Hot Dish Pantry will be closing its doors at 4125 S. Howell Ave. after service on Saturday, Sept. 28. 

“We’re so grateful for the support people have shown us over the past three years,” says Laura Maigatter, who operates the restaurant alongside her partner Chef Nate Heck. “Opening a restaurant is not for the faint of heart and we benefited from the help we received from so many people along the way. 

“We are also thankful for our employees, many of whom have been with us for the past two years. They have been amazing workers, but they are also wonderful people and we couldn’t be more lucky to have known and worked with them.”

During their final weeks in business, the counter service restaurant will observe amended hours. A tentative schedule is included below. Customers should be aware that the schedule is subject to change and menu items may be limited due to demand.

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The extended closing offers guests the opportunity to use up gift cards and loyalty points that they have accumulated. Any cards or points that are unused after Sept. 28 will be void.

Fans can keep an eye on the restaurant’s Facebook and Instagram feeds for updates and adjustments.

A much beloved business

Times are still tough for restaurants, and those that are having the toughest time are the small, independent restaurants that so many of us love.

Heck and Maigatter launched Hot Dish Pantry in 2021 as a pop-up shop, offering Midwestern comfort food (pierogi, calzones, tater tot-topped hot dish) for pick-up or delivery. From there, they got their feet wet as vendors in the 3rd Street Market Hall before taking the leap and opening their counter-service brick-and-mortar restaurant on Howell Avenue in April of 2023. You can hear the owners talk about their restaurant in their own words on this episode of the FoodCrush podcast.

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Over those three years, Hot Dish made a name for itself as an affordable source for creative, well-executed comfort food. In fact, the restaurant’s offerings – including their delicious smash burger and Nashville hot pork tenderloin – were good enough that they were among a handful of restaurants to make it onto my 52 Restaurants list for 2024.

But I’m not the only one. Ann Christensen described their pierogi as “dumpling sorcery” in “Milwaukee Magazine”; and Milwaukee Record’s Tyler Mass summed up his first impressions of the restaurant with “Hot Dish Pantry rules and you should go there.” 

Just last month, their Wisconsin cheddar cheese-stuffed Lucy Goosey made it into a New York Times article touting the amazing diversity (and deliciousness) of burgers in America.

I wish I had a magic dining editor wand that I could wave around to keep places like Hot Dish Pantry open. But, while businesses need accolades and good reviews to build awareness and attract customers, those things along will not keep a restaurant in business.

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5-star reviews don’t pay the bills

Hot Dish Pantry is closing. And the reasons can be seen almost everywhere you look in the restaurant industry. Rising costs have continued to impact restaurants, forcing many to raise their prices. In tandem, customer traffic is down, with more consumers eschewing higher-priced dining in favor of more affordable options, including cooking at home. And while the labor shortage has subsided to an extent, filling skilled positions in restaurants is still a huge struggle.

For a small business like Hot Dish Pantry, the issues are magnified. And, in an industry where margins are horrifically low, they can create a lose-lose situation.

“The path to success in this industry has always been narrow,” says Maigatter. “But with expenses being as high as they’ve ever been, the path to success has gotten even more narrow. We can’t do the things it would take to get ahead, so we keep falling behind.”

And while Heck and Maigatter may have been able to survive for a while longer, circumstances surrounding their physical restaurant space made it easier to decide that the time was right to shut things down.

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Earlier this year, the landlord who owns the building that houses Hot Dish Pantry, decided to sell off his real estate. Before he put the building up for sale, he offered Heck and Maigatter the opportunity to purchase it.

“We couldn’t afford to buy it,” notes Maigatter. “And at that point, we realized that we had some thinking to do. Maybe we’d be able to continue leasing from the new property owner. But maybe not. We knew we needed to have a plan either way.”

It marked the beginning of many intense, emotional conversations. Before they even knew that a buyer had been found, they’d decided that it was in their best interest to close Hot Dish Pantry.

“There’s been so much good about the past few years,” says Heck. “We’ve built a sustainable local customer base. Our reviews are really good and we’ve gotten some great press. But this summer was rough. Business was way down and, in the end, we just aren’t making the money we needed to make.”

“It’s kind of a wake-up call," he adds. "You talk to anyone in the industry and things are really tough right now. For us – in a lot of ways – these circumstances made it easier to make a decision we’ve been mulling over for a while.”

As for the new owners, both Heck and Maigatter expressed nothing but support for their endeavors. “We are excited for the new owners to begin this journey and wish them nothing but the best,” says Maigatter. “Folks in the area have been so great to us and we know the neighborhood will welcome them with open arms.”

Heck and Maigatter note that they are unsure of what the future holds. However, following the closing of Hot Dish on Sept. 28, they will be taking a much-deserved break from the hospitality industry to rest, recoup and reevaluate.

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