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Local Restauranteur Adapts Amid Pandemic, Readies to Open New Property
DES MOINES, Iowa — Tony Lemmo has been in the restaurant business for more than 15 years. His love of food and cooking started at home with his mom, Lou Ann. Now a partner in several Des Moines area restaurants, he knows to expect the unexpected. “We had a rough year in ’19 so we thought ’20 was going to be our year at a number of our businesses,” he says with a shrug, “so it was like – we can’t really catch a break!”
Lemmo says his business is down at least 25-percent, and the Iowa Restaurant Association says that’s about average – most places are down roughly 30-percent. Its latest study shows losses of about $1.4 billion for Iowa bars and restaurants. By March of this year at least one-thousand will have shut down for good.
“Just not knowing what the future held was very nerve-wracking,” says Lemmo. He knew he had to get creative to keep his businesses afloat. Two of them started cranking out more takeout items, and his Italian café relied heavily on outdoor dining. “Our beautiful wrap around porch saved us last summer,” he smiles, “and then we literally tore up our back yard to add another garden bed – why not? It seems like a good analogy…plant a garden, plant some seeds and try something new and see it come to fruition.”
That kind of thinking is carrying forward with a new venture that was in the works before the pandemic. “We decided to keep marching forward as opposed to putting our lives on hold – it’s actually given us more time to plan it.”
“The Breakfast Club” is set to open next month in the East Village and Tony says he has no regrets. “The end is near so you have to stay optimistic and know that once everyone’s safe and vaccinated there’s going to be a renaissance of people having a really good time in this town.”