The state of dining out in Louisville

Many restaurants seem to live within four weeks of closing.Lawrence Weeks, chef and co-owner of Murray's Creole Pub, brought up that chilling point during a live recording of the Access Louisville podcast earlier this week. "If we do a month that's bad, it's hard to recover from that," he said on the show. That's why matters like food costs, the economy and consumer behavior are so important to the industry. Murray's Creole Pub is located in a 2,500-square-foot, two-story building at 1576 Bardstown Road in the Highlands. It offers a casual, pub‑style space on the first floor and a high‑end dining room upstairs.Weeks was joined on the podcast by Noam Bilitzer, of NuLu Mediterranean restaurant  MeeshMeesh, Anne Shadle, of Mayan Cafe, also located in NuLu, LBF Restaurant Reporter Michael Jones and LBF Managing Editor David Mann. The panel discussed the impact of the delayed Kentucky Oaks post time during Derby week, staffing difficulties and turnover, thin profit margins (average around 4%) and the importance of community support and collaboration among local restaurants.The show was called "Access Louisville: The State of Dining out" and was recorded in front of an audience on April 21 at the Baird Conference Center at the 500W building. Access Louisville, sponsored by Baird, is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. You can also follow it on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.