Wednesday, January 31, 2024

High and Dry



This post is not about pancakes.

Fuel up for tomorrow's big game. Stop here for an incredible brunch first before heading to the stadium.... or stay and watch the game here. Either way, these Bananas Foster Pancakes won't eat themselves.

Image from Mutiny Facebook page

This post is not about football.

It's GAME DAY! We'll have the big game on all our TVs with the SOUND ON so you won't miss a minute of the action! Plus, our Game Day Sampler Platter is back! Available starting at 2pm.


Image from Mutiny Facebook page


This post is about a community of workers who went to bed Sunday night after long shifts and woke up unemployed.

It has been a honor to serve you.  From the bottom of our hearts... thank you.


Image from Mutiny Facebook page


People who work in restaurants are no different than the rest of us. They need to eat, pay rent, care for their kids, pay for doctor bills and medication. Just because we as patrons see restaurants as places for recreation doesn’t mean that the employees work there for fun. It’s hard work, often hard physical labor. The hours can be grueling as well. Twelve-hour shifts are not uncommon.

Closing a restaurant without giving your employees advance notice prevents them from doing the kind of thinking and decision-making that will be necessary for them to take care of themselves in a financial crisis. I do not know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is what happened at Mutiny. I’m worried that it may have. I would love to learn that employees there had adequate notice and were perhaps offered positions elsewhere. If I learn more I will definitely let you know.

But learning about their (seemingly) sudden closing made me think. 

Imagine that you got up and went to work on Monday morning and your job didn’t exist anymore. What would you do? How would you feel? Do you think it would make a difference if your place of employment gave you advance warning? I do. It takes time to file unemployment and have it go through, for instance. 

Mutiny Scratch Kitchen and Fresh Bar was opened in 2018 by area restauranteur Bob Wecker.

Rob Wecker is the owner of Bushel and a Peck Kitchen & Bar, The Iron Bridge Wine Company and Mutiny Scratch Kitchen & Fresh Bar.  He scratched and clawed his way out of the upper middle-class town of Eldersburg, MD to become the restaurant Jedi he is today. - - Bushel and a Peck Website

Photo from Bushel and a Peck website


Mr. Wecker is well known in Columbia/HoCo for his work in the restaurant business. In 2017 he and his brother Steve were awarded the corporate Philanthropist of the Year award by the Community Foundation of Howard County for their donations of meals and fundraising efforts for Howard County nonprofits and charitable organizations. You really can’t think about the local restaurant business without the Wecker name coming up at least once, if not more. And in a good way.

Having to close a business is troubling and sad and I don’t think for one minute that anyone is happy about it. It is much harder to keep a restaurant going since COVID came on the scene and has basically stayed put. People go out less often. Food service workers are exposed and reinfected at an alarming rate. Some have become unable to work. Some leave the field for safer employment.

All that being said, I do hope that the staff of Mutiny was not left high and dry. 

High and dry: 

- - out of the water, especially the sea as it retreats.

"when the tide goes out, a lot of boats are left high and dry"

- - in a difficult position, especially without resources.

"when the plant shut down, hundreds of workers found themselves high and dry"

That’s a scary place to be. 




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