Joanne Kann Do it All
by Haley Hart
October 30, 2024Joanne Kann has lived in Morro Bay practically her entire life and has always been an extremely active member in the community. Throughout her multiple decades in the restaurant industry, she has had to overcome several opticals while owning and running two staple restaurants in Morro Bay: The Hungry Fisherman and Otter Rock Cafe.
Kann was born in Hanford, CA and moved to Morro Bay at five years old along with her parents and three older brothers. At age 12, Kann began working at a pancake street car in downtown Morro Bay, owned by her mother, Sophie Erden. Soon after, when Kann was in her early teens, her mother bought Bayfront Inn where she began working as a dishwasher, waitress, and cook.
Kann’s mother bought Hungry Fisherman in 1976 and the restaurant quickly became a popular local spot. Kann and her family organized an annual tradition for The Hungry Fisherman regulars around the holidays, “On Christmas day, Mom and I did ‘Meals on Wheels’ and delivered food to all who needed it. Then, we’d go back to the restaurant and cook for everyone.
Kann explained how Christmas would play out for her and her family, saying, “We would go down earlier to prepare things, my kids would open presents, and as soon as it was done, it was like, ‘Okay, get your stuff we’re gonna go to the restaurant.’ When my mother started the whole Christmas thing it was basically for all the customers that didn't have family, that sort of stuff, but over time it evolved as something for the community.”
Kann and her family built Otter Rock Cafe on the Embarcadero in 1993. She described the environment being, “entirely different” than the other establishment her family owned and said, “The Hungry Fisherman was all about home-cooking and we’d always get more customers when it was foggy, but the Otter Rock was fun. There was music and dancing, it was just younger.”
Kann said the most difficult part of making the transition from a running “diner-style” establishment to a “younger type” establishment was learning how to be a bartender. Kann said, ‘’It’s kind of funny. When I had to bartend, I basically knew most of the people, so I’d say, ‘What is in your drink?’ and I’d pull it off the shelf and pull it in front of them and say, ‘Okay, now you make it.’ They really liked that!”
Kann recalled two fond memories of Otter Rock Cafe and shared, “I got to make Otter Rock my own. There was the year the restaurant flooded, the lights went out, we had lanterns, no electricity. People couldn't get home so [the] place was packed with locals. We fed them soup and what we could.” Kann also shared the eerie, yet interesting fact that the Otter Rock Cafe was believed to be haunted. She said, “There were seances and all sorts of stuff, cold air, the lights would flicker, doors would slam, people saw ghostly figures at the tables, but it was a fun spot.”
However, it wasn’t all fun, games, and alleged ghosts; Kann worked incredibly long hours to keep the two restaurants running. She said, “I would work 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Working for family is different, it’s rough. When other staff got raises, it took from my paycheck, which was a 1.65 per hour at the time.”
Kann explained the difficult aspects of owning a business on the Embarcadero, a tourist spot. She shared that when you open an establishment on the waterfront, you become partners with the city. She described this further, saying, “When you’re on the Embarcadero, you're working and paying to build that beautiful project, but then they're taking a percentage of everything you make right off the top, so your profit really is going to them.” Despite this sum being taken from her, Kann managed to stay loyal to her local community. She said, “I always wanted to cater to the locals. In the winter you don’t have the tourists, your locals are gonna keep you going.”
Kann now enjoys a life of retirement away from the hustle and bustle of running an eatery, though she still loves to cook. For over 40 years, Kann worked hard in the restaurant business to make both of her family’s establishments vibrant pillars in the community.
