To-go Margaritas at Old Juan's Cantina
Staff at Old Juan's Cantina in Oceano, California prepare margaritas to go.
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By Kathleen Furore
Mexican restaurants across the country are struggling right now, but some are seeking new ways to keep a little cash flowing. Here are seven ideas:
1 Deconstruct Your Recipes. Old Juan’s Cantina in Oceano, California, now offers “deconstructed nachos” in a kit that includes the restaurant’s homemade chips plus and all the essentials customers need to make the nachos at home. It all comes with a container customers can heat in their oven. “The nacho idea actually came from a customer who asked for them that way,” co-owner Adam Verdin says. This idea could work for other items on your menu, too.
2 Think big! With everyone stuck at home, family-size meals are needed more than ever before. Old Juan’s Cantina just started offering take and bake items—one is a tray of 6 enchiladas that are prepared, then sold cold. “The idea is that the customer can take it home and bake in their own oven and have it freshly baked,” Verdin says. “We think this might a better experience than having melted cheese sit on food for the duration it takes to transport to their home to eat.”
3 Consider Selling in Bulk. Can you make large tubs of your most popular salsas and moles? How about house-made tortillas you can package and sell by the dozen? There are have been reports of families hoarding tortillas -- if you make tortillas, help ease the supply crunch by keeping your tortilla production running.
4 Keep Customers Entertained. Old Pueblo Cantina in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood has started a live-streaming Mariachi Monday featuring music by the Cielito Lindo family, who performed live in the restaurant every Monday until the current shut-down. The restaurant invites customers to “grab a taco and pitcher of your favorite margarita via curbside pickup or delivery in time for the live stream” on Facebook or Instagram. There’s even a chance for customers to win a prize that can be redeemed when the dining room reopens. Here’s the promo: “Follow our instagram @oldpueblochicago and tag us in a picture of your virtual Mariachi Monday with your friends and family for a chance to win a Mariachi Monday for five!”
5 Offer Online Cooking and Cocktail-making Kits and/or Classes. Give customers an ingredient list (and/or package ingredients and sell them), and consider hosting virtual classes via Instagram or other social media platforms that customers can participate in. Forbes magazine reports that some bars are reaching out to liquor brands to see if they’re interested in sponsoring the sessions, then using the fees to contribute to restaurant relief funds. For example, Claudia’s, a Guatamalan restaurant in New York City, is working with Don Papa Rum to offer 2 DIY cocktail recipe kits for pick-up or delivery (complete with instructions, a recipe, ingredients, and a jigger keychain). Another NYC restaurant is selling whiskeys in customizable flights and gives customers the opportunity to schedule a virtual flight tasting. That could work with tequila, too.
6 Work with local grocers. Can you help keep grocery stores stocked with prepared meals, tortillas and more? It’s happening at H-E-B stores in San Antonio! The grocer “fast-tracked” the usual process restaurants have to go through to have their food sold in-store. Restaurants coming on board include Rosario’s Mexican Cafe Y Cantina. Click here to read more about that effort.
7 Become a Prep Kitchen for Those in Need. Rioja and Kachina in Denver are among several restaurants each making 500 meals a day for people in need. "In turn we're able to hire a number of staff for each one of these restaurants," Denver restaurateur Adam Schlegal told the Denver Post. "We're recreating jobs and giving life back to these people and we're giving back to people in need…It's one of the first truly uplifting things that we've been able to do." Colorado Restaurant Response partners with Denver Emergency Food Network and Bondadosa (a new social enterprise that offers affordable grocery delivery service with no minimum order requirements, delivery fees, or membership fees) to get the meals to communities in need. "Our hope is to continue to grow this because we know there are a lot of people in need and restaurants want to work and provide this," Schlegal said.
What are you doing to keep business coming in during these challenging times? Email Ed Avis at edavis@restmex.com and we’ll share it in our next tip sheet!
And for more news about how your peers in the Mexican/Latin restaurant industry are weathering this storm, click here.
Other Coronavirus Resources for Mexican Restaurants
12 Tips: How Mexican Restaurants are Coping with Coronavirus
7 Tips for for Mexican Restaurants to Survive Coronavirus
How the CARES Act Will Help You Keep Your Restaurant Open