COLORADO SPRINGS — Several Colorado Springs restaurants’ menus may look different this year as businesses battle supply chain problems and find themselves unable to get certain things for their dishes.
Michael Meese, a longtime bartender and server of Red Gravy, said his team is no stranger to supply chain issues.
“For the last couple weeks, we ran out of calamari. We also couldn’t get certain beer and wines.”
Russ Ware is a managing partner of the newly-opened Epiphany restaurant, the Wild Goose Meeting House, Good Neighbor’s Meeting House, and the Patty Jewett Neighborhood Bar and Grill. He has also seen the effects of supply chain shortages.
“Certain things that are important to us are hard to get right now and, sometimes, there’s alternatives available, sometimes there aren’t, so we have to be pretty creative,” said Ware.
According to Ware, most of the challenges surround his older restaurants that feature signature dishes that customers have come to love.
“At the Wild Goose, we have this gooseberry relish and we can’t get the particular raspberry jam that we use for that, so we’re substituting strawberry and other things for that. It’s just not the same.”
Across town, the Colorado Mountain Brewery is creating new twists on classic dishes with the ingredients the restaurant is able to find.
“We’ve had to change some recipes we’ve had for years,” said Jonathan San Agustin, a manager of Colorado Mountain Brewery. Making specials out of things. We’ve learned to be resilient.”
Despite the struggles these restaurants face, many told FOX21 News they remain optimistic that things will eventually turn around for the better. In the meantime, customers are asked to remain patient and understanding.
“We still struggle with staffing, we still struggle with supply chains and that’s, a lot of the times. out of our control, San Agustin said. “We really do our best to take care of you.”
