O’Hare’s is hanging in there, staying in fight
Pandemic is only the most recent challenge
RIO RANCHO — O’Hare’s Grille & Pub owners, Jason and Heather Armstrong, say that since opening in 2017, the restaurant on Southern has overcome everything thrown at them and it will get through the latest challenge, the pandemic.
“That construction on Southern had been rough the year before, and oh, my gosh, we have not been able to catch a break,” Heather Amrstrong said.
Since then, construction on Murphy’s Express in front of the restaurant began in August.
“Every hand that we are getting dealt we are just figuring out how we can play our cards to come out on top,” she said. “So far we are in this game and we have no plans of leaving the card table.”
The recent reopening of indoor dining up to 25 percent is a step in the right direction.
“I think I see it as a good move; more to business reopening and things getting back on track with what people are able to do with their businesses and with their lives,” she said.
March is normally the restaurant’s most profitable month and the pub tries to make every St. Patrick’s Day extra special, she said.
“This year we had doubled what we normally do because the chamber of commerce had put together a plan for doing basically a St. Patrick’s Day pub crawl with 1933, Turtle Mountain and Brew Lab 101, and so we had been planning for that for several months preCOVID,” Armstrong said.
Two days before St. Patrick’s Day, the governor’s public-health order took effect limiting restaurants and bars to 50 percent capacity.
“So it killed our business for our biggest time of the year,” Armstrong said. “You don’t realize there are a ton of operating expenses that go on, and when you can’t have people inside of your business all of those things add
up,” she said.
The restaurant pays about $84,000 a month between rent, payroll, operations and licenses, she said. With COVID-19, the restaurant is spending about $5,000 a month for repairs, maintenance, safety and sanitation.
March’s revenues for the restaurant were down about 85 percent. This month they are down about 20-25 percent, said Jason Armstrong. The couple has asked for help from the landlord but has been denied.
They did receive help from the Paycheck Protection Program in the second round and that was a lifeline, she said.
“The city worked so well with us when we expanded our patio,” he said. “It has been great because we have been able to do pretty good business.”
Having 17 tables outside made O’Hare’s comparable to where it was with 50 percent capacity, Heather said.
“Then the city came out with the grant, which was even better because now we can invest in trying to make that patio more of a permanent patio,” she said.
The pub has received a $10,000 grant from the city’s Small Business Assistance Program.
“We hope to continue to operate as O’Hare’s always has, and continue to be a city favorite,” she said.