News Local news After More Than 50 Years, Bal­a­ton at Risk of Closing

After More Than 50 Years, Bal­a­ton at Risk of Closing

Sets up GoFundMe for Assistance

I can’t think of many restau­rants that are more impor­tant to Cleveland’s culi­nary and cul­tur­al iden­ti­ty than Bal­a­ton. Like Sokolowski’s, which we lost (along with many oth­er note­wor­thy spots) in 2020, Bal­a­ton rep­re­sents the deli­cious rich­ness that immi­grants from Cen­tral and East­ern Europe brought with them when they came to town. It is because of places like Bal­a­ton that Mid­west­ern­ers became hip to culi­nary trea­sures like wein­er­schnitzel, paprikash and goulash. (Read Scene’s review from 2018 here.)

For more than 50 years, Bal­a­ton (13133 Shak­er Sq., 216−921−9691) has man­aged to keep its doors open – first on Buck­eye Road, then at Shak­er Square – but now is tee­ter­ing on the brink of sur­vival. After explor­ing every rea­son­able avenue of finan­cial sur­vival, the own­ers are reach­ing out to those of us who know and love the place. A GoFundMe page has been estab­lished to help get Bal­a­ton to the oth­er side of this pandemic.

“So, we reach out to those who know Bal­a­ton Restau­rant, enjoyed one or many won­der­ful din­ners with us, please help us with­in your means,” pleads management.

Like every restau­rant, Bal­a­ton is deal­ing with the harsh finan­cial real­ties of Covid, when dine-in busi­ness is all but a mem­o­ry, replaced by take-out rev­enue that fails to bal­ance the bud­get. After near­ly a year of the same, the long-term prospects of sur­vival for Bal­a­ton (and many of its brethren) are look­ing sad­der by the day.

“Near emp­ty and half-full din­ing rooms just do not pay the rent,” they add. “Take-out is going strong, and peo­ple are char­i­ta­ble, but din­ing rooms are dwin­dling. We dipped into the PPP pro­gram, and try to stretch it longer by dim­ming the lights when no-one can see it, but still, we are get­ting no sym­pa­thy from our Leas­ing Company.”

If you want Bal­a­ton and places like it to sur­vive, con­tin­ue sup­port­ing them any and every way that you can.

https://​www​.gofundme​.com/​f​/​h​e​l​p​-​c​l​e​v​e​l​a​n​d​s​-​i​c​o​n​i​c​-​b​a​l​a​t​o​n​-​r​e​s​t​a​u​r​a​n​t​-​g​o​i​n​g​?​u​t​m​_​s​o​u​r​c​e​=​f​a​c​e​b​o​o​k​&​f​b​c​l​i​d​=​I​w​A​R​3​s​U​y​n​J​5​N​h​i​t​j​x​e​_​3​5​B​W​p​o​0​l​7​2​-​6​d​l​y​X​I​b​-​Q​9​9​S​6​v​u​7​E​z​i​o​X​4​D​P​b​j​T​y​Sgk

Source: clevescene​.com

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