The Whaling Company Story (September 2023)
For the past three years, our VISION has been to operate a stable, financially solvent restaurant in a stress-free work environment. After hearing this, Tom Waltz scratched his head and said, “Steve, you’re in the restaurant business. If you can do that… Bottle It!”
So much has changed since Covid, and its not over yet. As a matter of fact, most of us in this business are waiting for the other shoe to drop. Eileen Sperry with the Williamsburg Visitor’s Guide said, “It’s just evolution, the business is always changing.” Debi Schaefer with the Williamsburg Restaurant Association said, “It will never be the same again.”
The Daily Press is finally writing about it in the Opinion piece on Sunday, August 6 titled ‘Fighting to Stay Afloat’. The article is highlighting, with many specific examples, the inflationary pressures causing price increases, hidden service fees, surcharges, the inability to provide pre-Covid services like separate checks for larger parties, large party restrictions, reservation and no reservation policies, long waiting times and the list goes on. We all feel the stress and the pain and as Eileen put it, “Steve, everybody is doing something different since Covid.”
We are still operating a business in the Red, and our people are still dealing with people-related stress. The costs of doing business has far exceeded what we feel like we can charge for our products and services. And some of our guests, fewer now but more vocal, are stuck in their pre-Covid expectations of what we can offer them. It troubles me that there is this growing antagonistic relationship developing since Covid between service people in our industry and unknowing, unaware guests (I dare say “entitled guests”). I can appreciate that it would be difficult to understand some, if not all, the survival changes we are all making if you haven’t worked in our industry since Covid. Please be patient with us, and please know we are all trying our very best. You may have noticed our prices keep increasing, but we haven’t yet added any hidden fees, service charges, or extra credit card fees. Our menu speaks for itself. We call ourselves “The Misfits” here at the Whaling Company. And our saying now is “Love is all you need.”
