Aug. 6--It can be a grueling life. 

Sixty hours a week over six, sometimes seven days. Help can be hard to come by. Profit margins are slim. And family life often takes a back seat. 

It's no wonder that restaurants, especially start-ups, are more likely than just about any other business to fail. But when three long-established eateries falter in a short time, it's enough to give even the most optimistic entrepreneurs pause. 

"It's a little disturbing, even for this business where closings, sadly, are not a rare thing," Sara Stinski, a spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Restaurant Association, said after learning that Milwaukee-area institutions John Ernst Cafe, Boder's on the River and Jake's on North Avenue had shut their doors since May 14. 

The truth is, restaurants open and close all the time, and even the most established businesses come to the end of the line, said Stinski and others. 

Part of it is burnout, particularly in family-owned businesses that have passed from one generation to the next, said Joan Gillman, director of special industry programs at the University of Wisconsin and former head of the University of Wisconsin-Madisons's Family Business Center. 

"The restaurateur devotes a lot of time and energy to the business -- it's definitely not a 9-to-5 job," Gillman said. "And that same zeal and enthusiasm may not be sustained among the second and third generations." 

Add to that the surge in competition over the last decade brought on by the flush economy and the promise of conventioneers at the new Midwest Express Center; tightening corporate expense accounts and the recent softening in the economy; rising overhead; trends toward more casual dining; lack of customer loyalty; and difficulty retaining qualified staff, and it's a wonder any restaurant survives. 

"There could be tons of stuff going on," Gillman said of the possible reasons for the high-profile closings. 

"It could be this generation just decided to do something else. Or they got an offer they just couldn't refuse. Or they looked at their own family and realized there was no one else to take it on." 

It's hard to say exactly what's behind the recent troubles these restaurants have faced. For each restaurant, there's a complex set of factors that only the principals and their accountants fully understand. And of the three, only the Boder's family is talking. 

But it appears -- from interviews with customers, employees and others -- that some combination of those factors was at play in all of the decisions to close. 

By all accounts, burnout played a key role in the closing of the Ernst Cafe and partial closing of Boder's, now in their third and fourth generations, respectively. 

In Ernst's case, developers of a nearby condominium project agreed to pay owners James and John Lindenberg $2.9 million for the restaurant building at 600 E. Ogden Ave., a neighboring four-story apartment building and a parking lot across the street, according to the Milwaukee County Register of Deeds. 

The brothers had taken over the business after their father died in 1998, each putting in three 18-hour days a week, living while on duty in an upstairs apartment away from their families. 

"These guys have been working there since they were 8 years old, and now they're in their 40s and 50s," said Tom DeMuth, a Milwaukee real estate attorney and one of the developers who acquired the property. 

"They recognized for probably the last five or seven years that business was really slowing down. People just don't eat that type of food anymore," DeMuth said of the Ernst Cafe's signature German fare. 

"And they weren't willing to revamp the whole restaurant." 

Ernst Cafe closed in mid-May. 

Boder's on the River, on the other hand, made a substantial investment in an effort to turn around its business. But it was too late for the Mequon landmark, which closed last month after news of its intended sale sent employees fleeing for new jobs. The restaurant is now open for large events only, according to a message on its answering machine. 

Opened by the Boder family in 1929 as a tea room, the quaintly formal establishment was considered among the top restaurants. But Boder's has struggled recently with declining clientele, inconsistent quality, staff turnover and the death or departure of key family members. 

"We were seven and now we're two," said majority owner Jean Fisher, 63. Her son, Jim, has returned to a job in food sales since the closing. 

"It's impossible to operate a restaurant of this size with just two people," she said. 

In an effort to stem its decline, Boder's last summer opened the Hunt Club Grille & Bar, a causal 70-seat dining room and bar in what had been its gift shop. With a lower-priced menu, the Hunt Club was intended for family dining. 

But a three-month delay in its opening cut into profits and then they didn't have the money to advertise, Fisher said. 

The business also was hammered by the spiraling heating bills and a 25 percent increase in health insurance premiums for employees. Fisher has put the business on the block for $1.3 million. 

Like Boder's and John Ernst, Jake's, at 6030 W. North Ave. in Wauwatosa, struggled in recent years with the change in dining habits. Regulars came in less frequently and business slowed. Some were turned off by changes in the menu, the management or the neighborhood, former employees and customers said. 

Jake's longtime general manager left earlier this year after nearly 30 years on the job. 

Whatever the reasons, the closing stunned Wauwatosa officials, customers and even employees. 

"Whatever it was, it was very abrupt," said Mayor Theresa Estness, who met with the Replogles, the owners of Jake's, just two weeks before the closing. 

In that conversation, in which Jake Jr. was introduced as the new general manager, Estness said the Replogles "talked about the trend in comfort foods and all the changes they hoped to implement soon." 

The family still operates its restaurant in Brookfield. 

Flexibility, foresight and a will to survive are needed to keep restaurants viable. 

"Restaurants always have to be thinking five years down the road," said third-generation restaurateur Jim Pandl, who scours magazines and travels the country scouting new ideas for his family's restaurants -- Pandl's in Bayside, and Eagan's and the Water Street Deli downtown. 

"I've made mistakes too, but if you can adapt and be flexible, you can survive. But this is a humbling business. 

"If people think they're getting into this business to hear the cash ring all day and have a cocktail at the end of the bar," that's not how it goes, said Pandl, who runs the family business with eight brothers and sisters. 

"In the back, chances are the plumbing has clogged, the chef has quit and your food didn't arrive. It's a tough business. If you don't have the fire in the belly, you're not going to make it." 

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(c) 2001, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.