This is an as-told-essay based on a conversation with Joslyn Kelly, owner of J’s Breakfast Club in Gary, Indiana, which experienced a major power outage following a derecho, or a widespread, long-lived wind storm, on August 11. As of Thursday evening, over 57,000 customers remained without power, according to Northern Indiana Public Service Co. This story has been edited for length and clarity.
The day started out decent, even kind of sunny, and then went from gloomy to all the way pitch dark as the storm came in.
We lost power around noon and had customers at the time. I was sitting in my office watching the camera in the restaurant, and it just went completely dark. The lights flickered a couple of times, and that was it. I ran out and had all of the customers and employees come away from the windows.
We processed the last of the orders and encouraged customers to stay put as the worst of the storm passed. The mood was shock and awe. My mind was going a million miles a minute because my husband works outside. I was concerned for him and for the folks in the restaurant. I looked out the window and could see that the chairs and tables on my patio had fallen over.
We sat waiting for the weather to settle until around 2 p.m. Eventually, it went from a tumultuous storm to normal rain. I told the team to power down, clean up, and to get home so that they’d be safe.
Power didn’t come back on until over a week later, at around 1 a.m. on Thursday, August 20.
It has been very unnerving. Everybody’s been worried about getting the power back on. My focus is that I still have people to pay, bills to pay, commitments that need to be met, and yet not being able to provide a service or have folks able to receive that service.
The aftermath of the storm has been more tumultuous than the storm itself.
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We’ve lost 90% of our sales during the blackout
The power outage lasted longer than we expected. Last week, we were told power would be on by Friday. Friday came, and they said, “You’ll be on by Tuesday.” Tuesday came, and they said, “Well, you’ll be on by next Tuesday.”
Every day is different. I just looked at it as “How do I adjust and keep pushing forward?” That’s what we’ve done, and that’s what we’ll continue to do.
On the second full day without power, I started cleaning out and taking inventory. I realized I didn’t have to get rid of everything. Gas was still viable within our kitchen. I went to Menards and bought tents, portable lights, and propane-fueled deep fryers and griddles, and set up outside the building. We had to use power banks and candles. Several employees showed up to work.
That’s life. You figure it out.
We were able to provide some service to the community, and it did afford us some dollars coming in. We received calls from corporations that still had employees in need of food. We also worked with the City of Gary and served food to the community at the YMCA. We did what we could within our limitations.
They say you take lemons and you make lemonade. Well, I make lemonade, limoncello, lemon ice cream, and lemon pies. We just don’t take these lemons. We make the best of them.
The losses have been big. We sold about 10% of what we typically do, so I lost about 90% of our revenue, to the tune of about $19,000.
It’s been hard. One of my biggest goals was protecting my mental state by staying encouraged, staying motivated, staying moving, staying involved, staying engaged — not only with my needs, but with my employees’ needs, the community’s needs, and finding ways to best serve other folks. My love language is acts of service, so I’m always willing to work and willing to serve.
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I’m hoping the storm will be a wake-up call
I found out the power went back on because I got a call from the alarm company saying motion had been detected. Somebody took the tent that we had set up on our patio. I just saw it as them needing the tent more than we did. And bless them.
I sent a late-night message to my employees saying we were going to reopen the next day and reopen strong. Some showed up, so we were able to open the first day we had power back. We opened for dine-in and carry-out but have not yet reactivated our delivery services, which traditionally account for 10 to 15% of our business. I wanted to tiptoe back in to make sure we can handle it.
With everybody in the community still in limbo with electricity being out, I’m sure I’m missing out on revenue. We still don’t know what’s going to happen.
Gary has very old infrastructure that may not be as up to date as that of other communities, for a variety of reasons. The city itself is over a hundred years old, and a lot of the development that Gary has is from that era. It probably began to decline in the ’60s, when you no longer had the same level of development. Then there are older trees, dead trees, and a lot of vegetation that hasn’t been maintained.
I’m hoping everyone will learn lessons from this about development, zoning, and protecting our infrastructure. The seeds that we’re planting today are not for tomorrow. They’re for 50 to 100 years from now.
Hopefully, this storm has created an urgency and an awareness for us to do better and be better so that our future is better.