The Post Modern Times uses work from local artists on its merch.
Dylan Alverson
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Dylan Alverson, 45, who owns Post Modern Times, a pay-what-you-can restaurant in Minneapolis. It has been edited for length and clarity.I started working in restaurants when I was 14 in northern Wisconsin.My parents had moved there from the coasts to live on a self-sustaining property, so I grew up raising food, helping my mom cook, and developing an appreciation for ingredients long before I thought about restaurants as a career.For years, cooking was what allowed me to travel. I worked everywhere from casual diners to acclaimed restaurants, never thinking I'd eventually own one.That changed after I worked at a worker-owned restaurant in Minneapolis. Because everyone shared responsibility, I learned every side of the business. I started thinking, "If I ever opened my own place, here's what I'd do differently."At 24, I moved to Seattle and, with a business partner, scraped together about $12,000 to open a café. I was living in the restaurant's storage room when I found out I was about to become a father.Eventually, I realized I couldn't run the restaurant and be the kind of parent I wanted to be. I left.
