Will That New Restaurant Open Soon? Ever?

This Friday, April 17, was supposed to be opening day for The Flying Noodle, a new downtown Italian eatery. But now, according to co-owner Adrienne Brunette, there’s no telling when it might open.

“With the shelter-in-place order, our contractors can't work, so things like plumbing, electric, building permits – all of that stuff is on hold,” says Brunette, who also co-owns the downtown taco shop Mama Lu’s. She notes that, once Michigan’s shelter-in-place order lifts, there will still be several weeks of construction work left to do to prepare the kitchen and dining room. If things get back to normal in May, Brunette thinks the restaurant could be open by the end of the month – though she’s hesitant to make any firm plans.

“We could shelter in place all through May, too” Brunette says. “We could shelter in place all through June. So our alternative right now is to work on adapting our current situation and kitchen at Mama Lu's to accommodate both restaurants in a takeout manner.”

The good news, Brunette tells The Ticker, is that she and her business partners have all the equipment necessary to start making and serving the planned Flying Noodle menu. That almost wasn’t the case: Brunette had ordered the pasta machine for the restaurant from Italy, and it shipped out to the U.S. the day before Italy went into full lockdown.

In Acme, Brent Faber was targeting May to open a new craft brewery – called Stone Hound Brewing Co. – in the space previously occupied by Acme Coin Laundry at 3593 Bunker Hill Road. The goal was to have the buildout mostly complete by now, and brewing operations underway. But beyond some electrical work and insulation, work had barely begun before the stay-at-home order hit. That will leave at least a month of construction once building trades professionals can get back to work – a timeline that could take longer given that most of Faber’s brewing equipment is already in the building.

Ordered from American Beer Equipment (ABE) in Nebraska, much of Stone Hound’s equipment was manufactured in China and shipped directly to Michigan. Early on, Faber had worried the equipment might get stuck in China due to that country’s COVID-19 outbreak. Instead, it arrived on American soil before Stone Hound was ready for it.

“We had originally had a company that was going to come unload everything for us, but they were under the no-work order,” Faber explains. “We had to scramble and rent a forklift and unload everything ourselves.”

The shipment did not include Stone Hound’s brew system, which ABE has agreed to store at its Nebraska factory until the end of May. Since plumbing, floors, and other parts of the buildout aren’t done yet, more equipment would just mean more obstacles for the builders.

“Even with the equipment we have in the building, we're going to have to play musical chairs to get that stuff out of the way for construction,” Faber adds. “We have six serving tanks and four fermenters, and they each weigh over 1,000 pounds, so moving everything around isn’t easy.”

Stone Hound also can’t start brewing beer on-site until it receives final approvals from the Michigan Liquor Control Commission, and that can’t happen until the construction work is done. “So even after the building is ready, we’re still going to need a couple of weeks to have beer ready to open,” Faber says.

Well-established seasonal businesses are facing their own challenges as they try to get open for the year. Gary Jonas, owner of The Little Fleet, says the business is going through “a really difficult time” as it eyes an uncertain summer. “We were created to be a community hub for people to congregate and connect with each other,” he says.

“Not being able to do that right now is extremely hard.” Jonas adds that The Little Fleet is still planning to open in early May – albeit, with five food trucks instead of the usual six, as a way to “create more outdoor space and allow people to be more spread out.” The food truck lineup will be announced on social media “in the next week or so.”

Bardon’s Wonder Freeze, which is re-launching this spring under new ownership, initially planned to hold a “grand opening” celebration on April 24, but has delayed those festivities until May 7-10. The East Front Street ice cream shop had a soft opening this past week, serving customers for a few hours at a time on nice-weather days.

According to Dawnette Wessell, whose family purchased Bardon’s in March, opening with no advertising and minimal fanfare has given the business a chance to train its new employees and establish practices for safe social distancing. While Wessell acknowledges that some community members have criticized Bardon’s for opening at all, she tells The Ticker that her team is operating in full compliance with the state stay-at-home order and has had complete support from the local health department.

“We are happy for those who can be there for our community, like takeout restaurants or coffee shops,” Wessell says. “It’s the little things in life that keep us in comfort. We are not asking for our guests to leave their homes to come see us, but we are here to service them on their way to work, on their way home, or when they are out because they have to be.”