"It's devastating": Ann Arbor eatery suffers thousands in losses during power outages
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - As power outages continue due to strong summer storms, small businesses are feeling the impact – particularly those that rely on refrigeration.
York in Ann Arbor is a one-stop shop. It's a wine bar, cheese and meat counter, and coffee shop, and it houses popular eateries Ricewood and Bao Boys.
When a power outage hit, its owners said it has a ripple effect throughout the community.
"They are brutal," said co-owner Sarah Okin. "There is a quantifiable missed opportunity for multiple different groups of people. So, of course, in our businesses, we lose tens of thousands of dollars in revenue; we lose tens of thousands of dollars in product that we either have to donate or give away. We also have staff that aren't earning if we're not earning -- they're not working, they're not gaining their wages."
Okin said local businesses they regularly purchase from also lose out on business.
"All had to go, everything," said Okin as she stood in the restaurant's walk-in refrigerator that was packed with perishable food.
She said York donates its food to Ann Arbor's homeless shelter, the Delonis Center, and to staff and customers during outages so it doesn't go to waste.
"The businesses that we frequent every day, and who employ the people who come here to work every day, they go out and it's a tragic situation," said customer Nick Durrie.
Several doors down from York, the owners of Eat recently announced they were closing their Packard location after losing their entire inventory during the same power outage. Although their lease was ending and they had plans to close in September, the outage gave them no choice but to close ahead of time.
Having experienced three to four outages this year alone, Okin said a lack of communication and accountability from DTE is frustrating.
"The decent thing to do is to communicate and say, 'Wow, we know this is difficult. We are out there. We have x number of people' – just anything would, I think, help us feel more confident in their efforts," she said.
York is located at 1928 Packard St. in Ann Arbor.
