood options and also a ribeye steak.
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“If you may not find something that you’d like to consume here, there’s something incorrect with you, ” said Jerrika Easterling, a UPS employee whose route runs across the road that Scottie’s will be on. Easterling said the particular restaurant is a “Godsend” within an area of Blythewood that has small to offer in terms of restaurants. Apart from a Subway inside of the gas station and a number of convenience stores, there’s very little to eat on the miles-long stretch out between downtown Blythewood as well as the Killian Road area. Scottie’s Cafe and Grill is situated at 10400 Wilson Blvd. in Blythewood and is open up from 11 a. mirielle. to 8 p. meters. Tuesday through Thursday plus until 9 p. meters. on weekends.