Dublin Core
Title
Small Business: Downtown Jersey City Italian Restaurant
Subject
Business
Description
Operating a small business, a restaurant, during a pandemic
Creator
A. Paprika
Date
Wednesday, September 23, 2020
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Small Business: Downtown Jersey City Italian Restaurant
On, Wednesday, September 23rd, I met with Elena Cartagena, owner of an Italian restaurant located in downtown Jersey City. We met for lunch at another local restaurant, DOMODOMO. Sushi is her favorite, and I decide it’s worth checking out based on her review. I’ve known Elena since the fourth grade. Life has taken many twists and turns since then. Although we’ve compared notes throughout the pandemic, I’ve asked her to share her experience as a restaurant owner during the first days of the pandemic.
To start, her primary concern is exposing her mother, a senior citizen, with whom she shares a multi-family home. She explains that they each have a floor. But, on top of age considerations, her mother was healing from a recent surgery in the early days of the pandemic.
The week of Sunday, March 8th is a rough one. Although she recently bought a liquor license, she can’t use it. “I found out from my lawyer that my neighbor, the Jehovah Witness temple, still hadn’t signed off.” She can’t serve alcohol until they respond. According to Elena, New Jersey requires establishments to seek out permission to serve alcohol from their immediate non-competitor neighbors. The restaurant has been a BYOB (“bring your own booze”) spot since it opened for dine-in service in Fall 2015. Despite encroachment of two well-funded Italian restaurants with bar service, traffic was steady. The fresh pasta counter and dinner service sustained the business. But serving alcohol would position the restaurant to attract more customers and better profit margins. So, when a liquor license became available for purchase last winter, she and her sister collaborated to purchase it – the equivalent of a house mortgage. But, by Friday, March 13th, the impending nationwide shutdown had significant consequences. “Means, we never got a chance to even make money with it AND we don’t know if or when we will. It’s a big investment and we don’t know what’s going to happen next.”
The official declaration of the Covid-19 pandemic is a hard pivot point for all public-facing enterprises. According to Wired contributor, Joe Ray, by late March even wealthy restaurateurs worried about shuttered doors:
Across the country, restaurant sales took a nosedive. Shifts were shortened, and then cut. And then the layoffs and closings began, each day bringing a new disaster. Tom Douglas, one of Seattle's best-known chefs, temporarily shut 12 of his 13 restaurants in the city and laid off almost all his staff. New York restaurateur Danny Meyer laid off 80 percent of his workers at his Union Square Hospitality Group in New York. After a March 17 White House meeting with representatives of national chains like Domino's and McDonald's, which largely ignored independent restaurant owners, Momofuku chef David Chang tweeted "We are so fucked." [1]
Restaurants scrambled to adapt to legal restrictions while patrons disappeared. No diners, no income. Initially, patrons were reluctant to venture out for pick-up or to trust delivery. Remember, at this point, people are circulating videos about washing hands and disinfecting groceries. Although she had previous contracts with UberEats and DoorDash, these online apps ate up significant profits. For this reason, this restaurant, like so many others, depended on dine-in service. For example, on our ride-along tour of downtown restaurants, Elena points out an expensive steakhouse with a large dining room: “Their whole setup is designed to attract people to sit down, inside! There is no outdoor patio – they can’t even improvise one [the sidewalk is too narrow]. Plus, their clientele is not paying those prices to sit on a parklet.” Likewise, Elena uses the steakhouse to illustrate the main reason why she thinks her restaurant has survived: adaptability.
Still, adaptability is expensive. She tells me that Sunday, March 15th was the last day for dine-in service. That was the last day for all but one of her staff – the chef! Although Elena cut down overhead costs, her confidence in the future was shaken by the massive layoff. Similarly, two Washington, D.C. restaurateurs described their experience firing staff this way: "Trying to explain to your staff that they have to be laid off is like something that you feel in your heart,” Vázquez-Ger said. Limardo, meanwhile, called it “probably the worst day of my life." [2] Of those first few days, Elena was also afraid of concentrated exposure as she managed the shift to order pick-ups by customers and delivery drivers (UberEats / DoorDash). I mention to Elena reports [3] of diners not tipping, being rude, or leaving nasty reviews – all behaviors noted for their lack of grace, patience, and empathy during a pandemic. She responds by adding, “Yea, I’m sure the isolation doesn’t help. People forget they’re dealing with real humans – not autobots.” [4]
[1] Joe Ray, “While Many Restaurants Struggle, Here’s How One Is Thriving,” Wired, March 24, 2020, accessed September 30, 2020, https://www.wired.com/story/restaurants-struggling-pandemic-eric-rivera-addo/
[2] Anneke Ball and Amelia Kosciulek, “40% of restaurants have closed because of the coronavirus – but one DC hotspot managed to turn a profit and rehire its staff,” Business Insider, April 24, 2020, accessed September 30, 2020, https://www.businessinsider.com/washington-dc-restaurant-seven-reasons-delivery-takeout-2020-4
[3] Jessica Cater, “Working in restaurants after lockdown is a living hell,” Wired: UK, September 6, 2020, accessed September 30, 2020, https://www.wired.co.uk/article/restaurants-eat-out-scheme-coronavirus
[4] Autobots makes reference to the animated cartoon series turned live-action blockbuster movie, Transformers. Further, autobots are robots from another planet. They represent the “good guys” that come to Earth to save the humans from the aggressive takeover by the bad robots, Decepticons.
