Minneapolis, MN
North Loop restaurant sends urgent plea to customers to come back to downtown Minneapolis
In a popular night spot like Minneapolis’ North Loop, it may come as a surprise to learn there are struggling restaurants there, but the owners of Dario said that is their new reality.
For two years, Dario has been serving up homemade pasta and cocktails.
“We’re not going to last much longer, nor are any of the other places you like to frequent, if we don’t get out here and try to experience these places,” said Stephen Rowe, Dario’s co-owner and beverage director.
Rowe and Executive Chef Joe Rolle recently sent a message to those on the restaurant’s e-mail list, writing that the recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement surge, combined with a challenging winter season, has caused a nosedive in reservations. They’re asking for customers to come back downtown.
“Like everybody else who owns a business around here and in the city, it’s just kind of like a gut punch,” said Rowe.
Customers, in particular from the suburbs, haven’t been coming in as much, Rolle said.
“They see a lot of things online, they see things on TV,” said Rowe.
“No one thought that North Loop was really affected, but we were,” said Mary Binkley, president of the North Loop Neighborhood Association.
Binkley said the past few months have been tough for North Loop restaurants.
“January and February were certainly heavy and that’s because people were spending their restaurant dollars elsewhere, in immigrant-owned restaurants, restaurants in neighborhoods where there was more ICE activity,” said Binkley.
Recently, foot traffic has been steadily improving in the neighborhood, Binkley said. With St. Patrick’s Day and Minnesota Twins games right around the corner, she said she is confident people will return.
“This is a place in a two-block radius where a lot of everyone’s favorite restaurants are,” said Binkley.
Dario’s owners said they have been forced to cut back on hours and shifts for employees. Meanwhile, they’ve launched lunch service on Thursdays and catering with the hopes of boosting business and saving the jobs of their 80 employees.
“A restaurant can take, you know, one or two bad weeks, but we’ve all had eight bad weeks in a row, so we’ve got a lot of digging out to do,” said Rolle.
A Minneapolis diner scrapped its prices in protest—and is somehow making more money. That’s the crux of a New York Times piece on Modern Times, a 15-year neighborhood staple that became “Post Modern Times” after owner Dylan Alverson decided he no longer wanted to collect sales tax for a government he saw as harming his community during the massive ICE operation there this winter. In January, he switched to a donation-only model “for the remainder of the government occupation,” braced for collapse, and instead watched his business surge, even though roughly half of his customers now pay nothing for their meals.
Reporter Brett Anderson outlines how the experiment has morphed from tax protest into something closer to a social and economic test case. Alverson says he’s finally earning more than he did running a conventional restaurant that pulled in $1.3 million in sales last year and still lost money, aided by merch revenue and outside donations. The change is now permanent. “I have succeeded more than I ever did when I was running a conventional business employing 22 people,” he says. “I think that’s proof that something is wrong.” The streamlined menu remains cooked from scratch; a security presence and staff mediation help manage tensions; and regulars say the space now functions as a rare zone of “economic equality.” For the financials, backlash, and industry context, read the full story at the New York Times.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – Hennepin County sheriff’s deputies were fired on while serving an arrest warrant, leading to a large police presence in Minneapolis Tuesday afternoon.
South Minneapolis large police presence
What we know:
According to the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were fired at while trying to serve an arrest warrant in the area of West 28th Street and Nicollet Avenue.
Deputies and officers from the Minneapolis Police Department have secured the scene. The roads around the incident have been closed, and authorities are asking the public to avoid the area.
FOX 9 crews at the scene have been told by police that the suspect is barricaded in an apartment building and has a long rifle and explosives.
Authorities say there are no reported injuries currently.
As of 1:30 p.m., law enforcement reports that the suspect is not yet in custody. The apartment he is in has been evacuated and crisis negotiations are ongoing.
What we don’t know:
It is not known what the arrest warrant was for. Suspect information has not been shared.
This is an ongoing incident. Check back for updates.
The Source: A Facebook post from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office.
A new federal report alleges Minnesota’s top officials failed to stop fraud even after concerns were flagged, as Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison have both defended their efforts to combat fraud over the years.
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