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When dining rooms were closed because of the pandemic, Boston restaurant operators Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette of JK Food Group came up with a solution to bring their tapas and pizzas to customers without resorting to third-party delivery: food lockers in apartment buildings.
Partnering with foodservice solutions company Alchemista, JK Food Group delivers their food to customers via temperature-controlled, self-sanitizing food lockers in luxury apartment buildings throughout Boston. Inspired by the ease of a vending machine, they allow customers to place orders for meals from tapas restaurant Toro and Italian small plates restaurant Coppa via the Alchemista app and then pick them up whenever they want to from the food locker in their apartment building lobby using a unique QR code.
“Alchemista gave us the opportunity to reach our bread-and-butter guests and to not have to pay delivery fees which are exorbitant,” Oringer said. “We were trying to figure out the best way to reach customers without sacrificing quality.”
Alchemista employees take care of picking up the meals (20-40 per lunch or dinner shift) and filling the temperature-controlled, sanitizing UV-lit glass cubbies in the lobbies of participating apartment buildings. As of March, the service was available in 10 apartment buildings, with partnerships with more buildings and participating restaurants in other cities like New York and Washington, D.C. on the horizon.
Right now, Toro has curated a simplified version of their menu — which changes on a weekly basis — with just a few dishes available for the Alchemista lockers. They also had to tweak their usual tapas-sized offerings to make for full to-go meals. They came up with the idea of creating a bento-box-like offering, like one with braised short rib, patatas bravas, and their house-special corn.
“One popular dish I love is our wild mushroom risotto, but if risotto sits for a period of time it will get gummy and starchy,” Oringer said. “But these lockers can hold it at ambient temperature and it stays creamy without becoming gloppy. The risotto tastes like it came right out of the kitchen. It’s cool that we were able to adapt that.”
Bissonnette said the cost for customers is about the same as they’d pay in the restaurant, about $20-$25 per entrée.
“[Alchemista buys] it from us and marks it up appropriately,” Bissonnette said. “We know it’s not as much of a moneymaker but it’s a cool opportunity. Hopefully the partnership will get bigger and we’ll have even more of a reach.”
— Joanna Fantozzi
Memphis Garrett, owner of Garrett Hospitality Group based in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., plans to open an elevated cocktail bar and small plates concept called No Man’s Land this spring. The roughly 1,600-square foot concept will be open from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Out of the same kitchen, however, Garrett will operate two more concepts as virtual brands, for delivery only: his existing fast-casual concepts Poke House, offering poke bowls, and Blue Wave Sushi, which has operated as a dual restaurant for about five years. “We’re shifting these two brands into the back of the house and we’ll be running three venues from one kitchen.”
Garrett said, “My vision is shifting more to how do we make the most out of our space. Even pre-COVID, we started seeing the numbers drop on people dining in.”
It no longer makes sense to pay for real estate that sits empty for hours at a time every day, he contends.
In addition to generating revenue for the three-in-one operation at No Man’s Land, Garrett plans to offer Poke House and Blue Wave Sushi to other operators as turnkey franchised virtual operations.
“It’s two brands that you can put into 600 square feet in the back of a restaurant you already own,” he said. “They can do one or the other, or both. What’s appealing is it’s the same food.”
Garrett said the dual poke/sushi concept generates about $1 million in sales combined. He’s selling the franchise opportunity as a turnkey operation, including everything from marketing to an app for ordering, for a 5% fee.
The goal is to sell 25 to 30 franchises, operated virtually out of host kitchens, by the end of 2023, he said.
“There’s no better way than to pick a brand that already exists and everything’s ready for you,” said Garrett. “You have to take advantage of the space you have.”
— Lisa Jennings
The pandemic drove many operators to using third-party delivery platforms, but Mark Tarbell, chef and owner of Tarbell’s in Phoenix, took a different route: he created his own in-house delivery service.
Tarbell’s, which opened in 1994 and is known for its contemporary fine-dining and classic comfort food, didn’t work with any of the third-party delivery companies before the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March 2020.
However, Tarbell’s had a small catering operation.
“We already had one van, equipment and experience in how to get hot food hot to a guest,” Tarbell said. “We also understood how create experience and hospitality ‘at home.’”
Tarbell’s eventually added three additional vehicles: two Toyota Corolla hatchbacks and one Nissan small work van.
“Our first goal was to safely serve our friends and guests in a difficult time where dining out was not an option,” Tarbell said. “Then our goal was to create a sense of high service and normalcy to the delivery and pick-up business.