On, Wednesday, September 23rd, I met with Elena Cartagena, owner of an Italian restaurant located in downtown Jersey City. We met for lunch at another local restaurant, DOMODOMO. Sushi is her favorite, and I decide it’s worth checking out based on her review. I’ve known Elena since the fourth grade. Life has taken many twists and turns since then. Although we’ve compared notes throughout the pandemic, I’ve asked her to share her experience as a restaurant owner during the first days of the pandemic.
To start, her primary concern is exposing her mother, a senior citizen, with whom she shares a multi-family home. She explains that they each have a floor. But, on top of age considerations, her mother was healing from a recent surgery in the early days of the pandemic.
The week of Sunday, March 8th is a rough one. Although she recently bought a liquor license, she can’t use it. “I found out from my lawyer that my neighbor, the Jehovah Witness temple, still hadn’t signed off.” She can’t serve alcohol until they respond. According to Elena, New Jersey requires establishments to seek out permission to serve alcohol from their immediate non-competitor neighbors. The restaurant has been a BYOB (“bring your own booze”) spot since it opened for dine-in service in Fall 2015. Despite encroachment of two well-funded Italian restaurants with bar service, traffic was steady. The fresh pasta counter and dinner service sustained the business. But serving alcohol would position the restaurant to attract more customers and better profit margins. So, when a liquor license became available for purchase last winter, she and her sister collaborated to purchase it – the equivalent of a house mortgage. But, by Friday, March 13th, the impending nationwide shutdown had significant consequences. “Means, we never got a chance to even make money with it AND we don’t know if or when we will. It’s a big investment and we don’t know what’s going to happen next.”
The official declaration of the Covid-19 pandemic is a hard pivot point for all public-facing enterprises. According to Wired contributor, Joe Ray, by late March even wealthy restaurateurs worried about shuttered doors:
Across the country, restaurant sales took a nosedive. Shifts were shortened, and then cut. And then the layoffs and closings began, each day bringing a new disaster. Tom Douglas, one of Seattle's best-known chefs, temporarily shut 12 of his 13 restaurants in the city and laid off almost all his staff. New York restaurateur Danny Meyer laid off 80 percent of his workers at his Union Square Hospitality Group in New York. After a March 17 White House meeting with representatives of national chains like Domino's and McDonald's, which largely ignored independent restaurant owners, Momofuku chef David Chang tweeted "We are so fucked." [1]
Restaurants scrambled to adapt to legal restrictions while patrons disappeared. No diners, no income. Initially, patrons were reluctant to venture out for pick-up or to trust delivery. Remember, at this point, people are circulating videos about washing hands and disinfecting groceries. Although she had previous contracts with UberEats and DoorDash, these online apps ate up significant profits. For this reason, this restaurant, like so many others, depended on dine-in service. For example, on our ride-along tour of downtown restaurants, Elena points out an expensive steakhouse with a large dining room: “Their whole setup is designed to attract people to sit down, inside! There is no outdoor patio – they can’t even improvise one [the sidewalk is too narrow]. Plus, their clientele is not paying those prices to sit on a parklet.” Likewise, Elena uses the steakhouse to illustrate the main reason why she thinks her restaurant has survived: adaptability.
Still, adaptability is expensive. She tells me that Sunday, March 15th was the last day for dine-in service. That was the last day for all but one of her staff – the chef! Although Elena cut down overhead costs, her confidence in the future was shaken by the massive layoff. Similarly, two Washington, D.C. restaurateurs described their experience firing staff this way: "Trying to explain to your staff that they have to be laid off is like something that you feel in your heart,” Vázquez-Ger said. Limardo, meanwhile, called it “probably the worst day of my life." [2] Of those first few days, Elena was also afraid of concentrated exposure as she managed the shift to order pick-ups by customers and delivery drivers (UberEats / DoorDash). I mention to Elena reports [3] of diners not tipping, being rude, or leaving nasty reviews – all behaviors noted for their lack of grace, patience, and empathy during a pandemic. She responds by adding, “Yea, I’m sure the isolation doesn’t help. People forget they’re dealing with real humans – not autobots.” [4]
[1] Joe Ray, “While Many Restaurants Struggle, Here’s How One Is Thriving,” Wired, March 24, 2020, accessed September 30, 2020, https://www.wired.com/story/restaurants-struggling-pandemic-eric-rivera-addo/
[2] Anneke Ball and Amelia Kosciulek, “40% of restaurants have closed because of the coronavirus – but one DC hotspot managed to turn a profit and rehire its staff,” Business Insider, April 24, 2020, accessed September 30, 2020, https://www.businessinsider.com/washington-dc-restaurant-seven-reasons-delivery-takeout-2020-4
[3] Jessica Cater, “Working in restaurants after lockdown is a living hell,” Wired: UK, September 6, 2020, accessed September 30, 2020, https://www.wired.co.uk/article/restaurants-eat-out-scheme-coronavirus
[4] Autobots makes reference to the animated cartoon series turned live-action blockbuster movie, Transformers. Further, autobots are robots from another planet. They represent the “good guys” that come to Earth to save the humans from the aggressive takeover by the bad robots, Decepticons.