EAST HILLS, Mich. -- For a decade The Electric Cheetah was a mainstay in the East Hills neighborhood serving up great vegan and vegetarian dishes, farm to table meals, and a wide array of house-made root beers. But when the government mandate said they could no longer house dine-in guests, they did something they had never done in their ten years of operating - they stopped making food.
The good news is they're back open and ready for your orders.
Emily McCoy is the house manager for The Electric Cheetah and said the mandate was a "day of reckoning" for the restaurant's staff.
"It was scary," McCoy said. "One day you're full (working a) work week and the next day you're not allowed to go to work because you have to shut down."
Once the management team gathered and formulated a plan on how to re-open, the staff made their way back to the restaurant to clean and prepare. That's when McCoy noticed more than a few phone messages that had been waiting.
"We had a hundred and twenty-nine messages on there and I'd say roughly 90% of them were all people calling and asking if we were open, they wanted to place a to-go order," McCoy stated. "So that was really exciting."
Thankfully the company was able to retain nearly all of its staff according to McCoy. But with new procedures on how to prepare the food came a new menu. While there are some new items, regulars will be happy to hear many of their favorites are still there.
"We still have good classic comfort food that we're kind of known for here," McCoy said. "Unfortunately food shortages have made it harder for us to have such an open menu for our vegan and vegetarians but it is something that we are currently working at. I know just even today... we brought back our Teagan the Vegan which is our black bean vegetarian burger. It’s really good."
And while they won't be offering their full array of house-made root beers, their original root beer and the Gold Butterscotch root beer will be available. So if supporting a local restaurant is something you can do, you can now order from The Electric Cheetah’s website for pick up or use UberEats for delivery.
Don't forget, you can support local restaurants by getting takeout or delivery every Tuesday until West Michigan businesses are back up to full speed. Share photos of your food on social media using the hashtag: #TakeoutTuesday.
Do you run or work for a local business that is staying open and is in need of customers? Tell us about it. You can fill out a simple online form, so your business can be considered for a future “We’re Open West Michigan” story.