Brandon Twp.-A Saturday evening snow storm just before Sunday’s Super Bowl has at least one business owner still seeing red.
The early February storm that caused power outages to several thousand DTE customers in Oakland County the day of the big game cost Bullfrogs Restaurant and Bar, 2225 Ortonville Road, thousands of dollars in business says Joe Francis, general manager.
‘There’s no reason the power goes out every time the wind blows, the last six months the power failed at least eight times,? says Francis. ‘They need to get out here and fix it.?
At 9 a.m., Sunday morning Bullfrogs went dark and after more than 30 calls to DTE to restore the power, it was not restarted until about 6:30 p.m. on Monday. Francis said the calls to DTE were picked up by a recording.
The Super Bowl Sunday cost Bullfrogs an estimated $10,000 in product losses, says Francis including meat that had to be tossed out, rental on grilling equipment and advertising dollars spent on an event that was cancelled after the power was out about 36 hours. In addition reservations for 160 guests were lost on one of the four busiest days of the year in the business. New Years Eve, Super Bowl Sunday, St. Patrick’s Day and the day before Thanksgiving are the four busiest days says Francis.
‘The insurance covers some of the loses,? said Francis. ‘But I spent thousands trying to promote Super Bowl Sunday and now this happens.
Scott Simson spokesperson for DTE Energy says about 40,000 customers in the service area lost power due to several inches of heavy, wet snow that fell Saturday evening and early Sunday morning.
‘Our priority system is that as many customers as possible are fixed first,? said Simson. ‘If it was a case of a single customer outage then it comes last.?
Simson added that public safety operations receive top priority during weather emergencies.
‘A bar is not in the category of public safety, however it’s a tremendous loss for them on that day. I’ve worked for DTE for about 15 years and I can count on one hand the number of calls I’ve received in the Ortonville area regarding power outages.?
Sharon Williams, of Real Estate One, 2245 S. Ortonville Road, just south of Bullfrogs said her company worked during the day on Sunday with no power problems.
‘We worked just about all day on Sunday,? said Williams. ‘I know that northern regions of the area lost power, many of my neighbors were out of power on Sunday.?