WHITEFISH BAY — Around since 1915, Jack Pandl's Inn is a historic restaurant in Whitefish Bay. It's withstanding the test of time, alongside the Pandl family.
"It was passed on to my grandpa and his brother, my grandpa bought it out and passed it on to my dad. Now it's my dad running it and I'm working with my dad," says Ryan Pandl, 4th generation of the family who owns Jack Pandl's.
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As a member of the Pandle family, Ryan knows most of the Inn's history and says even a century-old business has never faced anything like COVID-19.
"The only thing that I could think of was the Great Depression. But I obviously wasn't there for it so I don't know exactly how it affected them. But that would be the closest thing to it," said Ryan.
The reason being, despite customers having the option to dine-in, most still aren't completely comfortable.
"Well, it's pretty much eliminated any indoor dining. We have maybe one or two tables a day that sits inside, otherwise, everyone wants to sit outside," says Ryan.
But overall, Ryan points out the community has helped Jack Pandl's survive 2020.
"Our customers have been just overwhelmingly supportive. So even when we were to-go orders only, we had people checking in to make sure we were doing okay. Lots of customers trying to put in orders just to keep supporting the business," says Ryan.
With a plan to safely seat people inside once cold weather hits Wisconsin, Ryan is hoping that a pandemic will be just another page in the family's history book.