Mothers and nutritionists have told us this for years, yet I’ve never been a breakfast person myself and have always been extremely healthy and fit in spite of it. All through my growing up years in fact, I could never bring myself to eat anything in the morning; and even as an adult the most I can ever consume before lunchtime is a piece or two of fresh fruit. This does NOT include tea, of course, which I consume by the potful. (When someone recently asked me what my blood type was, without missing a beat, my son answered “Earl Gray”). But while I never eat breakfast myself, I do enjoy making it for others. Dana and I bought the Lodge 5 ½ years ago, and there had never been any sort of breakfast served here before we came, so I saw this as an opportunity to add an amenity for our guests. It started out simple, with homemade muffins and orange juice. It was well received, and because I like to bake (and also have an obsessive personality), it grew. And Grew. AND GREW … Last year my complimentary “Continental Breakfast” was almost like a full hot meal. It consisted of a buffet of homemade muffins, scones, cinnamon rolls, coffee cake, pastries, homemade granola, hot oatmeal, apple crisp and bread puddings, bagels and cream cheese, egg and cheese frittatas, fruit salad, etc. To bake all this fresh every day I was getting up 365 days a year between 4-5 am, and not being finished with breakfast cleanup until almost 11 am … at which time I then switched hats and ‘started’ my next 10-12 hour shift as the “Lodge Lady”. Of course, while 99% of our guests were thrilled and raved, the squeaky 1% -- the kind of people that cannot be pleased no matter what you do – took it upon themselves to write unpleasant things on Trip Advisor about my breakfast, such as “Not enough variety” or “Dining room is too small”!! (We don’t even have a dining room!!!). And so in a way, breakfast was beginning to be a problem rather than the ‘gift of myself’ to my guests I had intended. Owning a business is a big responsibility, and doing it right is both time and labor intensive. It can also be costly. While our expenses at The Lodge have risen dramatically each and every year and we have continually upgraded and made improvements, we have not had a rate increase in the last 4 years. In fact, due to the economy, we even lowered rates last year to make it easier for our guests to travel. All this is to say that I have had to “re-think” our breakfast concept and necessity has required that I eliminate the red ink on this part of our P&L. Instead of raising rates to cover the costs, I am scaling back to more realistic Continental fare, with one big exception: everything will always be homemade. (No day old donuts, or holiday inn-style commercial-grade pastries here, EVER!). We will serve our Continental breakfast from 7:45 – 10 am 7 days a week, with the exception of April and November. We will continue to offer our great French-pressed coffee, a wonderful tea selection and orange juice, and will offer a homemade pastry each day, such as muffins or cinnamon rolls each morning. It will help get everyone going in the morning, and if you are a big breakfast eater, The J-Town Deli, Yesterdays and Glen Junction – all just a stone’s throw away, will be happy to short order cook for you and your family. I'm looking forward to seeing you at The Lodge at breakfast time, and having time to share a cup of tea, a hot, steamy muffin and some good conversation with you during your next visit!
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