It had been nearly two months since the state of Michigan suspended Café Rosetta’s food license for flouting COVID-19 rules, four days since a judge fined owners $7,500 for contempt of court and six days before the state would allow restaurants to resume indoor dining at 25 percent capacity.
But the cafe doors remained open and business was booming in downtown Calumet, a onetime copper mining capital in the Upper Peninsula, where Amy Heikkinen has kept her restaurant running in a fight against the state she contends is about economic survival.
“I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve been able to build my business, where I don’t have to rely on child support or food stamps or anything like that, and I’d like to keep it that way,” Heikkinen said in an interview at the restaurant, describing herself as a single mother of six who fled an abusive relationship before buying the business with her brother several years ago.