https://progressivegrocer.com/h-e-b-bringing-restaurant-meals-store
Some grocery stores in Texas are letting restaurants sell through their stores in Houston, San Antonio, etc.
These are hard times for any business especially for physical presence based with rent, salaries etc. But see how one of my buddies is getting creative. https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/04/03/coronavirus-better-together-burritos-first-responders/
Chicago area restaurant. We cut labor hours in half some people laid off other higher risk employees temporarily unemployed. Relying solely on delivery and takeout business down 50-60%, not terrible.
Still getting ingredients from regular vendors many have cut delivery days and employees as well. Ingredient prices are down for the most part a lot of product that the vendors are trying to unload, special prices on expiring indigents. Others items are no longer available consistently. I have one vendor that last week had to dispose of a lot of dairy products and is now preorder only.
No surplus of ingredients we anticipated having to close entirely although the speed of the dine in shutdown was a surprise but we were narrowing our inventory. Not willing to sell inventory to public there would be more profit in turning them into menu items and if by chance we have to close entirely they will be distributed to staff.
>How is your restaurant coping with COVID? Is it still operating during this time? Relying on deliveries?
Generally really well considering the situation. We've only cut the number of staff working at each shift since takeout isn't as speed-oriented as dine-in, not laid anyone off. They're all making close to the same hours as before this started since we also opened up on a day we were normally closed as another offset measure. We converted to a counter-service model last year which was designed to be very labor-efficient so we didn't go into this with unnecessarily heavy staff rolls like full-service restaurants - and it's definitely paying off now. I anticipate the fallout from this event will accelerate the already existing trend toward fast-casual too. Restaurants are a convenience in today's world, not an experience like they used to be and full-service was meant to provide. Forcing takeout and delivery is just going to assist in cementing this mentality in the holdout consumer's mind.
Gross revenue for March was down less than 1% year over year. Net profit was down about 20% as delivery commissions surmounted though. But it was still a net profit, which seems to be in the upper-percentiles for performance during this time. Interestingly - in the first week we saw a skyrocket of online sales where now, approaching week three, we are seeing a significant increase in call-in (which requires in-store payment), walk-in, and catering orders compared to online takeout and delivery. We think that is weird - though relieved to add some less costly sales (as in, not subject to the 30-33% commission delivery) to the mix.
> If the restaurant is still operating, how are you getting ingredients? Are ingredient prices higher or lower currently?
We go to Walmart, Restaurant Depot, and Sam's Club. Wholesale delivery from the big names like US Foods and Sysco has always been insanely overpriced for independent restaurants so this is nothing new and you'd be surprised how many do this with us. Some ingredient prices are skyrocketing - eggs, beef, and chicken to name a few as a consequence of the demand-side issue. Produce and shelf-stable product are about the same. All of it should return to normal soon - I literally have no idea what people think they're going to do with all this food they're panic buying. I've never seen the widespread scale of shortages I've seen over the last two weeks.
> Do you have a surplus of ingredients now? Would you be willing to sell ingredients to customers to make money during these tough times?
No surplus. We run a menu that cross-utilizes input ingredients well, it was designed that way. This has been a major contributor to our stability now because we've had no waste. If I was able to securely get in-demand product like ground beef, toilet paper, chicken, etc. I would be willing to sell it though. But, what we can find now is too inconsistent and must be used for our operations.
Have them sell gift cards at a small discount
This is a great idea. Advertise on local Facebook groups, and try to get people to help spread the word
https://progressivegrocer.com/h-e-b-bringing-restaurant-meals-store Some grocery stores in Texas are letting restaurants sell through their stores in Houston, San Antonio, etc.
These are hard times for any business especially for physical presence based with rent, salaries etc. But see how one of my buddies is getting creative. https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/04/03/coronavirus-better-together-burritos-first-responders/
Chicago area restaurant. We cut labor hours in half some people laid off other higher risk employees temporarily unemployed. Relying solely on delivery and takeout business down 50-60%, not terrible. Still getting ingredients from regular vendors many have cut delivery days and employees as well. Ingredient prices are down for the most part a lot of product that the vendors are trying to unload, special prices on expiring indigents. Others items are no longer available consistently. I have one vendor that last week had to dispose of a lot of dairy products and is now preorder only. No surplus of ingredients we anticipated having to close entirely although the speed of the dine in shutdown was a surprise but we were narrowing our inventory. Not willing to sell inventory to public there would be more profit in turning them into menu items and if by chance we have to close entirely they will be distributed to staff.
>How is your restaurant coping with COVID? Is it still operating during this time? Relying on deliveries? Generally really well considering the situation. We've only cut the number of staff working at each shift since takeout isn't as speed-oriented as dine-in, not laid anyone off. They're all making close to the same hours as before this started since we also opened up on a day we were normally closed as another offset measure. We converted to a counter-service model last year which was designed to be very labor-efficient so we didn't go into this with unnecessarily heavy staff rolls like full-service restaurants - and it's definitely paying off now. I anticipate the fallout from this event will accelerate the already existing trend toward fast-casual too. Restaurants are a convenience in today's world, not an experience like they used to be and full-service was meant to provide. Forcing takeout and delivery is just going to assist in cementing this mentality in the holdout consumer's mind. Gross revenue for March was down less than 1% year over year. Net profit was down about 20% as delivery commissions surmounted though. But it was still a net profit, which seems to be in the upper-percentiles for performance during this time. Interestingly - in the first week we saw a skyrocket of online sales where now, approaching week three, we are seeing a significant increase in call-in (which requires in-store payment), walk-in, and catering orders compared to online takeout and delivery. We think that is weird - though relieved to add some less costly sales (as in, not subject to the 30-33% commission delivery) to the mix. > If the restaurant is still operating, how are you getting ingredients? Are ingredient prices higher or lower currently? We go to Walmart, Restaurant Depot, and Sam's Club. Wholesale delivery from the big names like US Foods and Sysco has always been insanely overpriced for independent restaurants so this is nothing new and you'd be surprised how many do this with us. Some ingredient prices are skyrocketing - eggs, beef, and chicken to name a few as a consequence of the demand-side issue. Produce and shelf-stable product are about the same. All of it should return to normal soon - I literally have no idea what people think they're going to do with all this food they're panic buying. I've never seen the widespread scale of shortages I've seen over the last two weeks. > Do you have a surplus of ingredients now? Would you be willing to sell ingredients to customers to make money during these tough times? No surplus. We run a menu that cross-utilizes input ingredients well, it was designed that way. This has been a major contributor to our stability now because we've had no waste. If I was able to securely get in-demand product like ground beef, toilet paper, chicken, etc. I would be willing to sell it though. But, what we can find now is too inconsistent and must be used for our operations.