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‘We need to stop the bleeding:’ Grand Rapids hit by wave of restaurant closures

Posted By: mlive on March 5, 2025.  For more information, please click here to read the source article.

A flurry of restaurant closures in Grand Rapids has highlighted the struggles facing the hospitality sector, from increased costs to shifting consumer habits, and one industry veteran warns there’s more pain to come.

“For a multitude of reasons, many of your favorite places will cease to exist soon, and it has little to do with who is in the White House in 2025,” Chris Andrus, co-owner of The Mitten Brewing Company, said on Facebook. “Only the strongest will survive.”

Since January, at least eight Grand Rapids area restaurants and breweries have permanently closed, including Rockwell Republic, Creston Brewery, Beacon Corner Bar and GRNoir Wine & Jazz.

In an industry known for tight margins, restaurant closings aren’t rare. But the sheer number of spots that have closed in the first two months of the year has drawn lots of attention.

“We’ve had an abnormal amount of closures in a very short amount of time,” said Richard App, a retail retention and attraction specialist for the Grand Rapids Chamber, the city of Grand Rapids and Downtown Grand Rapids Inc.

While the closures have been disappointing, App pointed out the news isn’t all bleak. At least two new restaurants, Garden District and Silva, opened in February. As for the recent spate of closures, there’s not one overarching reason why they’re occurring, officials say. Rather, a host of factors are contributing, including higher food, labor and operational costs, and a pandemic-era shift from in-person dining to takeout that hasn’t subsided, officials say. Restaurant owners are urging residents to support their favorite spots and “stop the bleeding.”

“Restaurants have not really fully rebounded from COVID,” App said. “That’s No. 1. No. 2 is our dining habits have changed. People aren’t going out as much.”

The string of closures is disappointing to customers and the neighborhoods that housed the establishments. Creston Brewery, for example, was not only an employer in the Creston Neighborhood but also a source of community identity that served as a gathering space for local events, said Kristina Colby, interim executive director of the Creston Neighborhood Association.

“The neighborhood and neighborhood association are very disappointed to hear about the closure of Creston Brewery,” she said. “It’s been an anchor business in Creston for years. It’s a gathering space. They have trivia nights. We have a walking club, a running club. We host community events there.”

Other notable closures include Fatboy, a classic neighborhood diner on Plainfield Avenue NE in the Creston Neighborhood, as well as 3 Gatos Brewery in Wyoming and The Pubb Food and Spirits in Grand Rapids.

More pain could be coming. Late last month, River North Public House posted an urgent message on Facebook: “We need your support to keep our doors open.”

Rachel Lee, who in 2019 opened the restaurant on Plainfield Avenue NE, just north of Knapp Street, said her business had been hurt by several major road construction projects that slowed customer traffic. In addition, other restaurant developments that she hoped would draw more customers to the northeast side neighborhood didn’t materialize.

“I’m fighting for our lives over here at River North,” she said.

Lee said she posted the Facebook message to be “transparent” with customers about the precarious position her business is in. She also wanted residents to know that locally-owned, independent restaurants provide jobs, sustain families, offer a unique dining experience, and that such establishments won’t survive without community support.

“This is definitely a critical moment for independent restaurants in Grand Rapids,” she said. “We need to stop the bleeding.”

Since posting the plea for support, Lee said sales have climbed.

“This weekend we saw a 60% increase in sales, and yesterday we had a private event — once again another 60% increase,” she said.

Moving forward, Lee said she’s working to strengthen her restaurant’s marketing and social media outreach, and she’s partnering with nonprofits for events. One challenge that had been looming over the restaurant industry is a new law that would have phased out the tipped minimum wage for servers and provide mandatory sick leave.

The restaurant industry and many servers said the law would have hurt their businesses, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a compromise bill last month that scaled back the changes. The Michigan Restaurant & Lodging Association supported the compromise.

Other challenges remain, though.

Andrus, the co-owner of The Mitten Brewing Company, said high costs, uncertainty about the economy and shifts in consumer habits are hitting all restaurants. But newer, less-established restaurants with significant debt are the least likely to weather a few bad months of business.

“People are absolutely on edge in the restaurant industry —I think nationwide,” he said. “There just seems to be no end to the obstacles coming our way. None of our sales have returned to where they were before COVID, but all the costs have ballooned out of control.”

Andrus said The Mitten Brewing Company, founded in 2012, is “holding our own,” and is “steadily clawing our way back to where we were pre-COVID.”

“We’re fortunate to be in a mature position. Most of our debt is retired,” he said. “But those were hard fought gains, and we’re happy that we made the moves that we did make to be in a position to weather crises like this.”

Looking forward, App, the city’s retail retention and attraction specialist, is urging struggling restaurants to speak up.

“Don’t be afraid to tell people that you need their support,” he said. “And for us as the community, to keep this growing and thriving city moving in the right direction, we need to continue to support businesses.”