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This week in restaurant news: Floyd Cardoz, stimulus bill, restaurants become relief centers

Every week we’re rounding up some of our favorite articles with trends and tidbits from the world of restaurants. Tell us: what made your reading list this week?

Groundbreaking Indian Chef Floyd Cardoz Dies at 59 of COVID-19 – Food & Wine
News of the passing of Floyd Cardoz, award-winning chef of Mumbai’s Bombay Canteen and O Pedro, shook the restaurant world. Cardoz became the first Indian-born and -raised chef to helm a top New York City kitchen when he joined Union Square Hospitality Group to lead the now-shuttered Tabla. Read memories and condolences from Ruth Reichl, Danny Meyer, Francis Lam, and more.

Everything to Know About How the $2 Trillion Stimulus Helps (and Fails) Restaurants – Eater
Eater’s Ryan Sutton breaks down the federal stimulus bill to answer burning questions that affect the entire restaurant world. Find out what the legislation means for you and your team, from paid leave and loan forgiveness to benefits for gig workers and families.

Chefs Across the US Are Transforming Their Restaurants into Relief Centers for Laid-Off Restaurant Workers – CNN Travel
Chefs are rallying to help out-of-work peers as dining rooms close en masse, launching relief centers to give out meals, cleaning supplies, and essentials. Others vow to cook a million gallons of soup to feed restaurant workers. Learn about all of their efforts and how you can access them.

It’s Like Starting A Whole New Restaurant: Take Out In The Time Of COVID-19 – Forbes
For a full-service restaurant, pivoting to a takeout and delivery model requires thoughtful planning, quick action, and a multifaceted approach. Here’s how restaurants around the country have pulled it off, with examples from distinct, varied concepts – read on, and get inspired.

This week in restaurant news: restaurant relief, creativity amid crisis, the state of the industry

Every week we’re rounding up some of our favorite articles with trends and tidbits from the world of restaurants. Tell us: what made your reading list this week?

Restaurant Industry Asks for $145 Billion Recovery Fund from the Government – CNBC
With hundreds of billions projected in sales declines, and millions in job losses, the National Restaurant Association asked the federal government for $145 billion in relief for restaurants and their employees. Eater provided a script to use when asking representatives to advocate for a restaurant bailout.

What Restaurants Need Right Now to Actually Survive – Eater
What exactly would a bailout cover? Restaurateurs strive for consensus over their most pressing needs, which include rent abatement or deferment, interest-free loans, unemployment benefits, and universal basic income.

How the Restaurant Industry Is Responding to COVID-19 – James Beard Foundation
The Beard Foundation is continuously updating its list of coronavirus resources for diners, restaurateurs, and chefs. Check back for advice on adapting to coronavirus restrictions, medical information, relevant nonprofits and fundraisers, and city-specific efforts.

$150 Emergency Taco Kits, Leftover Pantry Staples, Merch: Chefs Forced to Reinvent Amid Restaurant Shutdown – Los Angeles Times
Chefs and operators pivot to save their struggling businesses, encouraging delivery and takeout, meal kits, gift cards, and retail. Here, Andrea Chang rounds up some of the most creative responses, from an “emergency taco kit” to a one-day fire sale on unused producst.

States Ease Liquor Laws to Help Restaurants – Restaurant Business Online
New York and Illinois are allowing restaurants to sell beer, wine, and spirits (in some cases) with food takeout and delivery orders – a boon for businesses looking for new income streams and needing to offload product. Read the details here.

Danny Meyer’s Restaurant Group Lays Off 2,000 Workers – The New York Times
Julia Moskin reports that not only Meyer’s restaurants, but those of Tom Colicchio, Major Food Group, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten were forced to lay off staff as their businesses close. USGH and other groups have promised to rehire employees as soon as the crisis passes.

The State of the Restaurant Industry – OpenTable
With our restaurant partners in crisis, OpenTable pulled together data from our platform to show the present impact on the industry. See up-to-date global trends in bookings from the past year, and drill down for state-level data. Find guidance in our preparedness resource center here.

Tips for moving to delivery and pickup only in response to coronavirus

Our best wishes go out to all who are dealing with this challenging situation. As COVID-19 continues to upend the hospitality industry, our community matters more than ever. In the coming weeks, we’ll highlight restaurants that are continuing to feed their communities, how diners are supporting their local restaurants, and what we’re doing to support the industry. Head here for OpenTable’s preparedness resource center.

As some states and counties ban in-person dining for “social distancing” to combat the spread of coronavirus, restaurants have been forced to change how they operate. Operators across the country are adapting their menus for takeout and delivery so they can continue to keep the lights on and serve their communities. 

Get tips and examples from restaurants that have modified their standard menu and process to meet new needs, plus best practices from the delivery experts at Postmates and Caviar.

