While closed for now, Hilltop Restaurant owner optimistic it will return
It’s been a brutal few weeks for Whatcom County restaurant owners dealing with the strict pandemic restrictions, but even with the steady drumbeat of closure announcements, one owner is trying to make sure closure is not a permanent situation.
After Tom Kilpatrick announced major changes to the Hilltop Restaurant that included closing it to the public and putting the business up for sale, he received plenty of messages from longtime customers and friends, but he also spent a lot of time telling them that the popular breakfast/lunch spot will not disappear from 5645 Meridian St., a few miles north of Bellingham.
“I think of it as more of a hiatus,” Kilpatrick said in a telephone interview with The Bellingham Herald, adding that people shouldn’t expect to see boarded-up windows or a crumbling building in 2021. He’s still offering a limited catering service where he can drop food off at homes. “There will be someone here who has the enthusiasm I had when I bought the Hilltop in 2001.”
Kilpatrick’s enthusiasm in 2001 was tested just a few days after he took over the restaurant. His first day as the owner of the Hilltop was on Friday, Sept. 7. Four days later he was hearing about the terrorism attacks that shut down the country.
While the terrorist attacks took place over one day, he remembers the impact it had on society. People were scared about the possibility of more attacks and that led to fewer going out to places like his restaurant. After a period of time, there was a desire for people to see each other again, to meet at restaurants and tell stories and otherwise enjoy each others’ company again.
That’s what will happen again once it is safe to do so, Kilpatrick said.
“Most people want to play a role in the solution,” Kilpatrick said.
Decision behind the hiatus
Restaurants in general have a low profit-margin, so any kind of disruption can quickly turn a money-making venture into one that is mired in red ink.
When the shutdown of dining in at restaurants first happened in March, the Hilltop and other local restaurants had a few things going to help withstand the disruption: People really took to the idea of takeout, particularly since many diners had received financial help from the federal government, whether it was stimulus checks or extra unemployment benefits. Restaurants also had help through the Paycheck Protection Program; the Hilltop Restaurant received $123,500 to pay its employees, according to government data.
By June Whatcom County had moved into Phase 2, which allowed limited indoor dining. That was also enough to keep the restaurant going and there was plenty of optimism that things were headed in the right direction, Kilpatrick said.
As COVID cases increased and restrictions came back in November, it came without the previous safety nets. There was no additional stimulus from the federal government for people or small businesses. Fatigued customers were also not ordering as much to go — Kilpatrick estimates he was recently getting about half the takeout orders as he was compared to March.
“I just couldn’t find the short-term workaround,” Kilpatrick said.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced on Tuesday, Dec. 8, that current restrictions, including restaurants remaining closed to indoor dining, will be extended until Monday, Jan. 4.
Why it could return
Selling a restaurant in the current climate will be tough, but Kilpatrick is optimistic that the location and reputation will lead someone to take it over.
Being in the center of Whatcom County has made the restaurant a destination spot since it was started in 1959, Kilpatrick said. It’s a spot where county residents can meet. It also became a popular spot for Canadians to stop as they traveled to Bellingham and further south for cross-border shopping.
The restaurant also cemented its spot as a destination place when Kilpatrick built a bigger building on the property in 2004. Kilpatrick needed to do something in anticipation of the Guide Meridian road widening project, which took place in 2008. By going with a bigger building farther away from the Guide, Kilpatrick said the restaurant experience a four-fold increase in sales.
That’s also led to a strong customer base; Kilpatrick said they have a birthday club mailing list of more than 7,000 customers. As a vaccine becomes available for the general public and COVID-19 subsides, he believes people will return to restaurants because getting together with others is such a big part of life.
“I’m on the optimistic side when it comes to how this will turn out,” Kilpatrick said.
