Freshwater Lodge, Catch Island Among Eateries Now Closed

The Ticker has learned several prominent area restaurants have shut their doors. Freshwater Lodge, The Catch Island Grill, Rusty’s Pizza and Subs, and For Taste Fusion Bistro have all closed in the past few days.

Freshwater Lodge, Schelde Enterprises’ crown jewel across from West Bay in Traverse City, was closed as of Sunday. “It's just really tough operating a restaurant in Michigan right now,” said a woman answering a call to the eatery, “but we still have two other Traverse City locations: Schelde’s and TraVino. This restaurant and building are for sale, so who knows what might happen in the future.” The SW Bayshore building is listed by Coldwell Banker Schmidt's John Welsh for $1.2 million.

The Catch Island Grill on Park Street between Front and State is closed. The 3,500 square-foot building is owned by Kelly Restaurants LLC and is listed for $775,000 by Real Estate One's Lynne Moon. The Caribbean-style restaurant opened in spring of 2008, emphasizing fresh and saltwater fish and other seafood. Last June, owner Paul Kelly added a tiki bar. There was no message on the restaurant’s machine and Kelly couldn’t be reached in time for comment.

At the intersection of Silver Lake and Zimmerman, Rusty’s Pizza and Subs has closed after six months. “It was slower than we needed it to be,” said Rusty Yarick, who ran the pizzeria with his wife, Lori. “The road construction in August was the nail in the coffin. But we’ve had a blast and had some of the most loyal customers.” Mike Tarnow owns the building, which was Green Hill Grocery for years, and then Little Foots, a Mexican restaurant and store operated by Pete and Karen Bardenhagen.

In Interlochen, 4 Taste Fusion Bistro next to Ric’s Food Center has closed after less than a year in business. Mike Pugh, who honed his cooking and managerial skills under restaurateur Barry Boone, completed gutted and redecorated the old Grandma’s Kitchen restaurant. He and Chef Christian Hang tried a completely new formula – serving Asian, Italian, French and American fare. Neither could be reached for comment. A “for lease” sign is in the window.

How is the rest of the state faring? The Michigan Restaurant Association (MRA) announced just yesterday that statewide eating and drinking place sales increased by 1.67 percent in the first six months of this year.

Sales at table-service restaurants increased by 3.33 percent, sales at quick service restaurants increased by 0.47 percent, while sales at bars and nightclubs increased by 0.65 percent. Caterers and hotel dining rooms both experienced sales decreases.

Overall, the industry posted sales of $4.90 billion for the first half of the year compared to 2009 sales of $4.82 billion.


MRA President and CEO Rob Gifford called the sales results “the first signs of stabilization after an extremely challenging year in 2009.” He added, “Unfortunately, sales over these first six months were still 1.66 percent below 2008 results, and we have a long way to go before the industry’s health is restored.”