strip mall restaurant in St. Paul
Thursday, 3/26
Yesterday we heard from Governor Coach Tim Walz. I feel so bad for other states that didn't elect an educator as their Gov, because feel what you want about your politics, that man gives good Power Point. He was concise, measured, without a hint of ego and he used data to help us all understand the plan. Actual science and data folks, imagine that.
The plan is to keep on keeping on with our #StayHomeMN and social distancing. We get an A in keeping ourselves apart from others (really, isn't 6ft still too close?). Raise a hand, who's shocked that our Winter Training for the last kajillion years was all in prep of getting good at staying home?
What that means for restos is: carry on. Coach said that since we are behaving responsibly we can continue to support local food businesses and do curbside, delivery and takeout. Bars and sit-down dining is still OUT and they extended the closure date for that situation to May 1st.
So, for our dining scene we are in this for a minimum of one more month. But to be honest, most restaurateurs that I talked to didn't expect the ban to be lifted anytime soon and many are highly doubtful that it will all be back in May.
I guess we'll see what next week holds.
Wednesday, 3/25
Is today Wednesday? What happened to Tuesday?
Well, it may seem a bit quiet on the resto front, but that's really just in comparison to the crazy insanity of the last week. It's been one week since the bar and restaurant community has been ordered closed to dining in. But I tell you what, behind the scenes it's been anything but quiet.
Restaurants have been banding together in an effort to show the strongest arm when they go knocking on the government's door. Don't forget that Congressman Dean Phillips knows the plight of the hospitality world, he's an owner in Penny's Coffee. Nationally, Andrew Zimmern has worked with others to launch the Independent Restaurant Coalition which is using the #saverestaurants call to action for indy restaurants across the country. Locally there are groups coordinating to help push important legislative moves forward, such as the temporary liquor license for takeout that would help small restaurants make money off of inventory. Most feel that this needs to get into place before we move into the shelter-in-place situation which Wisconsin is now in.
On Monday the Governor did announce an Emergency Loan Program for Small Businesses that could help some restos, as the loans will be 50% forgivable and offered at a 0% interest rate. Though it was met with mixed reviews on social media as the details began to emerge.
Most importantly, we saw more and more restos standing up for the workers they've had to layoff. i.e. Italian Eatery is selling a Pasta Unites shirt, 100% of proceeds from which will go to their staff. Hola Arepa batched off a ton of SOS Salsa to sell in order to fund their house staff. The Bachelor Farmer is selling Northern Hospitality shirts to support their collab with Second Harvest, but they included a tip jar on the site to support staff. Places like Bar Brava came out of hiatus to throw some curbside takeout meals together, offering them for free to unemployed service workers but pledging any funds made to go to staffers. And Gavin Kaysen launched his Heart of the House foundation as a 501c(3) non-profit organization with the goal of helping their 180 laid off workers with a transparent and equitable distribution of funds collected.
These are all new legal and procedural challenges for many, some with stronger managerial/ownership support than others. But I can attest, there is a massive flow of information between restaurants. I've been passing names and contact info, making introductions all week, and there is nothing but openness to each other.
As we roll into the second half of the week, we'll see some places re-open to take a stab a takeout while others will decide to throw in the towel and just ride it out. Make sure you check their socials while you continue to #takeout2liftup.
Monday, 3/23
Whoa. You guys showed up this weekend.
The amount of support that diners showed their favorite restaurants was nothing short of stunning. From restauranteurs and eaters, all across the metro, I heard stories of generosity, massive tips, kitchens selling out, and gift cards being bought on top of takeout. What a magical display of caring for our food towns.
Though, not everything was magical. I also heard from both restauranteurs and eaters that there were plenty of hard dips and falls. Someone would get home and find the wrong food in their bag, others experienced long waits for what they thought was a scheduled pick up. Maybe the food wasn't hot enough, maybe there were missing bits, maybe what they thought would be curbside ended up being walk-in-and-ask-whazzup-side. From the other side of the door, some resto owners were working frantically with skeleton crews, never executing this volume of takeout ever before in their professional lives. Others had totally new order systems and protocols that were still fresh, and perhaps allowed too many orders to be taken in certain time slots. In trying to figure out order time, drive time, cook time, and drop time, some places had to learn new math. And math is not fun, y'all.
It seems like most people were understanding, wanting to support their favorites, and realizing that we're all in a new world. I have to believe that if you care about #saverestaurants , you understand that this is a marathon, not a sprint. They have to play the long game if they are going to survive. Because most of us know this likely won't be over at the end of the month.
However busy they were, however slammed it seemed, the cash flow was much less than it would have been on a normal weekend (especially with no booze). I can imagine the education that many of them received this weekend, so I'm betting that the kinks will get worked out. They have to, their life depends on it. If you get home and your chicken isn't as hot as you'd expected, I'd say save the feedback for the next day. If you get the totally wrong order, I would call and alert them calmly (as someone else's order might have been swapped).
