EDITOR’S NOTE: Editor Kathleen Furore and Publisher Ed Avis reached out to three el Restaurante readers to find out how they weathered the COVID-inflicted challenges of 2020 and how they’re moving ahead with hope in 2021.
AGAVE & RYE
Yavonne Sarber, founder and CEO, acknowledges that COVID presented challenges for her and her team at Agave & Rye. But the brand quickly pivoted, and actually opened new restaurants in 2020. Papi Jocho’s, a new concept featuring authentic Mexican hot dogs and street tacos, opened in Covington, Kentucky. And new locations of Agave & Rye debuted in Rookwood and Troy, Ohio, joining their sister restaurants in Covington, Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky and Liberty Township, Ohio. And there’s even another Agave & Rye coming to Albany, Indiana soon.
el Restaurante: Did Agave & Rye have plans in place to open those new locations before the pandemic hit? If so, how far along were they with the planning and how did those plans change as a result of COVID?
Yavonne Sarber: While we didn’t plan on opening our newest locations before the pandemic, we did already have growth plans in place. Before we had chosen to open a restaurant in Rookwood, we had another location selected; Rookwood became a better opportunity that we decided to take advantage of.
When the pandemic hit, we took a step back, then got our carryout back up and running. When we saw the demand was strong, we went full steam ahead. Our Louisville location was already open at that point, and we found our Troy, Ohio location around the time we opened the restaurant in Rookwood. Shortly thereafter, we signed to open our sixth restaurant in New Albany, Indiana.
ER: How did the restaurants manage to keep business thriving when other establishments struggled? Did they get PPP funding? Tweak the menu or the concept?
YS: We did receive a PPP loan, but it was quite small, allowing us just enough monetary support to open back up. At that time, we had just self-funded the opening of the Louisville restaurant and our working capital was low. With the shutdown, our bank accounts were hemorrhaging.
However, when we began offering carryout options, we adapted the menu to offer only six items. Business grew quickly and we were able to expand to our full menu in about 30 days. Ultimately, menu items that didn’t travel well were discontinued and new “Not a Taco” menu items were added, including our Epic Chicken Sandwich, our Epic Burger and our Street Tacos, which are performing well to this day.
It was important to us that we adjust our business to fit the times. We had to rethink packaging to include better containers that were more breathable, and the way we processed carryout orders was refined. Today, each order is signed by the team member who packaged it, placed into a clear bag that’s sealed, then signed again by the team member who prepared the order.
ER: What advice do you have for restaurants still struggling to stay afloat?
YS: This is always a challenging question. I wouldn’t recommend considering opening a restaurant concept if it’s already a commodity business. Your restaurant should be a destination and an experience guests can’t get anywhere else. Similarly, if your guests can recreate your work at home, it won’t make as big of impact as it could. If you truly have created a destination, you’ll foster loyalty and guests will continue to visit your restaurant—even in the most challenging times.
We truly feel we’ve created an escape, and we’ve started calling Agave & Rye a “playground.” We’re creating something that causes guests to want to leave their homes to experience something iamazing and one-of-a-kind. It’s anticipated that guests will struggle after the pandemic is over, so we’re setting an unprecedented and high standard for ourselves now.
Maria’s Mexican & Latin Cuisine
Mary Mones opened Maria’s Mexican & Latin Cuisine in Nesconset, New York nearly 18 years ago. COVID has taken a toll, but from May to October she discovered that business was actually up over the previous year.
El Restaurante: Why was your business up when so many other restaurants were suffering?
Mary Mones: I had closed down completely for the first month because everybody was scared and didn’t know what to do. Then my good friend Tony called me and said, “Listen, you better do something. I’ll help you.” So we decided to put in an outdoor garden patio. We ordered the stuff and had it up and running in a week and a half. We set it up with tables for four or eight people each in their own little area, separated by palm trees. That really brought our business to another level.
ER: Did you have some outdoor seating prior to that?
