The Community rallies for B-B Cafe to remain open

There were many community members that came to support keeping McIntosh’s local cafe, the B-B, open.

During the Community meeting held at the Community Center on Monday, August 29th, nearly 50 concerned citizens came to voice their opinion.

Most were very interested in solutions to keep the doors open on the McIntosh business.

There were many questions answered and many questions that were left unanswered.

First, there was the issue of where the money from the revolving loan account came from. The money came from a very low-interest loan from the USDA, the money that was loaned to many businesses in town was essentially guaranteed by the City for repayment.

The Revolving Loan Fund was meant to help the businesses in town, and without it, there are many more that would have failed right beside others that did.

The City of McIntosh was supposed to begin paying back this money in 2016 for the debts that have been defaulted on. In 2015, the City was $12,000 short with the payment, now the City will have to figure out what to do to make up the shortage of funds that need to be repaid.

Mayor Strom responded to some people questioning about the loans not being collected and let people know that nobody wanted to see these businesses close, and if you start squeezing people for money they close the doors, instead of trying to make it work.

Strom did state that it would be impossible for the City to be involved with the Cafe.

Owner of the B-B Cafe, Tina Olson was present at the meeting as well. She explained the situation and that she is unsure as to how she would be able to keep the doors open. The Cafe has not been making enough to keep operating, but she has had friends and family that have financially assisted her in making sure the doors did not shut. She stated that she is willing to work with whoever she can in order to keep the doors to the cafe open.

Many Community members offered suggestions from turning the cafe into a co-op of sorts to forming a committee to help generate ideas to bring business into the failing restaurant. 

The restaurant has been run for the past 7 years by Tina’s brother R.C., who is also the cook, and a mighty fine cook at that. R.C. stated that Tina, her husband Randy, Ann Stordahl, and Dave Stordahl have, “provided a community service to McIntosh for the past 7 years” simply by keeping the restaurant’s doors open.

Community members who also had businesses at one time in town also stated the concerns once things start to fail. One community member stated that they thought the same thing, “if a few more people would come into this business, then maybe we could make it work.” But he said the reality is, there is just not enough people here.

B-B Cafe is also the Senior Meal site in McIntosh.

So, what would happen if the B-B Cafe did close? What would be the ramifications for our small town?

There was a sense of needing to find a way to not let it die, but let it change. It is an echo that needs to be used in all our small McIntosh businesses.

There was a commitee formed that will meet over the next month to propose solutions for keeping the restaurant’s doors open for business. The Committee will then present it’s ideas at another public meeting that will be held on Monday, September 26th at 7:00 pm at the McIntosh Community Center.

The committee members so far are Andrea Stordahl, Connie Strom, Dave Stordahl, Barb Oseth, R.C. Hoopman, Joe & Jessica Shimpa and DeeDee Narum.

And changes are already happening. Check out the B-B.