A Hickman chef makes changes to keep staff, customers enjoy dining in

A Hickman restaurant is closing half its dining room to stay open in the midst of a pandemic.

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — A Hickman restaurant is closing half its dining room to stay open in the midst of a pandemic.
The Mettle Grill opened in 2019, remodeling the space with a full staff and steady customers.

When COVID-19 hit, the workers switched to delivery.

“Then the restaurant was doing while we were, you know, doing better and better,” said Susantha Weerasinghe, chef, and owner of The Mettle Grill. “Then, in March, we were, we were ordered to shut down. So all the hard work that we had put into opening this restaurant, you know, I had to figure out how to keep this moving and keep us moving forward.”

The Mettle Grill closed half of its seating to give better service in the climate of slower crowds and tight staffing.
The owner says he’s not giving up because many of his workers are young students or family providers trying to make ends meet.

“It’s hard,” said Weerasinghe. “It’s a difficult environment right now. And so what we’re doing is we’re working hard to keep the staff here making sure that they’re happy. You know, it’s we don’t want a toxic environment. We want a good place to work. That has always been the goal of this restaurant.

He adds as food suppliers raise costs, it’s a struggle to keep prices low for customers.
But he pushes to keep food fresh affordable and teach young ones the industry.

“As of right now, I just really enjoy working here and so the leadership would have been, what have they taught me? Well, I know how to cook now,” said Derek Nielsen, a kitchen manager. So that’s, that’s important. It taught me with the leadership, that leadership is more than just bossing people around, it’s more about listening to what’s around you and being able to take that information and improve what’s going on with what you’ve learned.“

Susantha wants to keep dining personal and welcoming, hosting local high school game watch parties for families and friends who can’t attend games in person.

“You know I don’t want people just coming to a countertop order their food and leave,” said Weerasinghe. “I want them to sit down and get to know the people in this community.”