In August, Heritage Smokehouse issued a call to diners, warning them the barbecue spot was in danger of closing without a surge in business.

Last week, Silver Queen Cafe sounded a similar alarm.

“This is one of the hardest things I’ve had to say,” co-owner Jason Daniloski wrote in an appeal posted to Facebook on Sept. 13. “If we can’t get more people in the coming weeks, it doesn’t look good. If you would like to see us around, please consider coming in or ordering from us. I really believe in what we do and would like to continue doing it.”

In my recent conversations with restaurant owners, many tell me they are feeling the strain, more than ever before. Some say they feel like they’re struggling more now than during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is one of the worst summers in seven years,” Foraged owner Chris Amendola said. “It was something like I have never seen before.”

What’s going on? In this week’s column, I try to make sense of it all. And, for some lighter news, I have details on an ice cream flavor inspired by a local author’s new book, as well as free groceries at the library.

‘A different animal’

At Silver Queen, trouble started in January.

“Summer was absolutely horrendous, truly, but this slowdown has been in the works all this year,” said Nicole Evanshaw, co-owner of the cafe on Harford Road, in Northeast Baltimore. “We’ve gone through hard times before, but this is a different animal.”

She and Daniloski hoped the changing of the seasons would yield better business, but were disappointed when back-to-school brought sluggish sales.

The couple, who opened their cozy, colorful restaurant in 2013, sometimes wonder if their longevity is now working against them.

“We’ve been around nine years, and I think people sometimes might have an assumption that we’re just cruising along, indestructible,” Daniloski said. “But the price of the food goes up and the price of the rent goes up. We don’t have the buying power of a restaurant group — we’re such a small place.”

Restaurant owners often mention the allure of the new: When there’s a hot new dining spot to visit, that can distract from well-established eateries. Social media reinforces the trend, spreading word about the latest openings through artful photos and reels.

“I don’t know if it’s an issue of so many places opening up constantly,” Evanshaw said. “We’ve been to some of them, and they’re packed.”

George Marsh, an owner of Heritage Smokehouse, posited the same thing: “The market is a little saturated, I think.”

I took this theory to Marshall Weston, the president of the Restaurant Association of Maryland, who agreed that newcomers to the dining scene tend to draw curious diners.

“It does seem to be a trend that when a new restaurant opens up, no matter where you are in the state of Maryland, people like to go and try it and check it out,” he said. “That certainly adds pressure to the long-standing community restaurants.”

But while there have been lots of restaurant openings in the city this year, Weston noted Baltimore is the only jurisdiction in Maryland that has seen a decline in its total number of restaurants over the past decade. The number of restaurants statewide, meanwhile, has held steady at about 10,000, with communities like Baltimore, Howard and Anne Arundel counties seeing rapid growth in their restaurant stock.

The tally takes into account all kinds of restaurants, from carryouts to white-tablecloth spots, which might not always be in direct competition with one another. Still, a rise in fast-casual concepts, accelerated by the pandemic, has likely had some effect on more traditional, sit-down establishments.

“We have seen the fast-casual concepts really continue to do well and expand their presence, and certainly if there are more of those available, then people tend to go to those, because there’s more of them,” Weston said.

He suspects one major culprit for restaurants’ recent struggles is inflation. The Consumer Price Index’s food away from home category, which tracks the cost of eating out, rose by 4% between August 2023 and August 2024, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

A recent U.S. Department of Agriculture report found the cost of eating out rose faster than the cost of eating food at home, as well as the cost of overall inflation, over the past decade, with “economy-wide inflationary factors,” as well as salaries and benefits, accounting for the increase.

Though inflation has begun to ease in recent months, restaurants are still experiencing the fallout, Weston said, and have had to pass along higher prices to consumers.

“I know that it can be alarming to the public to see those prices, but the reality is the cost of food, labor and doing business have gone up exponentially since 2020,” he said.

“It’s not just a Baltimore thing,” Weston added. “Across the state, we have heard from restaurants that have basically said that their business is off from the previous years.”

On Harford Road, Daniloski and Evanshaw were thrilled to see reservations roll in after their Facebook appeal. Business was so busy they ran out of eggs at brunch and sold out multiple dishes last Saturday night.

“The 86 list was humongous,” Daniloski said, referring to restaurant lingo for when an item is no longer available on the menu.

They have more than their usual number of reservations lined up for this week, another encouraging sign, but wonder whether the pace is sustainable. They recently installed a nine-seat bar in the restaurant to encourage people to stop in more frequently for a drink or a quick meal. They’re debuting their fall menu, with new dishes like black bean veggie burgers and duck breast in a brandy pear sauce, this week.

At Heritage Smokehouse, Marsh said the rush lasted about three weeks.

“Last week was a decent week but it’s already starting to slow down again,” he wrote in a text Monday. “We are so appreciative of all the support we received. We just need things to continue to build as opposed to slowing back down.”

Book-inspired scoops

Baltimore scoop shop The Charmery is known for finding flavor inspiration everywhere — from street vendors to Thanksgiving side dishes to local sports stars. This week, inspiration came in the form of a local author’s new book.

Sarah Pinsker’s novella “Haunt Sweet Home” is a spooky tale of a reality TV show that fakes “hauntings” for ratings, “until the lines between purposeful and paranormal begin to blur for one aimless production assistant,” according to a preview.

One scene takes place in an orchard, providing inspiration for The Charmery’s new custom flavor: an apple ice cream with toffee and a dash of apple brandy from Baltimore Spirits Co. A tenth of the proceeds will head to Days End Horse Farm Rescue, because, as Pinsker explained in a video announcing the flavor, “horses love apples; I love horses.”

Pratt Library offers free groceries

You can already head to the library for free books, videos, computer access and printing services. Now add groceries to the list.

Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Free Library will open a free grocery store inside its Southeast Anchor Library in Highlandtown on Saturday. The volunteer-run Pratt Free Market will stock produce, paper goods, dry goods and other necessities, the library shared in a news release, with food donations coming from partnering organizations like Plantation Park Heights, Leftover Love, Benbow Concession Services, Moon Valley Farms and Black Butterfly Farms.