Set up delivery now

After restrictions in San Francisco and New York went into effect, Atlanta’s Castellucci Hospitality Group proactively added Uber Eats delivery for all seven of its dine-in restaurants. The timing was smart – since then, the city’s mayor has limited restaurants to takeout only.

Luckily, companies are working to shorten the startup process for delivery. Postmates is onboarding and waiving all commissions for the first month for merchants that sign up for delivery and pickup across several markets, including San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and Detroit (and more cities soon).Caviar is offering zero commission for 30 days to new independent restaurants that onboard before April 30. 

ChowNow is offering all restaurants 100% commission-free orders through their ordering marketplace, curbside pickup functionality, flat-rate delivery, and expedited onboarding. They’re also offering OpenTable restaurants one free month for orders through Google, along with a branded email and social media post promoting their restaurant’s branded online ordering.

To reach the most diners, restaurants will likely want to look for a delivery provider with plenty of drivers and high demand. 

Edit your menu to travel 

Look at your current menu and see which items will be most conducive to being packed and transported. If necessary, add new ones that fit the bill. 

“We limited our menus to only things that travel well – both entirely new dishes using ingredients we had in-house, and packaging certain items in different ways,” says Castellucci. The delivery menu for Castellucci’s tapas restaurant The Iberian Pig offers blistered shishitos and grilled octopus from the dine-in menu, while his modern Italian spot Double Zero offers new pastas like cacio e pepe and mushroom rigatoni in addition to the classics. 

“We see restaurants offering both standard and modified menus with success,” says Laura Englander, who leads strategy and business development for Caviar. “If you’re looking to modify, we recommend offering a more ‘casual’ version of the dishes you’re known for. Keep your menus smaller and focused versus trying to get everything online right away. We recommend having a good variety of healthy options, filling options, and above else, sticking to what you’re good at!”

Create a special menu

Fine dining and tasting menu-only concepts may find that none of their dishes are suited for delivery. If you want to stay open, try something completely new. That’s what Chef Ed Lee at 610 Magnolia did, creating a special to-go menu with simple salads, proteins (think fried chicken and pot roast), and brownie desserts. 

Seattle’s Canlis team took it a step further. After the acclaimed fine dining restaurant was forced to shut down its dining room, they opened three new concepts: a bagel shop, drive-thru burger spot, and family meal delivery (bottle of wine included.) 

Control quality

Toby Franklin, COO of Ford Fry’s Rocket Farm Restaurants, made only minimal changes to the menus at the group’s Tex Mex concepts, but other restaurants required more adaptation for safe transport. “Our quality of product is tantamount, and we want to make absolutely sure that once we trigger to-go and delivery that the product ordered is nothing short of delicious upon arrival or pickup.”

Writing about delivery for OpenTable, reporter Priya Krishna learned that salads and sandwiches tend to sell and travel well, and they are easily recognizable to a wide range of diners. Skip items sensitive to temperature changes, or any that need to be plated to truly shine. If you’re serving ramen or pho, for example, deliver noodles and broth in separate containers with instructions for reheating.

Create family meals

On your delivery menu, make it clear how many people each dish will serve. Castellucci’s restaurant teams created new dishes specifically to feed families of two to four. In response to COVID-19 restrictions, Boston’s fine-dining spot Talulla launched “Casseroles for a Cause,” allowing diners to order frozen soups or baked pastas. (Bonus: for each purchase, the restaurant donates bagged lunches to families in need.)

Make it affordable

Englander advises keeping dishes as affordable as possible – $50 entrees are a tough sell for delivery, she notes. An upscale city menu’s $24 pasta may not translate to delivery, where customers expect more options around $14 or even $8. Many restaurants are offering 10% discounts on delivery items, compared to the same dine-in dishes, to find a friendlier price point. 

Remarkably, Boulder’s Arcana is doing a pay-what-you-can model. They suggest a price for pickup and delivery meals, but invite customers to contribute what they can manage.

Offer pantry staples and meal kits

Seeing a need for pantry staples in Los Angeles, Tesse converted its cafe and bakery into Tesse Market and Cafe, a full-service grocery, selling toilet paper and napkins, dairy products, produce, meat, pastas, house-baked bread, bottled water, and wine.

“The farms and purveyors we buy from are not the same people supplying the chain grocery stores,” the team posted on Instagram. “With the shutdown of all dine-in restaurants for the next couple of weeks, it is important that we as a community find a way to keep the economic cycle flowing and ensure that these businesses will still be up and running when we come out on the other side.” 

In San Francisco, the live-fire restaurant Prairie assembled pantry boxes and ready-to-reheat meal kits for pickup, with a roll of toilet paper and bleach wipes inside each one. This week’s menu included spring chicories in a buttermilk dressing, a confit duck leg with mushroom gravy, pappardelle, burrata, and a slice of salted maple cake to share. Plus, all items are refrigerator-stable for up to five days.

