Businesses like restaurants and winebars have suffered during the pandemic and may need guidance from local governments. | Stock Photo at Getty Images
Businesses like restaurants and winebars have suffered during the pandemic and may need guidance from local governments. | Stock Photo at Getty Images
While restaurants and similar venues across the state continue to struggle to stay afloat in the midst of the economic crisis created by COVID-19 restrictions, establishments in Frankenmuth have responded by pulling together and finding common, cooperative solutions.
WJR’s "The Frank Beckmann Show" recently spoke with Zak McClellan, the co-owner of Prost! Wine Bar and Charcuterie in Frankenmuth, about how Prost! has dealt with the challenges of operating during the coronavirus pandemic.
Six years ago, shortly after McClellan moved back to Frankenmuth, he became involved in founding Prost! out of a desire to be part of what makes the community special.
"We just wanted to try to create a great addition to the wonderful restaurants that are huge and put Frankenmuth on the map,” McClellan told Beckmann.
Overall, Frankenmuth has handled the coronavirus pandemic well, McClellan said. Adding to that success has been a strong sense of community cohesion in regard to deciding the best community response to the pandemic.
After reopening in June, Frankenmuth saw a slow progression back toward normal, McClellan said. By the end of August, he started to feel they were approaching a true sense of normal.
A key part of making everything go so smoothly was the way that the local government invited the Chamber of Commerce and area businesses into open discussions, which put everyone on the same page, not only with procedures, but even down to details such as signs, McClellan said.
"And I think you really notice it when you walk through the entire city. Every business really is operating with the same rules regarding COVID and how to be safe through it,” he said on the radio program.
In fact, McClellan told Beckmann that it has been something of a lesson to be a participant and an observer of all the work that local business owners have put into keeping the community successful through the crisis.
"It’s been fun for me to be able to be a part of that response and be able to be around the table with all these wonderful business owners who are so successful and have done it for a long time, to see just how they navigate in such a crazy time,” McClellan told Beckmann. “I’ve been thankful to be a part of it.”
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