By Jan Hillard
NKyTribune senior editor
Breaking bread in a restaurant is a tradition as old as communal life. Being able to walk in and be served a special meal is something we once took for granted. Today restaurants are forced to serve an unwanted guest who threatens their staff, suppliers, and customers — COVID 19.
And in spite of its devastation, restaurants are not taking the challenge from COVID 19 lying down. Instead they are revising menus, changing how food is served, accommodating staff, meeting and exceeding customer expectations. Theirs is a story of business resiliency.
The broad impact of the virus on restaurants is documented in a national study published by Vince Dixon in the March 24, 2020 edition of Eatery.
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The study finds that from February through March, over 90% of the country’s restaurants closed, before and after governmental mandates. These closures impacted over 15 million restaurant workers, including those who make up the food service supply chain.
Correspondingly, customer behavior changed, especially as social distancing became the norm. Dixon notes the drop in restaurant reservations as seen in data collected by the app “Open Table.” From late February to mid-March, reservations plummeted by 64%. Correspondingly, grocery apps began to be downloaded with a 52% increase over the same period as customers turned to eating at home.
The challenges of succeeding in the restaurant business are nothing new. Typically, over 60% of new restaurants fail in their first year. To survive, restaurants must carefully monitor their business dynamics. While watching the bottom line has always been important, a new skill is even more necessary in the time of COVID 19. The skill is innovation.
Retaining customers requires revising menus, relying on curbside service, and offering online ordering. For many restaurants, these imperatives are a big departure from their traditional service model. Making the change requires new pricing, reliance on nonemployees, app functionality, and COVID 19 mitigation. Many restaurants have risen to the challenge with innovative solutions that have diminished the fears associated with today’s crisis.
Harnessing the spirit of innovation is taking place in restaurants across Northern Kentucky, especially as the shutdown is in full force.
A Northern Kentucky landmark restaurant that exemplifies the spirit of innovation is the Oriental Wok, a family-owned business noted for its premiere Asian cuisine. Over the last several months, the Oriental Wok has fashioned a response to the virus while maintaining profits, retaining employees, and meeting the needs of customers in a seamless fashion.
Miranda Mason, a student at UC, has worked as a server at the Oriental Wok for over a year. She cites the restaurant’s innovative use and constant attention to its Facebook page as a critical tool for keeping patrons apprised of daily specials, its new curbside pick-up, and mitigation practices followed by staff.
Mason applauds the restaurant’s use of phone apps that allow employees to easily communicate with one another and management to respond to any issues brought up by staff.
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As a result of the Oriental Wok’s attention to innovation, Mason reports that she is working more hours, receiving larger tips from curbside service, and feeling a growing sense of family among employees and owners of the Oriental Wok. She says this feels more like thriving than merely serving.
Unfortunately, the experience of the Oriental Wok is not universal. And the Oriental Wok faces ever-changing challenges associated with COVID 19.
It must be recognized that across our region there are many restaurants that are struggling or even shuttered. As a result, thousands of restaurant employees face hardship and an uncertain future.
For many in these unfortunate situations, our community can feel broken. Yet in spite of this harsh reality, restaurants like Oriental Wok are leading the way and sharing their innovative stories of setting the table for all of us.
To help those restaurants — and their employees,– the Horizon Community Funds has created both the Restaurant Relief Fund and the Coronavirus Relief Fund to help.
The NKY Restaurant Relief Fund, a first-of-its-kind stimulus program which distributed its first $15,000 in grants last week and will grant $1,000 each to select local restaurants again in this week. It was started in cooperation with the Northern Kentucky Chamber and NKY Tri-ED. Here’s how it works: after purchasing a $50 minimum gift card to any qualifying Northern Kentucky restaurant or bar, an individual or business can then upload a copy of their receipt, address and contact information to the Restaurant Relief Fund website. This will then automatically nominate the restaurant for one of ten $1,000 grants that will be awarded weekly.
The Horizon NKY Coronavirus Relief Fund, introduced to Northern Kentucky by Horizon Community Funds, has seen great success within its first weeks of launching in March. To date, the Fund has raised $2 million through donations and partnerships of all sizes, including generous support from The Butler Foundation and The R.C. Durr Foundation, and corporate citizens including Fischer Homes and Drees Homes Foundation, First Financial Bank, and other individuals.
The Fund is providing financial assistance to nonprofits serving Boone, Campbell, and Kenton counties in Northern Kentucky that are experiencing increased demand for resources in response to the COVID-19 virus in our community. The fund is designed to complement the work of local public health, nonprofit, and government entities, and to expand local capacity to support individuals and families experiencing hardship because of the outbreak and related closures and disruptions.
Jan Hillard is an Emeriti Faculty of Northern Kentucky University and a senior editor/data-driven research for the NKyTribune.