They have also turned their restaurant into a general store during the citywide lockdown, offering canned seafood, dried pastas, soups, meats, and more. Customers can order groceries and supplies online, reducing the need for in-person contact.

Involve your staff

“Our number one goal is keeping our staff employed for as long as possible,” says Castellucci. He’s putting managers to work in line-level positions so he can keep paying them a wage. 

Similarly, Canlis’ new casual solutions are keeping their staff of career servers and wine experts working, even if the work has changed. Whether it’s helping manage delivery orders, facilitating takeout, or otherwise shifting responsibilities, do what you can to take care of your staff.

Reduce person-to-person interaction

Consider collecting payment before pickup or delivery to eliminate physical interaction between staff and diners. Many POS integrations allow you to set up an online menu where diners can order and pay ahead of time. Pre-payments guarantee the payment and eliminate the need for staff and diners to touch a credit card.

Another great option to reduce physical interaction is curbside pickup. 

Get the word out

Post a link to your delivery profile page on your social media channels, and email your guest database to let them know they can order from you (see email templates here). Castellucci’s team plans to target people who may be working from home in the neighborhoods around his restaurants, both digitally and in person. OpenTable restaurants can use our guest frequency report to find a list of everyone who visited during this time period last year. Email the group directly and invite them to order delivery or takeout.

If you operate in an area affected by government-mandated closures, Englander recommends the following messaging: “Based on guidance from local officials, we are closing our dining room for the safety of our workers, our customers and our community, but are offering pickup and delivery through @caviar. Full details on how to request a contactless delivery option can be found in the link in our bio.”

To promote restaurants offering delivery and takeout options, OpenTable works with partners to highlight those restaurants for diners. OpenTable also surfaces takeout and delivery options on restaurant profiles so restaurants can keep revenue streams open even when reservations aren’t available. Showcase your delivery and takeout offerings by updating your profile. If you work with one of our partners and your delivery links are not appearing, email addonproducts@opentable.com.

Finally, leverage promotional opportunities that delivery companies provide. Postmates launched a $50 million relief fund to cut fees and offer free marketing services to grow merchant business over the next few months, and it’s always free to market promotions on the platform. 

This week in restaurant news: delivery, sick leave, restaurants in the time of coronavirus

Every week we’re rounding up some of our favorite articles with trends and tidbits from the world of restaurants. Tell us: what made your reading list this week?

A Guide to Coronavirus’ Impact on the Food World – Eater
COVID-19 dominated restaurant news headlines this week, as operators worry about the impact of the pandemic on business. Eater’s guide covers everything you need to know, from closures and calls for tax breaks to fine dining restaurants leaning on delivery and takeout.

2020 James Beard Awards Postponed Until the Summer – James Beard Foundation
One of the industry’s biggest events of the year has been postponed, the Beard Foundation announced on Thursday, following in the steps of events like Austin’s SXSW. Nominees will be named on March 25 as scheduled.

What Is a Restaurant Critic’s Job in a Time of Social Distancing? – Grub Street
In an essay for Grub Street, Adam Platt contrasts post-9/11 dining out for solidarity with social distancing in the time of coronavirus, acknowledging a critic’s conflicting responsibilities to support the industry and encourage safety. In due time, he writes, restaurants will again be a place for communities to find comfort and relief.

Coronavirus: Postmates, Door Dash, UberEats Offer No-Contact Delivery Options – The Mercury News
With more food delivery customers seeking to reduce exposure, food delivery platforms offer “contactless” delivery to reduce the risk of transmission. That means drivers leaving deliveries on doorsteps, rather than greeting in person, and plenty of gloves and hand sanitizer. But what does it mean for hospitality?

Women in food and beverage weigh in on a decade of change

Today marks International Women’s Day, a perfect time to celebrate the women pushing the food and beverage industry forward. Appropriately, this date also marks the last event in a special series that we at OpenTable have been proud to support: a 10-year anniversary celebration for Frances, Melissa Perello’s beloved San Francisco restaurant. 

The series featured 10 dinners, all hosted by women chefs, winemakers, and sommeliers from across the nation. In the spirit of honoring the smart, creative, talented women who are shaping the future of the restaurant world, we asked the remarkable participants one question: What’s the biggest or most exciting change you’ve seen in the industry in the past decade? 

Here’s what they had to say. 

#MeToo

“The long-overdue #MeToo movement is the cause of a tectonic shift in the restaurant industry, not only shedding light on how women are treated but paving the way for cultural change within. We still have a long way to go, but awareness is the first step.”
– Anita Lo, chef and cookbook author

Lo is best known for her work at annisa, a Michelin-starred fine dining restaurant in New York she owned and operated for 17 years. She was the first female chef to collaborate for a state dinner at the White House under the Obama administration.