In all of this, ALL of this: kindness and patience. We are all doing the best we can right now.
About that marathon, it's important to note that not every resto in the metro was slammed to the hilt, and maybe this is the week to make sure you spread the love around a little. Think small, think off the beaten path, think neighborhood. If you need incentive, we've got a little lifting going on over on our Instagram. Snap a picture of your takeout, tag it with #takeout2liftup and we'll put you into the bucket to win a $50 restaurant gift card, one will be given out every day.
Many eateries will be off today to regroup and come back stronger this week, let's also.
Friday, 3/20
So, this week has been a year. I'm not sure I will ever forget it.
And right, it's only the first week and most indications spell out a long game. Though it feels like we've settled in a bit, are on our plan to social distance, to give back as much as we can, to hunker down and flatten the curve, slow the spread of the virus which is about to really bloom in the US.
But take a second to recognize that this is the first Friday night in the new world. Normally, restaurant owners, chefs, and workers would all be gearing up for that first big night of the weekend. Getting their places tuned up for celebration and raucous laughter, for voices to press against the ceiling and chairs to scrape the floor while they move like stealth warriors through their tasks. A normal Friday would be on an electric pace right out of the gate with people escaping their jobs, relaxing their shoulders, becoming their real selves again with a glass between friends. And it would all flow, until the last sidework was completed and first shifty was consumed.
But that's not going to happen tonight. There will be small crews across the metro working together to jam some takeout orders (thank you), but there will be many, many more people who find themselves out of their element. They'll feel lost, or like there's something they were supposed to remember. They'll probably be twitchy. Maybe tonight is when the full force of this whole thing hits them, and they'll feel powerless. I hope they don't lose hope and that they know it's ok to be vulnerable, and that it's ok to ask for help. Even warriors need it.
Even I need it. So after this week of trying to fix and figure what could be neither, I will toast my usual Friday happy hour from the solace of my couch. Did you know yesterday was the first day of Spring?
Thursday, 3/19:
I think it's safe to say that this week started out with WTF. It quickly followed with NowTF. And here we are in HowTF.
This new game is still fresh, we know we are in the early stages, and not one operator nor worker doesn't get that seriously. And yet, there's a glimmer of hope. While not every restaurant decided to stay open and run the takeout play, many have used their creativity to repackage themselves with meal kits and take-and-bake options and people are actually driving up for it.
The push to get a break on the March 20th tax bill, was successful! Now the restaurant kids are taking their fire forth, and fighting for the temporary right to offer beer/wine/spirits with their takeout orders. For those who are sitting on thousands of dollars worth of beer and wine inventory, it feels silly not to be able to put a can of beer in your bag of burgers. If you agree, you should sign this petition so that this can happen sooner than later. Then contact your representative to make sure they know how you feel about including independent restaurants in the stimulus package.
Every which way yesterday, I saw humanity step up. I saw Go Fund Me numbers climb, I heard of promising gift card sales at bars now closed, I connected non-profits with business owners looking to donate, I watched more chefs jump into a text chain to donate their food to anyone in need.
Action. Response. This is in their blood. These are people who were never meant to sit in long conference room meetings and post up on Slack. They have long measured their business in hours, not quarters. They need to move, swim, solve, serve.
In no way is this done any time soon, and there are thousands of unemployed workers who might balk at this glint of optimism. And while I'm sure it will get harder before it gets better, I've also glimpsed the path forward. And it's full of all of us.
Keep scrolling down for the list of local spots doing curbside or takeout. We are working to refine it and make it more user-friendly going forward.
Wednesday, 3/18:
No one woke up yesterday and didn't think, did I just dream that?
But then, we got online, or didn't get dressed, dialed into a video conference call with people we used to sit next to, and it all came back. And those were the lucky ones. Many thousands more had to remember that they no longer had jobs, that income wasn't coming in. They had to sit on the phone with the unemployment office asking if their income was their hourly rate or what they got tipped. And it was devastating.
Talking to many workers and owners yesterday, it seems like there was a strange lightness to the heaviness. At least the axe had fallen, at least the anxiety of waiting to see what would happen next was gone. The worst had happened. Now they'd deal with it however they could.
And do you know how many of them did? By stepping up for each other.
The industry which has just been pummeled and gut-punched turned around to feed their own. United Noodle which is supported by its grocery, turned its kitchen into a soup line for out of work humans, and then started a fund for the still-operating restaurants which were giving out free kids meals. Kitchens that had to close with coolers full of food, either packaged it up for employees or cooked and fed them as best they could. Other restaurants/caterers banded together with food shelves to help the already growing need. I think it must have felt great to serve again.
There are many, many ways to support this clutch of humanity: buy an apron for mental health, contact the government and remind them that this industry is important enough to save, pay more for a takeout meal than they're asking. Because soon we're going to see the effects down the supply chain, with makers and growers in jeopardy.
