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BAY CITY, MI — Bergers Household Restaurant, a fourth-generation family-owned enterprise with a protracted historical past in Bay County, is celebrating its ninety fifth anniversary this yr.
However proprietor Bruce Berger stated he’ll let the milestone anniversary move with out a lot fanfare.
“We’re low-key,” he stated with amusing. “Perhaps 100 years if I’m nonetheless right here.”
Berger works on the restaurant, situated at 6387 Westside Saginaw Street in Frankenlust Township, alongside his son Nathan Berger and sister Sue Berger-Headings. Bergers has been serving loyal clients breakfast, lunch and dinner on the web site since 2006.
Earlier than that, the restaurant had been situated on the nook of Westside Saginaw and three Mile roads.
As we speak, Bergers is greatest recognized for its Nice Lakes perch dinners, nevertheless it began in 1928 as extra of an ice cream parlor, Bruce Berger stated.
“My great-grandparents began it — John and Mary Berger,” Bruce Berger stated, standing behind the restaurant’s bar, the place a number of Berger household portraits are proudly displayed.
And, earlier than that, the Berger household operated a cheese manufacturing unit west of Mackinaw Street and south of Amelith Street in Bay County.
“That was my great-great-grandfather’s,” Bruce Berger stated. “They used the whey that they scraped off the cheese and made ice cream.”
Black-and-white images of the manufacturing unit circa the late 1800s cling within the restaurant’s entryway, together with different images and newspaper and journal articles chronicling the corporate’s historical past.
When requested what it’s wish to be a fourth-generation restaurant proprietor, Bruce Berger replied, “I grew up in it, so I don’t go to work daily; I simply preserve residing a part of my life.”
Not contemplating restaurant possession a job is considered one of Bruce Berger’s secrets and techniques to success.
“In case you take into account it going to work, you’re not going to make it,” he stated.
Bergers has a loyal buyer base, a lot of whom have been eating there for years, and a popularity for its Nice Lakes fish dinners, together with perch, walleye, white fish and sunfish.
“Now we have it written on our menu; ‘We is not going to serve something however lake perch,’” Bruce Berger stated, noting perch dinners account for 20% to 30% of his restaurant’s gross sales. “We’re recognized all through the state. Now we have a clientele from throughout that come only for the perch.”
However whilst his family-owned restaurant celebrates almost a century in enterprise, a uncommon achievement, Bruce Berger isn’t positive what the long run holds.
The previous few years have been tough for his and different small eating places. His enterprise, which used to serve clients seven days every week however is now closed on Mondays, has confronted many challenges because the pandemic started three years in the past.
“We don’t have sufficient assist to do what we wish to do, and that’s why enterprise has gotten so exhausting,” he stated, noting that he employs about 16 individuals, down from pre-pandemic staffing ranges of greater than 20. “You’re restricted with what you are able to do.”
And, whereas closing in the future every week may not appear to be a lot, he stated, it provides up over a yr. Then there are the availability chain challenges many companies proceed to face, product shortages and rising wages. It’s been three years, and he doesn’t see these issues going away.
“I don’t suppose regular goes to be regular anymore,” he stated.
Keenly conscious of those challenges, restaurant supervisor Nathan Berger hasn’t determined whether or not he’ll comply with in his father’s footsteps and take over sometime because the fifth-generation proprietor.
“The century mark, I feel, could be a terrific purpose to hit,” he stated. “So far as taking it on additional than that, I’d like to see that; I’d love to try this, however … the surroundings for the restaurant/hospitality business as a complete is sort of terrifying.”
The Bergers stated their loyal clients and longtime staff, a few of whom have labored there for 10 to fifteen years or longer, have saved the enterprise going and made this anniversary potential.
“We very a lot respect them,” kitchen supervisor Sue Berger-Headings stated. “If we didn’t have them, the doorways wouldn’t be open.”
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