It’s hard to believe summer is winding down. The sun is setting just a little earlier, the start of the school year is right around the corner, and some are looking forward to cozy clothes and pumpkin spiced everything.But wait – there is still plenty of summer left to enjoy...
Bookwalter Winery is expanding its dining business in service of a lofty goal.Owner John Bookwalter wants to transform the Richland winery’s Fiction restaurant into a top-drawer establishment worthy of the industry’s highest honor. To do it, he’s opening a new restaurant in the former R.F. McDougall’s Irish Pub & Eatery...
A determined Tri-City entrepreneur has changed her business model and business name and signed a three-year lease in a new place to launch it. Nena Cosic of Pasco has operated European Desserts & Appetizers by Nena out of the Red Mountain Kitchen in downtown Kennewick for the past four years.It will...
There have been plenty of efforts to bring a public market to the Tri-Cities. But after years of talk, an all-private effort with 70 vendors, including Ice Harbor Brewery and Columbia Industries’ Opportunity Kitchen, is about to open in Kennewick.The Public Market @ Columbia River Warehouse is set to debut...
Megan SavelyRichland’s Frost Me Sweet Bistro & Bakery is casting off the lingering effects of the pandemic by adding a new bakery, as well as a drive-thru cake-shake business on Wellsian Way.The new location will provide much-needed workspace for Frost Me Sweet’s bakers while allowing owners Megan and Jason Savely...
Michael NovakovichMichael Novakovich, president and CEO of Visit Tri-Cities, is looking forward to May, which is when the tourism agency he leads expects to finalize the economic impact of tourism on the local economy in 2021.After a pandemic-battered showing in 2020, signs of revival will be welcome news to an...
The women overseeing two popular waterfront restaurants in Richland didn’t intend for their jobs to become their careers.Kassandra Bell of Anthony’s at Columbia Point, earned a degree in psychology (which comes in handy interacting with staff and guests), and Cara McDonald of Budd’s Broiler spent two decades in real estate...
As I write this, the state is preparing to roll back Covid-19 mandates: Masks are coming off, spring is in the air, and there’s a sense of a promise to return to (something like) normal.The hospitality industry has been waiting for this moment for two years, and so have the...
As we might suspect from our own travel, tourism took a huge hit in 2020.The Benton-Franklin Trends metric on direct travel and tourism spending makes this painfully clear.Total estimated spending in the two counties plunged from about $496 million to $345 million, or a drop of 30%.What has been affected?...
A gaming lounge at Columbia Center is closed with a handwritten note in the window: Closed because of staffing issues.It’s one small sign that the Great Resignation is in full force in the Tri-Cities, disproportionately affecting the hospitality and visitor sector. As Michael Novakovich, CEO of Visit Tri-Cities reports, local...
