THIS STORY IS PART OF DINING EDITOR ANN CHRISTENSON’S 2023 BEST RESTAURANTS PACKAGE. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE FEATURE.
WE CHECKED IN with Melissa Buchholz, co-owner of Odd Duck, the small-plates beacon that moved from Bay View to Walker’s point last year.
First off, how are things going overall?
From the customer perspective, most things have returned to normal. [But] I don’t think people understand how much harder it is for us now. In this world, people still get sick, so every morning you’re juggling sometimes like 45 text messages just trying to figure out if you have a team for that evening. There was a point in my life where I thought like, running a restaurant, this isn’t so hard, but the pandemic really turned that on its head.
What are some of the day-to-day struggles?
Part of our job is to create an illusion, to make you feel extremely taken care of, like it’s effortless. [But] our job is very, very physical. It’s very emotional. It’s very personal. It’s very mentally taxing. It’s long hours. And so many industries have been affected [by the pandemic]. A huge one is delivery drivers – truckers lost tons of people during the pandemic, and people need goods more than ever. So all of our vendors are struggling to figure out how to get our product, trying to deal with wildly fluctuating gas prices, with product interruption.
Odd Duck’s service has always been its strong suit. What’s your training philosophy?
I tend to hire people who have a lot of experience, but for some, it’s their first restaurant job ever. People learn from each other as much as they learn from me, so I never require them to do anything specific as far as, like, how they talk to a table. If your staff feels like you’re invested in them, then they’re more likely to be invested in you.
