Couple pivots after coronavirus led to closure of their Petaluma dream restaurant

Several years ago, Amanda and Craig Karas had a vision to open an interactive restaurant, one where friends and families could gather together for a meal and some competitive fun playing board games. Mobile devices were off the table.

The concept was a marriage between a seasoned chef who grew up playing board games with his dad and grandparents, and a tourism marketing pro with the know-how to get the word out.

The couple poured $250,000 into the restaurant, which they named Wine or Lose Board Game Café. It opened in August 2019 in the old Topsy’s Kitchen location on Kentucky Street in downtown Petaluma.

Less than a year later, only eight weeks after it reopened from a temporary shutdown at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the restaurant closed for good on the final day of July.

“It’s so heartbreaking because we had a lot of fans and everyone who tried my husband’s food loved it,” Amanda Karas said. “And it just was unfortunate that we couldn’t hang on.”

Amanda and Craig Karas were not alone. At least 239 businesses in Sonoma and Napa counties closed permanently during the first four months of the pandemic, according to a study by Yelp, which publishes crowdsourced reviews about businesses and operates an online reservation service.

Even with a growing number of fans, Wine or Lose wasn’t open long enough to overcome the competition.

As the pandemic unfolded, local support went to longtime restaurants that had built a faithful customer base over the years, Amanda Karas said. The couple closed the restaurant March 21, 2020, four days after the county issued a stay-home order, while they recalibrated and tried to make Wine or Lose come out on the winning end. That included abandoning half their business model: serving comfort food in a shareable style.

“That obviously didn’t lend itself well to the COVID environment,” Amanda Karas said. “We had to completely retool our menu. We focused on more traditional entrees and tried to do the to-go option.”

Wine or Lose reopened 11 weeks later in June.

The Karases followed all pandemic protocols, even cleaning the intricate pieces to the board games and then quarantining them for 24 hours after each use, said Craig Karas. But even the interactive nature of board games dissuaded customers in a new socially distant world.

“We were building a really neat little community,” he said. “It would be fun to see everyone, from families with little kids playing Candyland to two guys coming in to play chess. It was a big cross-section of people with various interests.”

The Karases got a boost in May from a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan, but it wasn’t much.

“It was a little under $17,000,” said Craig Karas. “We opened at a weird time, so (the government) really only figured our payroll off of like half a year.”

Amanda Karas worked to market Wine or Lose by taking out advertisements in the local Petaluma visitors guide and promoting their events on the city’s website, as well as their own. She also partnered with Sonoma County Tourism to promote story ideas for media, but the restaurant closed before it could gain momentum.

At its peak, Wine or Lose employed just over a dozen people, Craig Karas said. He recalled happier times when staff would engage with customers and recommend additional board games they might enjoy.

These days, there’s no choice but to look forward.

At the time Amanda and Craig Karas were contemplating starting a food business, they were toying with either opening a restaurant or starting a food truck operation.

It was a roll of the dice with an outcome no one could have foreseen. Now they’re gambling on that other option.

“With all that is going on with COVID and the way people are dining nowadays, and the fact that food trucks … are really getting a much better reputation than they ever used to have, it’s just a more appealing option,” Craig Karas said. “The barrier to entry is a lot lower, and it’s just another chance to get out there and give people good food and find a new community.”

The couple has purchased the food truck, which is now in the process of being retrofitted and re-permitted, with the goal of hitting the road in the next two months, he said.

The “Happy Frenchie” will travel to Sonoma, Napa and Solano counties, selling comfort food with a French twist at wineries, breweries and, potentially someday, at events, Amanda Karas said. Meeko, the couple’s French bulldog, will serve as mascot.

“I think there’s definitely a lot of opportunity in all three of those valleys,” she said. “Hopefully, that will be an exciting postscript to the year.”

3 Questions with Craig and Amanda Karas

Q: What was the moment when you realized the seriousness of the pandemic — that life would be very different moving forward?

A: “We had put all these protocols in place and researched best practices, and we were still getting comments like, ‘What are you doing to keep us safe with the games?’ And I realized that people just didn’t feel safe. Our model of business just wasn’t making anybody feel safe.” — Craig Karas

Q: What’s your most vivid memory from the last year? Is there a particular moment that stands out?

A: “We’ve had some good and some bad, but I think the biggest was sitting with my husband on the last day of service. It was just knowing that we had to fire or lay off all of our staff.” — Amanda Karas

Q: Has anything good come out of the pandemic — something that you will continue doing after the pandemic is over?

A: “We just bought our first food truck … so that is one thing that has come out of this that is still exciting. And, hopefully, we’ll get to open that soon.” — Amanda Karas