Riverfront Cafe to reopen
Published 12:37 pm Thursday, January 26, 2012
That didn’t take long.
One week after closing its doors, the Riverfront Café is expected to open for business again on Saturday.
General manager Don Schmeichel said they would retain their entire staff — about 22 people — minus Bill and Andrew Thistlethwaite. Schmeichel will remain as general manager and Tom Watson as owner.
Schmeichel said they have not hired a new head chef to replace Andrew Thistlethwaite and that the existing cooks would be preparing the food.
Schmeichel said they would know Friday if they will be prepared to open for good on Saturday.
“We feel it is very important that it be open,” Schmeichel said. “When something closes down that is as viable as this, then people become very concerned. We received many calls from people that wanted us to stay open and that gives you a good sense of pride in what you’ve done in the past. It certainly gave us a push to get it going and back open.”
Schmeichel said there would likely be some changes in store for Riverfront Café, but right now they are focusing on opening.
“There will probably be menu changes and some daily specials,” he said. “We will probably be running more soups and trying to buy locally-grown stuff in season. But we want to keep the focus on what we were: great food, great prices, great service.”
The Riverfront Café closed suddenly on Jan. 20. Around that time, the restaurant’s Facebook page said the Thistlethwaites were no longer affiliated with the Riverfront Café.
Schmeichel would not comment on why they closed.