“We are control freaks and we wanted to ensure that our food was getting to our customers in the way we wanted,” he said. “Using our highly trained servers was the best way to do this. The greatest benefit was that we were able to retain our team. Pivoting to to-go and delivery-only was scary and exciting at the same time. But we dove in and loved it.”
Tarbell’s closed March 16 because of the pandemic and had preliminary plan within hours. Eventually, staff members had to use their own automobiles to augment delivery demand.
Tarbell’s initially did not add additional charges for the deliveries and did not raise menu prices. However, it later began charging a $5 delivery fee.
“I will say it’s expensive and complicated,” Tarbell said. “What we did is rightfully think of it as a brand-new business, and then after that, how we could add on some service touches. I think it really works best when you can cross-utilize your team in the kitchen and service staff. Also, having a higher check average helps cover the expense.”
Tarbell said the self-delivery has one distinct advantage over a third-party provider. “The advantage is that our guests know well who is coming to their homes,” he said. “There is a comfortable relationship and connection there.”
Tarbell said his team had talked about doing delivery in fall 2019, before COVID-19 hit.
“We were not excited or focused on it,” Tarbell said. “On that Monday, we flipped the switch and got very excited about it. Tough times have a way of getting your team real focused.”
— Ron Ruggless
On Denver’s popular Larimer Square, chef Troy Guard’s flagship restaurant TAG is next door to a café and record shop that serves drinks, but not food. TAG serves food, and, in fact, is a beloved local restaurant. So the neighbors formed a partnership that launched in May.
The record shop’s owner wanted shoppers to stay a while and drink. Guard offered to create a limited menu for the café, which guests could order via QR code. The order comes up in TAG’s point-of-sale system and servers from the restaurant run the food over to the record shop.
“It’s literally right next door,” said Guard. “There’s a drop off place and a server station, and they can say ‘here’s for table 22.’”
If the partnership works, the record store owner may expand it to a second location nearby.
Under the arrangement, TAG will keep all food sales.
“He said we want you to get the money, I want people to stay and drink in my space. It’s no labor on their part and the guests will sit there, buy more wine or cocktails, so it works out for both of us,” said Guard. “It’s not going to make us rich, but if we got the guys in the kitchen, why not try it?”
Troy Guard plans to close the restaurant TAG on May 15. This menu partnership, however, will continue with the nearby restaurants Bubu and Los Chingones.
— Lisa Jennings
Ti Martin and Lally Brennan, the current owners of Commander’s Palace in New Orleans, figured that the pandemic was a perfect time to expand operations — digitally. Every Wednesday — dubbed “the Zoom that save Wednesdays” by loyal customers — wine director Dan Davis, along with Brennan and Martin, hosted a virtual wine and cheese pairing class on Zoom.
They weren’t just about wine and cheese. The virtual events were meant to act as a party for people stuck in their homes and as a way for people across the country to be exposed to Commander’s Palace and its festive atmosphere.
Davis is no slouch with his wines though — he has been James Beard Award-nominated, so attendees can expect a proper education — but the virtual events themselves take on a lighter tone with attendees invited to wear costumes and ask personal questions of the well-known culinary team.
Brennan and Martin can often be seen lounging in costume in their own kitchens on screen for attendees sampling cheeses and wines, and subsequently dancing at the end of the show.
“Music is really important to the show. It either evolves or devolves into a dance party by the end of the show every time,” Davis told Restaurant Hospitality last year. And the music comes from the restaurant’s Jazz Band — the very one from the weekly Jazz Brunch.
It’s what kept the lights on at Commander’s Palace when indoor dining was forcibly closed in March. The first national event had over 1,000 attendees and, with prices ranging from $125 - $525, it covered the restaurant’s operating costs while no one was occupying the space.
Since the event debuted for locals-only in April last year, there have been 52 “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” wine pairing virtual events with Davis and the team.
While the frequency has slowed with the reopening of Commander’s Palace’s dining room, as well as that of the to-go concept Le Petit Bleu next door, the events are still going strong. The most recent event took place on April 28 for locals to celebrate New Orleans’ annual Jazz Fest. And, as always, costumes were encouraged.
— Holly Petre
Mike Collantes built a career working for restaurateurs such as Wolfgang Puck, Joel Robuchon, Eric Ripert and Masa Takayama before he came home to Orlando, Fla., to build his own restaurant group.
He launched the fast-casual Filipino-American concept Taglish and a fine-dining tasting menu venue called Soseki, as well as the casual Perla’s Pizza. The collective, however, also includes a media company: EightySix Media, which has created a vibrant social media profile for the brands.
