Hello! I’m Alex Coolidge, and I write about most of the region’s major corporations here in Cincinnati and the local economy. Today, though it appears I wrote about the trials of a restaurant chain, I’m also writing about a piece of our local economy.
Cincinnati was a rough city when I first moved here in 2003 – a tough spot to find much more than a sandwich for lunch or dinner in downtown or Over-The-Rhine. And as far as vibrancy, after 5 p.m., the city emptied out.
Racial tensions and civil unrest robbed the city of liveliness even before the Great Recession of 2008.
But that started to change around 2010 as OTR quickly became a hub for the city’s culinary life.
One early restaurant that popped up around that time was Taste of Belgium, which opened its first bistro in OTR in 2011. It was founded by a native Belgian, Jean-Francois Flechet, a disillusioned academic who stumbled into the restaurant world when he thought he could earn some quick money during a career change, selling authentic-tasting waffles from back home.
Flechet’s and his peers’ success became the city’s success as Cincinnati’s restaurant scene became more widely known. The jolt of energy helped spur the influx of residents, office projects and boutique hotels.
But today, Cincinnati’s restaurant boom might be in jeopardy. While much of America has moved on past COVID-19, the pandemic which hit the industry like an earthquake, the culinary industry continues to experience aftershocks. First there were shutdowns, then take-out and delivery only, then social distancing. Consumer dining habits, labor shortages and inflation have hit the industry hard.
In today’s story, Flechet recounts how early signs of recovery from the pandemic prompted him to expand at the wrong time. Now that he’s shuttered more than half a dozen locations, he hopes to settle his current legal troubles with lenders and former landlords. But his words of resolve are also a warning to a region that bet heavily on restaurants and restaurateurs: “We know we’re not alone.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Taste of Belgium: Why we wrote about it
Reporting by Alexander Coolidge, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
