What goes around, comes around

The owner of Steve’s Sportsmans Cafe knows better than most that even when business is good, staying in business can be tough.

“Our volume is high, but our margins are slim,” Steve Knauf said last weekend standing in front of his restaurant off Highway 49 South at 3441 Woodland Drive.

“When we opened 13 years ago, our margins were around 15 to 18 percent. Now they’re between 6 and 8 percent because of food cost, labor cost, payroll taxes. I just paid a PG&E bill of $3,300.”

A few months ago, it was the price of eggs. A big deal for a restaurant perennially named by Mariposa Gazette readers for best breakfast.

“We sell 2,000 eggs a week. So when eggs went up, oh my goodness. That about killed us,” he said.

A couple weeks back he was talking about the challenges with one of his customers, who told him he should start a GoFundMe.

“I said, ‘Well, I don’t think that’s a good idea,’” he recalled.

By Knauf’s own admission, he’s not the type to ask for help.

“We’re the ones who always help,” Knauf said.

Knauf has been doing fundraisers for Kops for Kids for 20 years, and is a big supporter of school athletics.

“We do Grizzlies baseball, Grizzlies football, Grizzlies Cheerleading, the list goes on,” he said.

But the customer, Alexis Fairchild, took matters into her own hands and started a GoFundMe for the Sportsmans, which raised $10,000 last week.

On Sunday, L&J Mexican Food had a fundraiser for the restaurant in the Sportsmans parking lot. The line was 20 deep when it opened at noon. In two hours, they were almost sold out.

“This is an iconic little restaurant and it’s so supportive of the community,” said L&J owner, Lupe Camorlinga, who is a close friend of Knauf’s wife.

“Our love language is food. So how do show our love? We feed people. And if our feeding people today can help them out and remove a little bit of the burden, then that’s what we wanted to do.”

The restaurant has 12 employees, four of whom are full time.

Knauf knows his customers are feeling the hard times too, and has tried to keep his prices in check.

Wednesday is $12 burger night. Sunday night, a $10 pasta dinner. Monday morning, it’s all you can eat pancakes for $5.

“There are people who can’t afford to go out except Monday morning, Wednesday night and Sunday night. We try and cater to those people as much as we can,” Knauf said.