MM: No, I always had a garden out there but I never envisioned a patio there. New York State is tough with seating capacity and other restrictions, but luckily the Town of Smithtown gave us the permits. I think having the garden patio has set a precedent – when this is over, a lot people might not want to go back inside. I think it’s going to be 50/50.
ER: Do you have some indoor seating now?
MM: Yes, we can seat 50 percent now. I made these neat little dividers between the tables. We didn’t use plexiglass, we used a special plastic that’s used in greenhouses. People like it. It gives them privacy and makes them feel safe. A lot of people ask if I’m going to keep them. We’ll see – it does cut down on capacity. Maybe I’ll leave some to make a romantic table area.
ER: Is your take-out and delivery business up this year?
MM: We’ve always done a certain amount of that, but it’s definitely a lot more now. At the beginning we were doing our own deliveries, but I felt that was too much liability, so I partnered with DoorDash. They take a pretty hefty chunk of change, so I’m going to shop around. My cousin has two restaurants and we did a deal with DoorDash that they were supposed to charge us 20 percent instead of 30 percent, but they haven’t done that.
ER: How are you feeling about the future?
MM: What bothers me is that running a restaurant is what I’ve been calling the “social, unsociable business.” What I mean is that in the restaurant industry you try to bend over backwards to make people feel welcome. Now I feel we always have to be on our guard. We have to tell people about the masks, and we’re taking their temperatures. Some people you can’t say anything to -- you don’t want them mad at you, you want them to come in and have a good time. That’s the stressful thing. Going out to eat is the only thing people can do right now. You can’t go to a show, you can’t go to Manhattan, you can’t go to a movie. I feel for those people. And we have a 10 o’clock curfew. I was taught never to kick anyone out, but when I heard the authorities go around checking, I knew I couldn’t let people stay later. I lower the music, we try to do it softly. And no one has complained. The only issue I’ve had is when people come with eight people, we just don’t have the room for that. They say, “We used to be able to come here with this many people.” I say, “I know, but we can’t now.” You just keep plugging. You just keep going forward. I think we’re one of the fortunate ones.
Monica’s Mex-Tex Cantina
Monica Greene opened Monica’s Mex-Tex Cantina in Dallas three years ago. She’s been in the restaurant business since 1974 and knows the ups and downs of being a restaurateur.
El Restaurante: How are things going in your restaurant?
Monica Greene: To use the word “mediocre” would be good. COVID started in March and were advised to serve only to-go. Then on May 28 we got the first BLM protests, which shattered our streets more than a few times. Then they put in a curfew. Those things combined made it impossible for us to do business. For three years previous to that we were attracting a lot of customers in the downtown. Now downtown is a void space. People aren’t working downtown, and people are no longer living there.
ER: What have you done to stay in business?
MG: We did a lot of things. We changed our hours so we’re only open from Wednesday to Saturday. Monday and Tuesday were slow anyway. This reduced labor costs and allowed us to keep all of our permanent employees. We also reduced the menu to everybody’s favorites, meaning we utilize less inventory but get the same results – people continue to get what they are looking for. This is Mexico City restaurant more than Tex-Mex. And I live in a city where Tex-Mex reigns. I understand what customers want – for example we have a Mexican lasagna – layers of corn tortilla with roasted corn and black beans. And fajitas always sell well. But we continue to enjoy customers who come here for special dishes – like cochinita pibil and jicama tacos.
ER: Do you have outdoor dining?
MG: Yes, I had the square footage to set up outdoor dining. We allocated money to redo the patios so they are as attractive to the customer as dining inside.
ER: How are you feeling about the future?
MG: We are hoping that in 2021, with the vaccine and people having a responsible attitude toward the pandemic, that in 6 months we’ll return to some semblance of what used to be. Right now we’re at 50 percent capacity, but even if we were allowed 100 percent, people are not going to want to sit next to each other. So I think we’ll have to live with the 50 percent capacity. All of us have to collectively work together to make this environment safe. We have to convey to people that without their support, restaurants will not be able to make it. We’re not an abstraction. We are always there for the community.