The lights are off at The Muddy Moose this morning.The sign on the front door says "So Sorry. Due to lack of customers we are closed. See you in the spring."
I had dinner at The Muddy Moose Friday night, lunch there with out-of-town guests yesterday. They remarked about what a nice place it was, how great the food was, how great the service.
Give us another chance Patty. You hardly got a chance to get to know us. We hardly got the chance to support you. There was precious little not to like about your business.
The sign is a dagger to our hearts. Turn the open light back on.
We your customers are the ones who are "So Sorry."
Give 56572 another chance. We are not first date lovers. Don't even count on a doorstep kiss. There is a home football game on Saturday. Sort things out and be open for us by then. I'll buy you a drink or two. Say it isn't so, Patty. Please.
56572 Archive: New Moose on the loose
7 hours ago
21 comments:
Go for it Tabi we need you back all week.
this is too weird...the Moose has been very busy every time I have been in there and that has been NUMEROUS TIMES!
Count me in! Tabi, 56572 will back you all the way. Just tell me when.
With signs like that, i hope she didn't bite the hand that feeds her!
My Wife & I were regula customes at leasonce a week for breakfast - brunch and really enjoyed our dining experience - we do not like he NEWS tha we have read on 56572.
Patty: I was so looking forward to using our "GIFT CARDS" this fall & winter - ( like 4-6). I am so disappointed to have to wait for the "SPRING OPENING" of the MUDDY MOOSE, if ever???.
I can only look at carpeting and vinal for my house after today? This is not good for downtown Pelican Rapids!!!!!! You have have the potential to loose many "LOYAL CUSTOMERS" by your decision.
Do you know what your potential is by staying open?
Yes, there were many loyal customers...but not enough to support the establishment as it was. Over the past 3 or 4 weeks...breakfast had died off to 10 or 12 people on many mornings. It costs a lot of money to keep an operation like the Muddy Moose open...
I can't believe this! I am a regular and loyal customer and although slow at times, Patti, you haven't given it enough time to build a following, work out your glitches, and make this work. I am really disapointed.
Patty,
Did your mother never tell you that "if you haven't got anything nice to say, don't say anything at all"? (Mine did and yet I find myself compelled to continue.)...
"due to a lack of customers"
Great way to alienate anyone that ever was a customer. They weren't "customers"? They weren't "good enough" customers? Didn't spend enough money?
How about "due to lack of forethought and planning"? "due to overextending my credit" How about "due to expecting too much too soon"?
How about taking the blame personally instead of attacking the people and community that did support you? & when the locals, who you have so cruelly blamed and attacked, don't return in the spring, will you realize that that is your fault and be able to accept the blame then?
& closing before the holidays? Brilliant! Just in time to not sell any gifts or any gift certificates and to not host any holiday parties! Absolutely brilliant! (I'm sure Riverview Place, The Club, and The VFW all thank you.)
RE: The 9:45 p.m. post by anonymous. Yes, it does cost a lot of money to keep a place like The Muddy Moose open, but you don't make any money at all by closing it.
Patty, thanks for taking such a HUGE chance on this little community. Your restaurant is wonderful and will be missed, I will look forward to patronizing the "moose" in the spring (or hopefully sooner). In response to the 10:50 blog--if the community doesn't support a business, how can it stay open? Just being open doesn't mean that you are making money--without local support when the "lakers" are gone--you go backwards. We'll Miss You Lots!
If you don't patronize local businesses, they won't survive. Mrs Dahl has put a lot of time, effort and money into the restaurant. Without a stable customer base she can't financially succeed, without this business (or any other business in town) we, the community lose.
I am bummed about the closing of the Muddy Moose.. one has to feel for the poor employees (which I hear made very good money..hmmm)
The customers shouldn't be blamed for Pattys overdulgent ways! It doesn't take a genius to figure out what went wrong...
One has to wonder if being a few weeks from the 6 month anniversary has a bit to do with the closing now.. maybe unemployment??? HMMMM
Has anyone heard what will happen to those holding tanning minutes?