“It has been incredible to see the stance of zero tolerance that the restaurant industry has taken in regards to the #MeToo movement and finally holding people accountable. We can only go up from here, continuing to really listen to those that speak out and give a platform to those that don’t feel they are able to.”
– Traci des Jardins, chef/owner

Des Jardins has been a part of the San Francisco food scene for over 28 years, opening Jardinière in 1997 and Mijita Cocina Mexicana in 2004 as chef/owner (both closed in 2019). She is chef/partner of The Commissary, Arguello, Transit, Public House, and School Night. She is also the culinary advisor to Impossible Foods, which launched the Impossible Burger in 2016. 

Diversity

“I am no longer alone. The only woman, the only woman of color, the only one who wanted to talk about the best lipsticks for working the floor as a sommelier. Early in my career, I was never able to find a woman mentor or role model to support me. Now there are many. Including me!”
– Belinda Chang, sommelier 

A James Beard Award-winning sommelier, Chang ran the wine programs and often the whole front of house at Charlie Trotter’s, Fifth Floor, The Modern, and recently, Maple & Ash in Chicago.

“Diversity! While there is always room to keep opening the door to people of diverse backgrounds, it seems like the range of cultures represented in the overall restaurant landscape has grown. In the beverage world, there are more regions from more parts of the world represented in wine and spirits.”
– Morgan Calcote, general manager and wine director 

Calcote started as a server at Charleston’s FIG and was promoted to GM in 2014. Four years later, under her management, FIG took home the James Beard Award for Outstanding Wine Program.

Variety

“An intentional move toward mission-driven restaurants and a rejection of the notion that creativity lives in fine dining.”
– Alex Raij, chef/owner 

Raij is half of the husband-and-wife duo behind Txikito, El Quinto Pino, La Vara, and Saint Julivert, concepts that combine Basque traditions with the Jewish and Moorish influences in southern Spain. Read her take on being a mom in the industry in our interview.

“The variety of restaurants that have opened, and the new stories they bring to the table.”
– Kim Alter, chef/owner 

Nightbird and Linden Room are Alter’s first solo projects in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley. (Here’s her story on opening the concepts.) She led the kitchens at Haven and Plum and Oakland also worked at Manresa, Ubuntu, and Acquerello. 

“The acceptance of new (or previously hidden) varietals. Now you see single varietal bottles of Counoise, Mourvedre, Picpoul, and more! It’s so fun to have such a wide variety of wines, and often at great, affordable price points.”
– Jennifer Reichardt, owner/winemaker 

Reichardt grew up in a family of duck farmers. She launched Raft Wines in 2016 using organic California grapes and now oversees all aspects of the business.

Wellness & Sustainability

“The amount of young people becoming a savvy, big consumer group. I’m constantly impressed by their awareness for the environment, knowledge of wines, knowing where their food comes from, and opting for healthier eating. It gives me hope that the planet will be in better hands with future generations.”
– Shelley Lindgren, owner and wine director 

Lindgren opened A16 in San Francisco in 2004, showcasing Italian wine beyond Barolos and Brunellos. The restaurant received the 2015 James Beard Award for Outstanding Wine Program – learn how she did it in our interview.

“The leaning in on health and wellness, and how much this has been a driver for new restaurant ideas. The desire for work/life balance has created a shift in perspective, and I think has been felt the most in the kitchen.”
– Naomi Pomeroy, chef/owner 

Pomeroy serves intimate tasting menus at her Portland, Oregon, restaurant Beast, which won her the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northwest in 2014. She is also proprietor of the cocktail lounge Expatriate, and she and her husband own a floral design studio and plant shop.

“More people are recognizing and acknowledging the importance of sustainability.”
– Gabriela Cámara, chef/owner 

Camara’s San Francisco restaurant Cala was Food & Wine’s Best New Restaurant in 2016, while Contramar continues to win accolades as one of the top restaurants in Mexico. Cámara is also a partner in Santa Monica’s Onda has been named among Fortune’s Most Innovative Women in Food & Drink. 

Professionalism

“The overall push toward professionalism in the industry has been both big and exciting (and necessary, for this industry to continue). The job description of what it means to be a chef has really shifted. There’s been a move toward embracing the responsibility of leadership and mentorship in a way that didn’t exist before.”
– Ashley Christensen, chef/owner 

Known for her Raleigh, NC restaurants Poole’s Diner, Beasley’s Chicken + Honey, Chuck’s, Fox Liquor Bar, Death & Taxes, Bridge Club, and Poole’side Pies, Christensen was named Best Chef: Southeast by the James Beard Foundation in 2014. She also been named Chef of the Year by Eater.com. 

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