It’s been a chaotic few weeks for Nashville restaurants.
Whether they’ve closed their doors or remained open to offer take out or delivery, most food businesses have also scrambled to apply for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan. They’ve worked to feed the employees they had to lay off. They’ve been using their time and resources to feed first responders and others in the community. And, with yesterday’s announcement about a Roadmap for Reopening Nashville by Mayor John Cooper, nearly all local businesses are now tentatively making plans for the future.
Meanwhile, a handful of local institutions have found ways to pivot from one day to the next by shifting or expanding their offerings, launching online ordering services, and rethinking their business as a whole. Nimble, flexible, and creative, restaurant owners are powering through—and creating new models that will sustain them into the uncertain future.
Nicky’s Coal Fired Pizza owners Tony and Caroline Galzin made the hard decision to shut down on March 17. They’d just come off two hectic weeks providing meals for tornado relief, then quickly shifting to attempt curbside delivery. But the scramble left them reeling—they needed to close and regroup.
After two weeks, though, Caroline says, “Tony and I were bored.” Tony took to Instagram to launch cooking classes. That turned into meal kits that could be prepared while watching Tony’s demos. Then it was Sunday family meal packs. Soon, they were able to hire back three managers to help with the work, and this week, they launched a much broader menu of take-and-bake pizzas, salads, and sides available for online ordering and pick up on Wednesdays. Caroline says they’re going to continue adding on, whether it’s new menu items or days of availability.
What all of this has done, Caroline says, is prepare them for what may be their new reality.
“I think that what we're planning on, for both the short-term and long-term future, is possibly completely changing our business model from a full-service restaurant to a fast-casual restaurant. We haven't made that final decision but right now, that's what it looks like we're moving towards.”
At Arnold’s Country Kitchen, the influential 30+ year-old meat and three run by two generations of the Arnold family, the last few weeks have been a rocky road of ups and downs.
But this week things took a turn for the better. Chef/owner Kahlil Arnold learned they were approved for a PPP loan. The restaurant had been open for phone-in order for pick up and delivery—which wasn’t bringing in enough revenue—but then new offers started coming in. Local organizations, like the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency and Second Harvest Food Bank, have been receiving donations to feed healthcare workers and first responders—they’re now using those donations to purchase hundreds of prepared meals from local restaurants and chefs, including Arnold’s.
“It's such a different model—different scale, you know, doing pre-packaged meals that are a lot more hands-on. It's a totally different concept,” chef/owner Kahlil Arnold says.
But the pivot has allowed him to hire back about three-quarters of his employees this week alone.
“I mean, we've got all this stuff going on—and that's why I don't say ‘no.’ When someone asks or says they need something, I just say, ‘how can I get it done?’”
Claire Meneely, owner of Dozen Bakery, was forced to make a giant move almost immediately after the tornadoes and city-wide lockdown went into effect. Her entire wholesale business, she says, “pretty much tanked overnight when everyone shut down.” After closing for two weeks, Dozen reopened with an online ordering system designed by one of her staffers and turned all of their focus to retail. She switched her whole crew of savory cooks over to making to-go and take-and-bake meals, like pot pies and soups by the quart. In fact, she’s been able to retain her entire staff, although that poses its own challenges: In a small kitchen, maintaining a six-foot distance means mapping out a complex work schedule. But keeping her staff has also kept her production capacity high—and allowed her to start selling to Whole Foods. Plus, Meneely adds, she feels uniquely prepared for reopening, in some capacity, soon.
“I think even if people are nervous about going out, they’ll still go out to a bakery—and we can be mainly take-out. I think we’re set up pretty well for the future,” she adds.
Another business owner who was uniquely situated for this crisis is chef Julia Sullivan of Henrietta Red and catering operation, The Party Line. Although the initial fall-out was bad—so many of The Party Line’s event contracts were cancelled that she didn’t think they would have enough funds to return everyone’s deposits—she and her team quickly jumped into gear. Since Henrietta Red was still reeling from the tornado, Sullivan made the decision to move some of her staff to The Party Line catering kitchen, which operates out of the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. They started selling family meal plans for delivery and that quickly grew to accommodate about 130 to 150 families per week. With the help of Greener Roots, who loaned a refrigerated truck, the catering business turned into a robust food delivery service, which also supplies fresh groceries and provisions—all of which is coming from local farms and purveyors.
Now, especially as large catered events are still on hold potentially for months, Sullivan thinks The Party Line might work toward a new model altogether, continuing the family meal packs and possibly adding “out-of-the-box” parties, supplying everything needed for a gathering of 10 or more people.
All of this she says, is an effort to, “obviously increase revenue but also just bring some joy to people's lives. And also to try and continue to support some of our vendors, buying everything from flowers to lettuces. We've just gotten a little bit better at doing those things every week.”
Though Henrietta Red remains closed, Sullivan anticipates reopening for take-out sometime in the next two weeks. In the meantime, they’re running a clever online fundraiser to help out the unemployed staff—offering “gifts” in the form of marmalade and t-shirts for donations. Sullivan was also part of the crew of chefs who launched Tennessee Action for Hospitality, which is now distributing grants to out-of-work hospitality employees.
As the future slowly unfolds for these businesses, one thing is certain: They’re not going down without a fight.
“The thing I know about me and Tony is that we are fighters,” says Caroline Galzin. “We don’t go down easily. We're going to be the ones who are scratching and clawing to make it to the other side of this.”
Looking for ways to support Nashville’s restaurants? Follow Tennessee Action for Hospitality as well as the Independent Restaurant Coalition.