Lennie’s and FARMbloomington, two restaurants on East Kirkwood Avenue, reopened last week after closing their doors last December. Both expect sales to rise in February and beyond as customers return.
Lennie’s reopened Feb. 1 after shutting its doors on Dec. 27. FARMbloomington reopened Thursday, having closed since Dec. 15.
Their winter closures were the second time both restaurants shut their doors since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last March.
Bloomington resident Ian Sons said he has been a customer at Lennie’s for almost as long as it has been open since 1989. He said what kept bringing him back to the restaurant is the consistently high quality of the food and drinks served there.
“If you order something one time, rest assured, if you go back to have it again even if it’s a special menu item, it’s going to be what you remembered,” he said. “Or, you know, maybe they’ve made a tweak that’s made it better.”
Although Lennie’s was closed through January to cut losses in a month with typically few customers, general manager Michael Fox said he expects its sales to increase now that it has reopened. Fox said during the pandemic, the restaurant has created an online ordering website and significantly expanded its carryout services which made up 40% of its 2020 sales, compared to 7% in 2019.
Fox said the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and the containment of the pandemic will bring more customers, although he said the restaurant may have to compete with a home cooking trend that’s grown over the pandemic.
FARMbloomington owner and chef Daniel Orr said his restaurant had to close mid-December because it was too expensive to stay open. He said once the business received loans from the second round of the Paycheck Protection Program in January he and the staff felt comfortable to reopen again.
The restaurant currently runs on what Orr called a “COVID menu” that’s easier for takeout. However, Orr said he will set up a new brunch and dinner menu in the first half of March.
“I want to get back to what I like to do and do a lot more of the kind of globally inspired dishes that I opened the restaurant with 13 years ago,” he said.
Orr said FARMbloomington is the second half of his career after he cooked for and ran restaurants for decades in New York City, around Europe and on the Caribbean island of Anguilla. He said he founded the restaurant in 2008 to combine his culinary experience with a farm-to-fork model using as much local and home-grown produce as possible.
“I call it ‘local food with global flavor,’” he said.
Orr said he is also hopeful that sales will increase in spring, which will be crucial for the restaurant to remain a viable business.
Bloomington resident Jeff Goldin said he has been a four-year regular customer at FARMbloomington. He said the restaurant has great food and drinks, a nice atmosphere and friendly people, and over the years he’s become personal friends with some of the staff members.
“It just feels like a place where I’m welcomed,” he said.
