Restaurants Feeling The Pinch
By JOHN C. COTEY
john@ntneighborhoodnews.com
Businesses all across the country are
feeling the heat from the coronavirus,
but few are getting cooked quite like
restaurants (pun intended).
According to BusinessInsider.com,
more than 110,000 restaurants across
the country are expected to permanently
shutter in the coming weeks, and the
restaurant industry lost more than $25
billion in sales in March alone.
Many local restaurants are hoping
to survive the coronavirus pandemic by
pivoting to takeout. Others, like Noble
Crust at the Shops of Wiregrass, have
elected to (hopefully) temporarily close.
Bars that don’t primarily serve food
also are being hit hard. Brass Tap owner
Jeff Martin says business is down 90
percent, and while you can stop by from
noon-6 p.m. and get a growler filled
or buy a cocktail drink kit, at our press
time, he wasn’t sure how much longer
he could stay open.
“We’re pretty much selling things at
cost, just to throw some money into the
bank,” Martin says.
Food provides options, though.
Most places that serve it are fighting a
tough battle they hope the can win with
robust takeout and delivery strategies
and smart marketing.
Eateries that already were built
around takeout are losing money, just
not as much of it.
At Island Fin Poke Co. (see ad on pg.
26), which opened in late 2019 just south
of County Line Rd., 75 percent of its
business was already takeout, so not being
allowed to have people sit in the restaurant
wasn’t as big a blow as it was to others.
In fact, customers can still come in,
choose the items for their poke bowl and
take it to go if they want.
But, that hasn’t stopped owner
Jeff Sproat from getting creative. Since
his business also sells a popular Dole
Whip frozen dessert to go along with its
healthy poke bowls, Sproat recently offered
a “Buy a Bowl and a Dole and Get
a Free Roll (of toilet paper)” special.
If anything, he says it provided a
moment of levity in these tough times
for his hungry customers, who were, by
the way, happy to take advantage of the
free toilet paper.
“Business is down overall, but we’re
doing okay and we’re still open every day
from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.,” Sproat says.
“It was an easy transition for us. And we
haven’t had to lay off any of our team.”
Steve Falabella, the owner of 900º
Woodfired Pizza, was one of the earliest
adopters of Uber Eats (he added it at
least two years ago) in Wesley Chapel, in
response to already-shrinking (back then)
Some area restaurants are not only selling takeout
meals, but also take-home meals you can cook at
home, like Bubba’s 33 off S.R. 56.
foot traffic at the Shops of Wiregrass.
So, when the time came to prohibit
inside seating, the blow was cushioned.
“We didn’t have to turn to delivery
and takeout, we were already there,” he
says. “We’re still down a lot from last year,
though, but we’re staying above water.”
Falabella also has been helped by an
idea to sell pizza kits — complete with a
hearty ball of dough, sauce, cheese and cooking
directions — he saw in an article a friend
sent him from a New Jersey newspaper.
He tested the concept, put it on sale
and says he sold 200-300 kits in the first
4-5 days. “It’s giving people something to
do while they’re stuck at home, and they
could still get good pizza,” Falabella says.
That same idea — cooking restaurant
food at home — also has been
part of the new marketing strategy for
Bubba’s 33.
Bubba’s 33, like most sit-down
restaurants (and unlike 900 Woodfired
on Island Fin), normally relies primarily
on table service. Because people weren’t
already inclined to think of it as a takeout
place, Bubba’s 33 general manager
Crista Dean says marketing during the
Covid-19 crisis has been key.
In addition to offering its usual
menu items for takeout or delivery, Bubba’s
33 has organized pizza giveaways to
the first 33 vehicles that order takeout
on specific days. The Texas Roadhouseaffiliated
sports bar also sells its products
through what is basically an in-house
bodega — dubbed Bubba’s 33 Fresh
Market — for you to prepare at home.
For example, you can take out a
“Burger Bundle” (four 1/4-lb Angus
beef burgers, a big house salad & choice
of fries, sweet potato fries or tots) for just
$19.99. For some of the other available
Bubba’s 33 bundles, see the ad on pg. 26.
8 For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 28, Issue 8 • April 10, 2020 • NeighborhoodNewsOnline.net Neighborhood News @NTWCNews
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