Lotus Pad closes after 17 years 

Owner finds peace in her restaurant’s expiry, sees a learning opportunity for Big Sky

By Jack Reaney ASSOCIATE EDITOR 

Alex Omania wants the memory of Lotus Pad to be one of human connection. She remembers days when friends would bring fun ingredients into her Thai restaurant during slower seasons.

“And they would sit at the counter… and I just would whip up a dish,” Omania recalled. “And we would hang out and talk, and talk about the food, and I think that the most important part of connecting with people, for me, is when it is related to food. Because food brings us together.”

Omania believes she gave all she could for 17 years. She knows she has a big heart, and as a business owner, she hopes to be remembered for bringing people together.

Lotus Pad served its final dish on Oct. 27. Omania, who started Lotus Pad in 2007, sat down with Explore Big Sky to explain why. Despite the saddening reality of closing her homegrown restaurant, Omania reflects with careful perspective and fierce confidence in the future—both for herself and for Big Sky.

Sales were down at Lotus Pad. 

“It just has been a really weird year,” Omania said. “We aren’t doing the sales that I thought we’d be doing—that we should be doing—yet all the prices have gone up. So the economics of it… the cashflow has been really difficult, and I haven’t been able to keep up with rent.”

As Lotus Pad’s rent deficit grew, Omania lost sight of the path forward. Her staff was struggling and leaving. She had taken on an undesired role as landlord as she leased three units for her staff. Omania’s responsibilities merged with business management and shifted away from being chef of a small restaurant.

“It just got to a point where it wasn’t healthy for my life… the dynamics of what it would take to keep [the restaurant] running wasn’t healthy for me financially, emotionally, physically,” Omania said.  

“I think it’s important to understand when quitting is OK,” she added. “When you throw in the towel. I mean, you can only take so many punches.” 

To the hungry patron or outside observer, Lotus Pad may have appeared stable; the restaurant has anchored the same location since the birth of Town Center Avenue, where Omania helped design her restaurant space as she upsized from her original location in Westfork Meadows. But perception isn’t always reality. 

“Anyone who owns a restaurant knows, it is not a giant money-making operation. It just isn’t,” Omania said. Profit margins are generally slim even before Big Sky’s expensive labor, cooking materials and rent. It’s a lot of work for not a lot of money, she said. For those who saw Lotus Pad as thriving, she joked, “you got duped by the good food.”

Omania is not mourning Lotus Pad as much as she’s learning from it. 

“I think this is a really good opportunity for Big Sky, and for the people that are helping to develop this town to try and figure out: how do you create an environment where a small business owner can thrive? And how do you create an environment where all people feel like they’re an integral part of the community?”

In Omania’s view, Big Sky’s common, everyday person may face an unhealthy energy deficit—putting more energy in than they’re getting back. She found herself in that state, and it became exhausting. 

If Lotus Pad’s closure creates opportunity, “It’s an opportunity to balance out the lifestyle and the energy it takes to be part of [Big Sky],” Omania said. Big Sky attracts people for a balance between work and play, but that may be drifting out of reach.

The beginning 

Omania moved to Big Sky in 2002. Her friends would taste her cooking and encourage her to open a restaurant. 

“I was like, yeah, I want to open a restaurant,” Omania recalled. “Of course. That would be amazing. And showcase my talents, and in Big Sky at that time, there was no food beyond burger and steak, and pizza… No rice, anywhere.”

Omania, her partner Scott and ski patroller Mike Buotte found a perfect space: a T-shirt shop for sale beside Blue Moon Bakery. They built it into a restaurant themselves, and settled on Thai food through market research and Omania’s experience living in Thailand for a year.

“It was intimate, and it really fed my need to bring people together,” Omania said. Lotus Pad was well-received, fun and inclusive; Omania served everyone from private club members to lifties. “It was kind of a place where the two demographics could come together and be able to eat the same food. And there wasn’t that exclusivity thing.”

The small restaurant hosted wine dinners. Hours were flexible. Their menu set labor expectations: “no spring rolls on powder days.” She wanted to stay in Big Sky for its lifestyle, skiing and biking.

In 2016, a dream seemingly came true: Omania met business partners who wanted to grow the concept. After almost ten years in Westfork Meadows, Lotus Pad was outgrowing its small space.

“We were turning business away,” she said. With support from these new partners, Omania seized an opportunity to move into an attractive concept under construction called “Town Center.” Lotus Pad moved in February 2017.

Creativity and character 

In her 17 years as a local business owner, a lesson Omania said she’s learned is that “true connection—connecting with each other from the heart,” is important in building a strong community. 

As Big Sky continues to grow its population, workforce, economic impact and private and public development, Omania said those will be increasingly important. “That is absolutely the essence of what is needed more. Real creativity, and the opportunity to do that,” she said. “Creativity is a cool idea, received well by everyone, not designed only for visitors and second-home owners. Creativity has character, and wealth is how we feel when we connect with each other in commonality.”

Omania noted additional struggles with housing security and the challenges it creates when trying to run a successful business. “That is the absolute fundamental need: housing security to feel secure,” she said. 

With the end of Lotus Pad, Omania moved to Bozeman.

“I’ll never stop loving Big Sky,” she said. “And I love the community of Big Sky—the community that I remember. And the people that I’ve connected with in various ways. And… rest in peace Lotus Pad, you know, it’s a really awesome thing that happened.”

Fighting tears, Omania expressed her heartfelt thanks for those who supported her and the restaurant over the years.

“I do owe a big thank you to the community for their support. And it was a good run, it was amazing.

“We made a lot of good pad Thai, and we made a lot of s***** pad Thai. You know, like, thank you for eating the good and the s***** pad Thai.”

Laughing, Omania also thanked her patrons for their patience during busier nights. 

“You’re gonna miss those long waits,” Omania joked.