Mesilla restaurant owner navigates pandemic recovery

MESILLA, N.M. (KFOX14) — 2023 is the year of business recovery, according to a Forbes article.

KFOX14 spoke to Tom Hutchinson, a restaurant owner from Mesilla, New Mexico about how his businesses have recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hutchinson owns both La Posta de Mesilla and Hacienda de Mesilla.

He said although many people may think business is booming, that's not exactly the case.

Over the years, he has been forced to change his business model and increase prices.

"All the price adjustments we’ve made over the last years since COVID are just to keep pace with inflation," Hutchinson said.

There has been a rise in sales and revenue, but Hutchinson said the restaurant is not necessarily profiting.

"Our sales are probably at record levels and that’s gonna sound kind of weird but what we’ve had to do over the last couple years is adjust our pricing because of labor cost pressure and cost of product pressure," Hutchinson said. "That’s elevated our sales but that doesn’t exactly translate to profit and doing real well."

Staffing both restaurants was a challenge, but he said they're back on track.

"This year is a little bit different. We are staffed up to 100% at both facilities," Hutchinson. "We’re getting closer to where we were in 2019 which will be a good spot if we can get back to it."

KFOX14 spoke to people in Mesilla, who said they were shocked to hear that some restaurants were not profiting.

"That is quite surprising. I’ve seen some restaurants that are just busy all the time but to hear that they’re not profiting is surprising," Eddie Covar said.

"It’s very unfortunate, because there’s not a lot they can do about it," Willie Miles said.

Hutchinson added that he has tried to be conscious of his customers when it comes to increased prices.

"We try to be mindful of the market and consumer, and at the same time try to keep our doors open," Hutchinson said.

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