YORK COUNTY, Pa. — It’s been a tough year for the Glen Rock Mill Inn.
“We’re probably approaching $80,000 I would say, give or take," said Brandon Hufnagle, the owner of the Glen Rock Mill Inn.
That's the amount of money the business has lost since last August thanks to several power outages, the latest of which happened just last week.
“It’s the fourth power outage we’ve had in the calendar year and this one again, shut us down for about three days," said Hufnagle.
The multi-day outages force the restaurant to toss all its food, as it only has a 24-hour backup system for its cooler.
“Preserving food is great, however, if we’re not able to operate air conditioning and heat, lights and so on for our guests, we’re still losing money in the process," Hufnagle explained.
The area is serviced by FirstEnergy Corp.
The historic inn sits in the middle of town, but just up the road is a heavily forested area, where trees continue to fall onto power lines.
A FirstEnergy Corp. spokesperson says it's all weather-related and provided the following statement to FOX43:
“FirstEnergy is committed to the delivery of safe, reliable and affordable electricity. Our trained arborists and foresters have completed regularly scheduled maintenance tree-trimming in the affected areas of Glen Rock, and have also identified and removed 14 dead or decaying trees. An additional tree, which requires special heavy equipment to access due to the difficult terrain, is planned for removal. Additionally, protective fuses have been installed this week upstream of this terrain to help isolate outages caused by trees along this hillside, reducing outage frequency for customers.
Trees are a leading cause of power outages, especially during severe weather, when storms and high winds result in even healthy trees toppling into power lines and breaking utility poles. FirstEnergy’s regular maintenance programs address these hazards along our rights of way. However, many tree-related outages are caused by trees outside our rights-of-way, which sit on private property and can’t be removed without the permission of the private property owner.”
“We have 30 employees who all live locally and we want to make sure they’re taken care of but it gets harder and harder every time this happens," said Hufnagle.
To regain some of the lost revenue, the business is now turning to its community for help.
It’s started a gift card drive, asking customers for a $500 investment, and giving them $175 in return, which Hufnagle says covers a full dinner for two people.
“Five $100 cards, one $500 card, whichever way they’d like to make that investment and in turn we’re offering a return gift certificate for that dinner for two," he said.
The initiative was launched on Sunday, and Hufnagle is thankful for the support already shown.
“Our regulars and a few others have stepped up and from the bottom of my heart it’s been wonderful how they’ve stepped in to support us and support our staff," he said.
The gift card drive will run through next Friday, August 2.
Hufnagle says he has looked into purchasing a generator system, but the purchase and installation are not something the restaurant can afford to do.