11/4/09 Sisters

By Doug Johnson

"Due to circumstances beyond our control we have had to close; we would like to thank you for your loyalty and patronage," is what a sign says on the front door of the Coyote Creek Cafe in Sisters.

The sign is what customers coming to the restaurant next to Highway 20 in Sisters were greeted with Wednesday.

"Did a great job, served great food, I can't believe the doors are shut," says Todd Jutte, who showed up to dinner on Wednesday night.

"We actually came in for dinner, we love the place it's very comfortable, local spot, and very disappointed drive up and find out that they're closed," say Bill Williams, who brought his wife Julie to dinner at the Coyote Creek Cafe Wednesday night.

After eighteen years of serving breakfast lunch and dinner, and winning praise, like the best dinner in Sisters in 2005, the building now sits empty and dark. About half of the restaurant's twenty five employees have work there for over ten years. Wednesday morning, all were told they no longer had jobs.

"Woke up this morning to a phone call, we're closed, pick up your check," says Jessica Toney, who had worked as a chef there for five years.

"I don't know what a lot of us are going to do now, we're looking for work," Kathy Brill who has been a manager there for the last eighteen years.

Some say they knew business was slow, but the closure comes as a complete shock.

"We thought if anything, we'd get some sort of notice," says Justin Wolfe, who has worked at the restaurant for tweleve years.

Other business in the Three Wind Shopping Center, like the newly opened Sisters Dollar Store say they're staying optimistic, even though traffic could slow.

"With Bimart having just opened up and us opening up I think that's going to bring a lot of people into the shopping center," says Matthew McCurdy, owner of the Sisters Dollar Store.

Still, the shopping center already has one vacancy. Although employees were never given an official reason, most believe the debt became too much for the restaurant to continue.

"We've all tried to keep the numbers up, but the business just wasn't there for us," says Brill.

Now most employees say leaving is like going through a divorce.

"I'm just upset with the falling out, you know, we were told the whole time this is a family, we had no notice," says Toney.

And Sisters residents are left with fewer dinner options.

"I think we're going to go home and put something together," says Williams.