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Boonville —
Dear Boonville,
There is little that would make my parents shudder more than telling them I intend to open a restaurant. Perhaps only announcing I planned to enlist in the Marines.
There are no bullets flying or roadside bombs exploding inside most buffets. Angry eaters aside, the threat of bodily harm is generally not part of the job description for working in the food industry.
List any other obstacle, though, and most restaurant owners will tell you it's standard meat and potatoes type stuff.
That is what makes Bobber Cafe's half-century existence such a feat and management's announcement that it planned to close Labor Day so ordinary.
Both my parents worked in the food business — my dad had several restaurants and my mom managed catering at clubs and corporations — and both can offer cautionary tales to the person certain that his sports bar will work at that corner location or that a downtown area needs another fine dining establishment.
"I wish them the best of luck," my mom often says about new restaurants she's dined at.
What she knows and what others will tell you is that operating a restaurant is like the challenge to finish a three-pound burger in an hour, even before the exhaust hood breaks, the cook catches a cold and your meat distributor raises its prices. Ever wonder how chefs earned their angry reputation?
The Bobber Cafe, in its original incarnation as The Windmill, started as the first truck stop eatery in mid-Missouri and then expanded into a full-scale restaurant with banquet areas.
Manager Keith Walters said last week if the Bobber were half the size, it would still be open.
Peter Rainsford co-authored “The Restaurant Startup Guide,” and talked to The New York Times about the charm of opening a restaurant.
“So many people love to cook, they like food, and they think, boy, I’ll have a job where I’ll do what I love,” Rainsford said. “They don’t realize how hard a job it is, both financially and physically.”
I've often heard my dad in the other room, after he's pressed one on the dial-pad five times, telling a corporate employee "I went broke three times in my life giving service."
I used to cringe when I heard his voice raise, recognizing the guy on the other end possessed as much control as a waiter does on menu prices, but then I started seeing his rant as a push on behalf of workers, owners and customers who flounder in a tide that carries them towards accepting less quality service.
Dear Boonville,
There is little that would make my parents shudder more than telling them I intend to open a restaurant. Perhaps only announcing I planned to enlist in the Marines.
There are no bullets flying or roadside bombs exploding inside most buffets. Angry eaters aside, the threat of bodily harm is generally not part of the job description for working in the food industry.
List any other obstacle, though, and most restaurant owners will tell you it's standard meat and potatoes type stuff.
That is what makes Bobber Cafe's half-century existence such a feat and management's announcement that it planned to close Labor Day so ordinary.
Both my parents worked in the food business — my dad had several restaurants and my mom managed catering at clubs and corporations — and both can offer cautionary tales to the person certain that his sports bar will work at that corner location or that a downtown area needs another fine dining establishment.
"I wish them the best of luck," my mom often says about new restaurants she's dined at.
What she knows and what others will tell you is that operating a restaurant is like the challenge to finish a three-pound burger in an hour, even before the exhaust hood breaks, the cook catches a cold and your meat distributor raises its prices. Ever wonder how chefs earned their angry reputation?
The Bobber Cafe, in its original incarnation as The Windmill, started as the first truck stop eatery in mid-Missouri and then expanded into a full-scale restaurant with banquet areas.
Manager Keith Walters said last week if the Bobber were half the size, it would still be open.
Peter Rainsford co-authored “The Restaurant Startup Guide,” and talked to The New York Times about the charm of opening a restaurant.
“So many people love to cook, they like food, and they think, boy, I’ll have a job where I’ll do what I love,” Rainsford said. “They don’t realize how hard a job it is, both financially and physically.”
I've often heard my dad in the other room, after he's pressed one on the dial-pad five times, telling a corporate employee "I went broke three times in my life giving service."
I used to cringe when I heard his voice raise, recognizing the guy on the other end possessed as much control as a waiter does on menu prices, but then I started seeing his rant as a push on behalf of workers, owners and customers who flounder in a tide that carries them towards accepting less quality service.
The Bobber Cafe was a connection to a bygone era in which asking whether a customer wanted smoking or non-smoking seating came as standard as a full water glass waiting for you at the table. For the Bobber regulars — those who visited multiple times each day — Monday's closing meant finding a new place to linger. And for its employees, finding a business accepting applications.
If they are looking for a familiar setting, one where coffee groups talk to each other rather than their cell phones, their search will require some effort. Or a time machine.
Contact news and online editor Eric Berger by calling 882-5335 or e-mailing eric@Boonvilledailynews.com.
