Brian Williams has run Blue Heron Cafe with his wife Julie since 1996.
It will be closed for winter from January 28th to mid-March.
“I’ve never done anything like that. I’m mentally thinking about rethinking the way things are done and coming back with a little recharge and understanding that there’s life beyond those four walls.” ‘ said Williams.
Williams said restaurants have had to learn to work with fewer staff since COVID.
“Everyone has to be here to run this business. All of our key people. So if you want to say you want to take off for a few weeks, I’m not really thinking about your co-workers. You know. Like, they’re going to be in a terrible place,” Williams said.
An unexpected benefit of a small staff is that they learn to work together as a team and become like family. Her server, Mary Dowdy, said it was the best place she’d ever worked.
“We all trust each other. We are here for each other. We all get along very well. We would do anything for each other,” Dowdy said.
Since COVID, the restaurant has closed on Mondays, returning the working week to five days and shortening restaurant hours, Williams said. We also focus on catering.
“The first 25 years in business was always about growing, adding more hours, adding more days, doing everything. Wow, it feels really good to put it down,” Williams said.