We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sandy Levine a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sandy, thanks for joining us today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

In the restaurant business, unexpected problems are an everyday occurrence. Roof leaks, POS systems crash, staff calls in sick, and thousands of other challenges pop up on a daily basis. At our places, we’re always trying to improve, which means we’re always looking for pain points to fix. We give our staff a lot of input when it comes to systems, since they’re the ones seeing first hand what works and what doesn’t. I like to think that we actively look for problems, so that we can preemptively fix them before our guests notice that they were ever an issue in the first place. On Saturdays, most of our 5pm reservations come late, and most of our 7pm reservations come early. That can mess with our timing if we’re not prepared. If the POS goes down, we know how to hand-write orders like they did before computers, and our staff just shifts into that system until they’re back up. Most issues that pop up are unexpected at that moment, but if you’re doing it right, you’ll have prepared for pretty much any situation, or at the very least, staffed your business with people who know how to adapt to challenges on the fly. If everything went smoothly every single day, it would make for a much more boring job!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started as a dishwasher at my grandparents’ deli when I was 11 years old, and immediately fell in love with the industry. Specifically, the camaraderie that exists among restaurant staff members is like none I’ve experienced anywhere else. I worked my way up through the ranks in corporate restaurants like TGI Friday’s, Hard Rock Cafe, Pizza Hut, and McCormick & Schmick’s, but also gained valuable experience in single unit independent restaurants in Detroit and its suburbs. Eventually I opened a craft cocktail bar called The Oakland, which achieved initial success being named the best bar in Detroit by Hour Magazine and other local publications, and was named one of America’s best bars by Esquire Magazine. A few of our regulars insisted that I look at a vacant space next to the Detroit Institute of Arts, and I fell in love with its open, airy, bright atmosphere (The Oakland is dimly lit and cozy). Another regular introduced me to chef Doug Hewitt, and together we opened Chartreuse Kitchen & Cocktails. After opening in 2015, Chartreuse was named the Detroit Free Press restaurant of the year. We then took the success of Chartreuse and used it to purchase a building in the Milwaukee Junction neighborhood of Detroit to open a dual-concept space: Freya & Dragonfly. Dragonfly is a casual and colorful cocktail bar, and Freya is a modern fine dining restaurant without the pomp and circumstance. Freya was recently named the Hour Detroit restaurant of the year and both Doug and I are James Beard semifinalists.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Covid was the ultimate pivot, right? Most of us in the restaurant business could go another few decades without hearing that word. While we didn’t have the financial ability to purchase heated patios or igloos, we did what we could, including shifting to a carry-out model, selling meal kits, bottled cocktails, retail wine, and more. Fortunately we were able to secure PPP and EIDL loans to help us get through, but three people working 16 hours days in a 3000 square foot restaurant to mass-produce carry out orders, only to sell 10% of what we used to consider a very slow night was very demoralizing.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

[see above] Truthfully, we just kept throwing whatever we could at the wall and tried to keep our heads (sometimes just our mouths) above water until things “normalized”. We’re lucky enough to have made it through, but 2020 and 2021 were not easy. 2023 was even more challenging: diners spent most of 2022 making up for lost time eating out, but when inflation started to hit they stayed home for the good part of the 2nd through 4th quarters of 23. In any case, we’ve trimmed where we could trim, trying to maintain our ultimate goal of providing high quality food and hospitality to as many Detroiters as possible.

Contact Info:

• Website: freyadetroit.com chartreusekc.com theoaklandferndale.com dragonflydetroit.com
• Instagram: @freyadetroit @chartreusedetroit @theoaklandferndale @dragonflydetroit