Patti, Instead of just shutting the doors unexpectantly, some warning of cutting back hours and laying some workers off would help your bottom line. October is a slow month in retail etc. Run a full year and then make a decision. Look at what other restaurants do in the area that serve dinner - they go to Thursday - Sunday night in fall and maybe even less in January/February. Lots of ways to look at it - I think you may have chased many of your local customers who did support you away for good with your rash decision. An owner of a new business should be there working it almost all the time that it is open - one less person on the payroll. Hope to see you change your mind and advertise in DL and Fergus - Perham etc and help continue to bring people to Pelican. Give it more of a chance.
10:50, you should have listened to your mother, she sounds like a wise woman.
Sad to see that the moose is closed. I referred allot of people there while they stayed in town. I, too own a business in town, BUT I knew going into this business that the Autumn and Winter months would be slow and that the time to make money was in the Spring and Summer. I often wished I could fix up my property as The owner of the Moose had done, but I know that since income was seasonal, I would have to spruce up the place when I could afford, year by year. I will continue to send people to the moose,(as well as the other dining establishments in town) if it opens again because that is what a community is suppose to do.
metal: if you think this is a dying town and the things you say are true about the farmers, the police officers,etc....why don't we/you do something about it? Maybe 56572's blogger needs to have a survey of sorts asking his readers to suggest ways of bringing in more businesses, keeping existing businesses open, and come up with a vision for the future of Pelican Rapids. My husband and I moved to this town and bought a business because of the friendly people we met, the charm of the town and the beautiful topography. We plan on staying here for years to come, but we, like the muddy moose, depend on people who live here and people who visit our town. So, you ask, "what's next?", let's work together to make it a better place so that we don't hear anymore negative comments. It is a shame to hear you say that you think that Pelican Rapids is a dying town, but it is also rather motivating to me.
Here's to everybody who has a problem with Patty shutting down the moose...
Patty has her reasons for shutting down the moose... I have to ask everybody, have you ever tried running a business? Especially in Pelican 56572? If you really have a problem with it... BUY A RESTURANT... open a business and you can have it however you want and quit concerning yourself about the moose. Personally I love the place... and yea it sucks that it's closed for the winter... but HEY.. it's not like it's gone forever! Everybody will find somthing else to do over the winter. Muddy Moose you will be missed... but many will anxiously be awaiting you return. Now can everybody quit being so negative about the moose and the town of pelican rapids. Ever try thinking on the bright side of things!?
I, too, think that big changes are needed. First, we have to support the businesses that are still here. Give these businesses a chance to not only survive, but thrive and improve. The owner of the muddy moose needs to realise this as well...if she wants the people of pelican rapids to dine there....she will have to support the other business owners that have recommended her place of business as well, not snub them.
I think that losing the Muddy Moose was a shame...and yes indeed I do feel bad for Patty. Running a buisness is not an easy thing. But at the same point I think you did way to much way to fast, and you didn't give it enough time to evolve. The Muddy Moose was a very unique place and Patty you did a great job with all of your ideas for it. I think that for the first time Pelican Rapids got to see the type of places we COULD have,the potential we have, if only people would accept and support "Change." I know for a fact that living here my whole life it isn't something that people take well too, well you know what people need to get past that, and see that yes we can make a go of this town, and restore it to what it use to be back in the day when success wasn't a question. Patty as far as you go, things could have been done differntly, and yes you did just give up, not only on the community and people who supported you, but also on your employees who were such nice,hardworking and courtous people. I think that if you expect to have a go of your buisness you need to realize that you DID have people in the community that were faithful to you, and supported the Moose, but those people were not enough to keep it going, understandable, but you also need to realize that they may not be back after what has already been done. Sorry to say...but I hope you the best, and lets make Pelican Rapids a go..I support that idea.
It seems as though support within the business community is missing. Where is the Chamber of Commerce effort on business retention and development? Your community is full of wonderful people making great individual efforts...but there seems to be a lack of collective effort. Perhaps if Patty (and others) knew there were tough times ahead it would be be easier to work through them as a group. Perhaps Patty's greatest fault was her ambition. A high level of ambition does not need to be a fault but it does need to be shared. Better days are ahead for 56572...just how soon they come will be directly related to the overall effort, not just the effort of one or two.
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