The Garnett Community has lost a choice when it comes to eating out. Troyer’s 1883 in downtown Garnett announced it would close permanently, after reducing its hours and days of operation in recent weeks. After purchasing and partially renovating a historic building in downtown Garnett, Troyer’s owner Jessica Troyer says the restaurant and coffee shop has struggled since opening a year ago. She says that staffing was a factor in the closing. A restaurant management software company says restaurant employees have been drawn to higher paying jobs, which creates a real squeeze on rural food businesses which have smaller profit margins and now, a smaller labor pool to draw from. With only a 3% unemployment rate in Anderson County and across the state, the number of people seeking jobs is small. Restaurants have been hit hard with a reduction of people willing and able to spend money to eat out coming out of the pandemic.
