Forced to adapt, these Triangle restaurants are becoming more like grocery stores
In the span of a week, as North Carolina shut down its dining rooms and bars, Triangle restaurants suddenly had to reinvent themselves or close indefinitely.
Andrew Smith of ko.an in Cary saw the shelves bare at local grocery stores, but knew his restaurant’s supply closets and refrigerators were full and his supply line flowing. He decided to connect the dots.
“I woke up at 4 in the morning and just started writing things down,” said Smith. “You go to the grocery store and there’s no meat, no pork, no vegetables. I have all these things that are going to go bad since the restaurant isn’t open. So we’ve started a grocery delivery company based out of ko.an.”
Smith named the pop-up market “K-Mart” and started selling goods this week.
Toilet paper and supplies
Grocery stores have struggled to keep many high demand items in stock, including disinfectant wipes and toilet paper, as shoppers buy in bulk in an effort to limit their movements. Online grocery shopping and delivery have also spiked, but slots can be difficult to secure. Smith hopes he can fill that gap. He even has toilet paper for 50 cents per roll.
“What this will do is give our purveyors an outlet and change the revenue stream from large grocery stores to people here and help bring the jobs back here,” Smith said. “Cooks can come back and be delivery drivers. We’re taking the people that have all the food and giving them a channel they didn’t have before.”
A number of other Triangle restaurants have changed up their models or invented new ones. In Raleigh, the cocktail bar Dram & Draught is operating as a bodega-type grocery store for six hours a day, from 2 to 8 p.m. The pop up is named Dram Grog & Grocery and is selling beer and wine, produce, canned goods, ground meat and up to four rolls of toilet paper per customer.
“Our pop-up model is a minimal-markup strategy,” said Kevin Barrett, co-owner of Dram & Draught in a release. “It’s just enough to pay the team and keep the lights on. This is for our community.”
Many restaurants are encouraging fans to buy gift cards and larger family style meals. Yamazushi, the four seat kaiseki restaurant in Durham, is selling pottery made by chef George Yamazawa.
Carrboro United
One of the biggest undertakings has been the creation of Carrboro United, something of a townwide co-op for local restaurants and vendors. Organized by Carrboro restaurant Acme Food & Beverage and local businessman Tom Raynor, the group sells meal kits, meat and baked goods three times per week.
The first orders were picked up last Saturday, with more than 1,000 meals sold, Raynor said. Pickup days are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday in the parking lot of the Cat’s Cradle music venue. The vendor list includes meals from Acme, Neal’s Deli, Glasshalfull, Luna Rotisserie, Firsthand Foods, Carrboro Coffee Roasters and others.
“We’ve come up with a platform, a one stop shop, for restaurants and food producers to buy days’ worth of prepared foods, all in one place, with contactless handoff,” said Zoe Dehmer of Acme. “Saturday we sold more than 1,000 meals. We felt an oddly profound sense of community during this time when being together is not what we’re supposed to be doing.”
Raynor said there are certain requirements to participate in Carrboro United, one being that restaurants and vendors have to be living wage certified. The group is also raising money for an emergency relief fund for restaurant workers.
The organizers prepared for 1,600 meals on Tuesday, 2,400 on Thursday and as many as 3,000 by Saturday.
“We’re trying to innovate and come up with solutions that use the skill sets people already have,” Dehmer said. “We’re deciding to not simply give up on the business because we have to change it.”