Lots of places will start launching creative takeout plans today and tomorrow, as a way to hold on to the hope of return. To me it feels like more than a money call, it feels like they're keeping a lifeline to the piece they can't give up, even in their darkest hour: hospitality.
Tuesday, 3/17:
Well. This is entirely new.
Last Monday, one massive week ago, we toasted beers with some of the best and brightest crews in the Twin Cities foodscape as they came to pick up their MSP50 awards. Today, many of them don't exist. Those crews are gone.
I kept updating this doc yesterday morning, furiously adding deals and pivots, and tweeting all the closures and hour changes as they happened. Then I saw Maryland close, followed by Louisiana. I knew it was coming. The restaurants knew it was coming, there was a sudden uptick in texts about unemployment and we all dug to get answers. Then the Mayor of Minneapolis stepped forth and made the first cut, all restaurants and bars in the city would close for dine-in services, remaining open for takeout and delivery only. Everyone knew this was just the opening act.
When word got out that the Governor would hold a presser at 5:30, I don't think there was a restaurant person in town with a doubt of what was about to happen. Across the state, Gov. Walz pulled the plug as of 5pm today on gatherings at restaurants, allowing them open only for takeout and delivery, and effectively closing bars, who have no option of serving you booze as takeout or delivery (yet).
So that's it. That's our beautiful restaurant scene slashed to the quick, at least until the 27th but likely longer. The Gov said all the right things: #flattenthecurve, stop the spread, it's for the greater good. They followed the playbook and had restauranteurs up there to ease us into it: Zimmern, Steph Shimp of Blue Plate, John Puckett of Punch Pizza. And yes, in the face of an international pandemic that this country is woefully unprepared for, it's the right thing to do. But it still stings.
Of course hospitality would step up and self-sacrifice, it's the core of the service industry. Serving others is the actual job. It's why they show up at every charity function, give donations of food and time that they'll never get back, organize for each other at the drop of a fork. But the hard truth is that this ask will the final ask for many.
We will come out of this, but on the other side it will look very different in town. There's a lot of talk of help, and aid, and bailing out the industry for this big ask, and the Gov promised to waive the unemployment waiting period so that workers could apply immediately, but there's more to be done (like pause the sales and use tax as called for by Gavin Kaysen). It's hard to fathom that the hospitality industry, known to be the second largest employer of people in the country after the government, is way at the back of the line for saving: after cruise ships and casinos, certainly.
We can still do the work to save some of our scene. Buy gift cards, do curbside takeout (how nice to see someone for a split second, my hermits), send money to randomly tip an out of work server or bartender, contribute to fundraisers like they've done for you. It's not about going out anymore, that's done. Let's stay home and do our part so that we can have nice things again. Remember that people just lost their jobs in order to save lives, so let's agree not to mock that sacrifice by dressing as leprechauns and cheersing big green beers with our bros.
And don't talk to me about luck today, it's too soon.
Monday, 3/16:
Unexpected and unprecedented. Those are the two words that keep running through my mind as I think about the roil and turmoil of the restaurant industry over the last two days. Two days.
We started with restaurants touting clean hands and tables to assure diners. Then it was about removing tables and creating space so that restaurants could help with social-distancing. Then Travail 3.0 decided not to open, and restaurants attached to museums and theaters had to close. Now we find ourselves in yet another new universe. On Sunday, we watched as leaders in other states called for the shut-down of restaurants and bars. Ohio, Illinois, California, New York, then Massachusetts and Washington all made it clear that full-service wasn't going to be allowed. Takeout and delivery are the only options for restos in those states to do business.
Was it about the hard partiers who ignored the gathering caps, went out to bars, celebrated en masse with St. Paddy's Day crawls? Partly, yes. But international culinary leaders, like David Chang of Momofuku and Rene Redzepi of Noma, had already begun to set a tone: close it down for the greater good, the health of both staff and guests, and to stop the spread of COVID19.
Late Sunday, we began to see the change here. Tim Niver, owner of Mucci's and Saint Dinette, posted a video about why he was closing his places for regular service, and moving to takeout only. D'Amico closed their restaurants down, Grand Cafe and Eastside did with a note saying they'd come up with some other creative offering. Gavin Kaysen also posted a video explaining his decision to shut down, and formulate a takeout plan. I just saw Alma post 30 minutes ago.
I spent the last two days talking to restaurant people, almost all of them saw a downtick in business. Many of them are terrified that this will end our local restaurant scene, but others think shutting down is the way through this, to get it over sooner and avoid a full-country lockdown like Italy and Spain. Unexpected. Unprecedented. Act now, don't bleed out so that you can come back later. That's the hope.
Most of us think we are only days (hours?) away from Governor Walz making the call himself. The hardest hit will be the bars, they can't do takeout/delivery Old Fashioneds (though, we reeeallly wish they could). They will all need our support as much as we need their Old Fashioneds.
