These Restaurateurs Are Reinventing Their Businesses to Survive

Last February, the Brooklyn all-day café/bar Hunky Dory celebrated its first anniversary with oysters and cake. “We were starting our second year full of optimism,” recalls owner Claire Sprouse. Having passed the initial learning curve and with a loyal following in place, she anticipated gaining time and bandwidth for big projects and deeper relationships. “Then, March happened.”

Using her consulting background, entrepreneurial personality, and any resources she could find, Sprouse remade...