At its peak, Cara Thomas had a crew of 75 employees at Bolling’s Meatery and Eatery.
But the ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which shuttered the steakhouse portion of the business in early 2020, have subsequently convinced Thomas and husband Daniel to put their building at 415 W. Madison Ave. up for sale.
The plan is to sell the building, including all of the restaurant equipment, in order for the Thomases to focus solely on the meat market portion of the business. Bolling’s Meat Market will eventually find a new location after the building sells — whenever that occurs.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Thomas said. “But it could have been worse.”
The meat market has been in Iola since 2010 when Thomas, the fourth generation in her family involved in meat processing, acquired the old Kerr McGee filling station building on South State Street.
As the business grew, Thomas eventually added a deli to her offerings, and it became evident a larger venue was needed.
The Thomases acquired the building at 415 W. Madison in 2015, first renting it out as an event center for weddings and other large gatherings.
After remodeling the building, the steakhouse opened and Thomas phased out the event center.
Then came the pandemic, which hurt business in multiple ways, Thomas said.
For one, Thomas was leery of selling cooked steak as a takeout option, “and I lost most of my staff because they had kids at home,” she said.
“Luckily, we still had the meat market side,” she said.
As nationwide meat shortages came along, it meant added demand for meat processing, Thomas said. “We became too busy on the meat market side, so we did away with the restaurant,” Thomas said.
Coupled with the realization that, when the steakhouse was at its busiest, Thomas regularly put in 80- to 90-hour work weeks, she knew a change was in order.
“It was just the thought of hiring back those people, or new people, the cost of training, and buying new products, and then putting in all those hours,” she said. “I didn’t feel confident I wanted to do that. That’s what shut down the steakhouse.”
Thomas kept the deli open, but finding employees there has been a struggle as well.
About 15 months ago, the Thomases began reaching out to prospective buyers, to no avail.