“What we learned during COVID was that communities got tighter, communities got smaller, and everyone wanted to support local. But they don’t know who to support unless it’s out there,” said Collantes.
“We pivoted toward TikTok and Instagram, and within six months we had over 25,000 followers on TikTok,” he added.
Collantes said the group pushed forward with videos on YouTube. “We got really high engagement with our guests beyond coming to the store, and it ultimately led us to building brand awareness and engagement now, and we build a whole new media company through that,” he said.
Such moves also can help with staff retention because it gives workers an opportunity for growth, he noted.
And EightySix Media doesn’t just offer its services to restaurants.
“I’m a hustler,” said Collantes. “We service everybody. Everyone who needs a platform.”
— Lisa Jennings
Thousands of restaurants turned to selling groceries as a way to make ends meet, clear out inventory and compete with the supermarkets during the first few months of COVID. At the time, it wasn’t seen as a long-term solution.
Now, a year later, it is a growing business for some, like Missy Robbins of Lilia and Missy in New York and Brooklyn, who began by making meal kits out of her homemade pasta.
This was a change from Robbins’ previous policy: Pasta would never be prepared to-go.
“People — even friends — come in and say, ‘Oh, my husband can’t make it tonight. Can I have a rigatoni to go?’ and I’m like, ‘No.’ And that just has to do with quality and wanting people to experience pasta as it was meant to be experienced, and that is right away,” Missy Robbins told New York Magazine.
Now through MP New York, Robbins is selling meal kits dubbed Misipasta. They can be delivered weekly with pasta and sauce. Each kit is $45 and feeds four — a steal for any NYC or Brooklyn restaurant.
She’s also selling groceries available in two options, a bag of 12-15 “Italian pantry staples” like Parmesan Reggiano or a bag of fresh fruits and vegetables along with meats or seafood. The staple bag is $195, and the produce bag is $198.
And these groceries aren’t going away soon. Robbins’ idea behind the grocery store (only online for the time being) was to give people who ask her for recommendations a place to purchase everything or cook along with her.
“That tool kit has become very refined for me and shaped my cooking voice,” said Robbins on her website. “I want to bring that to people. I want them to see why the Calabrian chiles are the only ones we use or introduce them to young broccoli rabe (it’s just the leaves) that they won’t find in a store.”
MP New York also has a line of consumer-packaged goods designed by Robbins herself including a jarred spritz and asparagus sott'olio, called MP Specialties.
Upcoming new projects from MP New York include “MP cooks with you at home.” No further details have been announced about the assumed catering-adjacent project at press time.
— Holly Petre
Although dining restrictions, including limits on how much time a party can spend at a table, are being lifted in most jurisdictions, that doesn’t mean customers are going to linger the way that they once did. Some people are still hesitant to spend too much time in public, but even before the pandemic the appeal of three-hour-long meals in restaurants was starting to wane.
That can be great for table turns, but bad for high-margin upsells such as drinks and desserts.
But Smith & Wollensky steakhouse has addressed that by offering those meal-enders to go.
Kim Lapine, chief marketing officer of PPX Hospitality Brands, which operates six Smith & Wollensky steakhouses in the United States, said that, now that many states allow restaurants to sell takeout cocktails, that option “has really taken off.”
She said guests aren’t particularly responsive to getting beverages for takeout or delivery, but they do respond to them as a continuation of the in-restaurant dining experience.
Taking a couple of Manhattans to go, and maybe a slice of chocolate cake, has had real appeal, she said. And operationally, it allows for more table turns while still getting the benefit of those highly profitable add-ons.
— Bret Thorn
Finding ways to reduce waste can lower your carbon footprint, which is nice, and give you a good story to tell your customers, which is also nice. But it can also mean real income, as the team at Puritan & Company in Boston is learning about their lasagna.
Chef Will Gilson changes it based on what’s seasonal, and what he has lying around.
“We refer to it as ‘kitchen sink lasagna’ because we take what vegetables we have available for it and we also put meat in that we have excess of that week. Sometimes it is braised short ribs, sometimes it is pork shoulder, and sometimes it is mortadella,” he said. “We also just do a vegetable rendition of it, too.”
In the lasagna pictured here, the béchamel is augmented with parsnip purée, both to give the white sauce extra flavor and to use up parsnip. Other seasonal roasted vegetables are layered between the lasagna sheets along with a ragù of whatever meat is on hand.
Best of all, the dish is $22, which makes it a reasonable entrée for guests, and a highly profitable one for the restaurant.
— Bret Thorn
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