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In a good year, the average restaurant has an operating profit of just 4%, according to the National Restaurant Association. So, when a highly contagious global health crisis hits, and restaurants are forced to close their doors, the effects are devastating.
Prior to the COVID pandemic however, the industry was having one of its best years to date, according to the NRA. Industry sales had reached a record high of $863 billion. And while restaurants have slowly reopened, the NRA reports that the number of diners remains down by more than 65 percent over last year.
How did this drop affect restaurants in the Lehigh Valley? Lehigh Valley Business recently spoke to two local restaurant owners to find out.
Joe Grisafi of Allentown’s The Pizza Joint, and Sarah Hinsch of Easton’s Greentruth Healing Haven & Plant-Based Kitchen, express a mix of frustration and hope, but remain committed to staying open.
Grisafi, former owner of Corked, a steakhouse and bar in Bethlehem, opened The Pizza Joint last February, just ahead of the pandemic. Lunch was super busy, but the dinner traffic was slower, he recalled
By second week of lockdown in the end of March, all of his business went away. “Everyone was scared and didn’t know what to expect of the virus,” he said. “We closed for two weeks, and then learned of the high survival rate. We thought, ‘We gotta go back to work.’”
He talked to every pizzeria in the Lehigh Valley before deciding to reopen. And what he learned was that lunch was a dead time. “No one was going into work to come in on their lunch break.”
He decided to reopen on the Monday before Easter just for dinner.
“We jumped on DoorDash, Grubhub and all the mobile food delivery apps,” Grisafi said. “We relaunched our business that way knowing that delivery was going to be central because of the pandemic.”
Later, he expanded to six days a week, lunch and dinner, and it was successful. “We’ve been very busy,” he said. “Ninety percent of our business is takeout and delivery now. People are scared to go out, and want the food brought to them in a safe way. We also do a lot of catering. Moving forward, who knows what the future will bring.”
They stay ahead of all the safety regulations and ensure the restaurant is sanitized. “We are doing what we are told.” The virus hasn’t cross his path, but he calls the pandemic “a dark time” full of fear and urges other restaurant owners to open.
“People need to stand up and open their businesses,” Grisafi said. “That’s my opinion. I know the struggle it is to own a big restaurant, and all of the overhead costs involved. Everyone thinks it’s lifestyles of the rich and famous. It is not.”
Grisafi predicts it will take five years for the industry in the Lehigh Valley to return to pre-pandemic health. “And that’s going to be for the restaurants that survive this. Not everyone will.”
Over in Easton, at the Greenmouth Juice Bar and Café, Hinsch says the shutdowns were scary, a “sucker punch” in the gut.
“When the Health Department tells you to shut down, you shut down,” she said. “We shut down for six weeks. I don’t have any financial reserve. I’m a single mom with no help. I had just enough to make payroll. It was super scary.”
Hinsch let one of her employees live in her house, two others left their jobs.
“The city was a ghost town,” she said. “I”m all about community and food as medicine. It was really sad to see that stop.”
She reopened on May 4 for curb-side takeout, she said, because “I could see that the community needed me and us.”
Looking back, she said the break was a blessing in disguise by allowing her to see her business with fresh eyes.
“We launched new items and removed some that weren’t best sellers,” she said. “We decided to launch a meal service. The idea is to keep delivering healthy meal plans weekly, with foods like soup and chili. We make everything from scratch, and include lots of healing items.”
Now they offer online ordering and contactless pick up, and they wear masks.
“The masks do kind of make restaurants more sanitary overall.” Hinsch said. “I don’t think masks in restaurants will ever go away.”
Last year was a challenge, she said, during an interview in early December. “If I make $4,000 this year, I’ll be lucky.
“It’s heartbreaking but I trust that 2021 is our year,” she said. “We won’t be closing our doors..”
Restaurants are important to the community. Breaking bread together is important. There will be less restaurants when this is over but I think there will be good to come out of this. We are patient. We are healing.”
