PORTER CAFE NOT CLOSING AS RUMORED

Like the Mark Twain adage, news of the demise of the Porter Cafe are greatly exaggerated.
Rumors floating around that the Porter Cafe has closed its doors has many locals both miffed and angered.
"We don't have a lot of businesses here and news like this can really hurt this cafe," said regular customer of the cafe, who requested anonymity. "People that hear the rumors naturally believe they are true and won't even both coming to see for themselves. We've been trying to keep this cafe running here, but people just have to gossip and spread rumors."
Brian Kolehmainen, who became owner of the restaurant last October, is also confused as to why that rumored got started.
"We never closed," he said. "Not even for one day. We cut our hours back a little, but that's it."
Because of inflation and some workers leaving for various reasons, the cafe cut back its hours for the summer.
The cafe now employs nine employees and Kloehmainen is looking for two more workers for either part time or full time.
"We're not open at night in the summer now, except for Sunday," Kolehmainen said. "That is subject to change in the fall."
The new hours are 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., and 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Sunday.
The Porter Cafe will continue serving Prairie 5 meals as required by Federal and State regulations.
Kolehmainen had originally gone into partnership to buy the Porter Cafe. But that partnership dissolved recently and Michaela Sik is now on board as a partner with Kolehmainen as co-owners of the cafe.
"Prices of food and utilities have gone up 30 percent since I first took over, but I don't want to raise my prices and start serving $20 meals," Kolehmainen said. "It's been a bit of a struggle, but we're going to whatever we can to continue to provide service and fill the needs of the people."