Frank’s Place featured in statewide trade magazine

Jim, Jimi, and Denise Collins as featured in “We Are the MRLA” for May.

Manchester’s own Frank’s Place was featured in a recent issue of the MRLA Magazine, a trade magazine published by the Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association, and distributed in print and electronically to members, legislators, educators, and key contacts in the hospitality industry.

In its “We are the MRLA Feature,” the Collins family–Jim, Denise and Jimi–and their restaurant, Frank’s Place, were featured as the May members of the month. Frank’s Place is an Italian restaurant that specializes in hand tossed pizza, pasta dishes, and grinder sandwiches. They make pizza dough, flatbreads, soups, cookies, and scones daily. They also make homemade ravioli, lasagna, meatballs, and sauces in their newly-remodeled kitchens.

“(The MRLA) took notice of our website after we participated in a webinar that was offered at the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, that was focused on helping restaurants find new ways to survive in this challenging time,” said Denise Collins. “The webinar helped us decide to offer groceries and pizza kits at the restaurant, starting that same week! This supports our restaurant and the community.

“And the recognition is a fine example that using social media does help!”

The restaurant, opened in 1983 by Frank and Tina Furnari, and has always been a family-owned operation. The Collins family became members of the then-Michigan Restaurant Association (MRA) in 2010, after they bought the restaurant, and have found the organization extremely helpful as they navigated the unfamiliar waters. “They really care about struggles that restaurants are going through right now and how they can help,” Denise added.

The family also served as panelists at a recent webinar series for the MRLA called, “The Art of Hospitality–What’s Working.”

Collins is proud that despite the recent downturns in the industry, their restaurant has been doing well.

“This community is amazing,” she said. “We have had people buy gift certificates and ask us to give them to customers in need. Companies have bought gift cards to distribute to customers and that has really helped us too. Our customers have been very loyal and we are so grateful for that. We have been able to keep on most of our staff, and the ones we had to lay off are preparing for us to call them back to work as we get to the point of re-opening our dining room.”

And that will be the next challenge for the Frank’s Place family.

“We don’t know what to expect,” Denise admits. “We don’t expect it to be real busy at first. People are going to need time to get used to this after staying at home for so long. We are going to kind of play it by ear the first couple of weeks. We will have reduced seating, we will enforce social distancing, and we will abide by all the rules that we are given. It will be a new normal for us and for our customers.”

They are relying on information and ideas from the network of fellow restauranteurs that make up the MRLA, as well as direction from MRLA itself, to keep up to date and informed concerning the COVID-19 regulations, and how to proceed during the coming weeks.

You can see the feature at https://www.mrla.org/may2020-wearemrla.html.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.