Michigan café blindsided by inflation makes plea to lawmakers: ’Think of the little people’
Two years after barely surviving the COVID pandemic, Up North Family Café in Michigan is closing its doors due to rising costs
Family café closes doors due to inflation: ‘It’s a sad day for us’
Up North Family Café owner Martha Brandau says rising prices made it a ‘no-brainer’ decision to close the restaurant indefinitely.
Surging inflation and endless supply chain delays are forcing one Michigan café to close its doors indefinitely on Friday, with its owner sharing a crucial message to lawmakers.
"It's a sad day for us and our customers. We really tried our best," Up North Family Café owner Martha Brandau said on "Fox & Friends."
"Think of the little people," Brandau continued, "the mom-and-pop restaurants in any small community are really the staples of a community. They're the ones that are supporting little leagues, fundraisers when people get sick. We get affected differently than your bigger chains."
The small business owner said sales have been down 50% over the last three to four months, with product prices simultaneously increasing by 30 to 50%.
BILLIONAIRE SUPERMARKET OWNER WARNS FOOD PRICES WILL ‘CONTINUE TO RISE’ FOR NEXT FEW MONTHS
Inflation hit a fresh 40-year high in February with the consumer price index climbing 7.9% on an annual basis, according to data released last month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Month over month, inflation rose 0.8%.
Up North Family Café barely survived the COVID pandemic, and is now closing its doors due to rising costs. (Peter Titmuss/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
"With the rising cost of eggs and milk and meat, it was getting to a point where less people were dining out," Brandau explained.
After just barely keeping their doors open throughout the pandemic’s lockdowns and closures, Brandau explained the business was blindsided.
"We were starting to climb that hill and almost get to the top. And then all of a sudden between supply delays, increase in supplies, lack of supplies, it kind of hit us in a direction we didn't think we were going to be affected by it," Brandau said.
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Michigan restaurant forced to 'start over, regroup' due to inflation
Up North Family Café owner Martha Brandau says the restaurant is closing its doors Friday due to supply delays and price surges.
The owners of Up North Family Café are taking their lemons and making lemonade, using the closing of this restaurant to open a new chapter.
"It got to a point where it was kind of a no-brainer for my husband and I to say, now is the time," Brandau said, "let's just start over and try to regroup."
FOX Business’ Talia Kaplan contributed to this report.