Reno-Tahoe culinary community employs many tools to survive the crisis.
Shutdown. Shelter in place. Social distancing.
Surely, we all would be happy never to hear those phrases again. And for owners and employees of local restaurants, that goes a hundred-fold. Let’s face it: Nothing could be more counterintuitive for an industry that thrives on the communal enjoyment of eating, drinking, and camaraderie than COVID-19.
Since the emergence of the pandemic, much has changed in our dining scene, starting with shuttered venues and massive layoffs. Owners of most dining establishments have struggled against great odds to keep the lights on and their businesses alive. Sadly, some have not succeeded.
However, among those that have, there seem to be some common attributes. They were flexible, resourceful, and innovative in their responses. They all found ways to diversify their revenue streams, many modifying their menus into curbside cuisines, conducive to takeout or delivery. Some created new markets by expanding items they sold, even including non-food essentials. Several developed informal partnerships to help promote one another’s products.
But another important trait stood out above all: their unshakable connection to the community — including their employees, customers, health-care workers, at-risk populations, or the general public. It’s a powerful thread that, even now, continues to weave its way through our small world, creating a beautiful communal tapestry.
Follow the Need
There’s a saying: If you want to get something done, ask a busy person. That certainly holds true for Kaya Stanley — lawyer, real estate broker, author, entrepreneur, and co-owner, with husband Kevin, of Old Granite Street Eatery (and, until recently, Rue Bourbon restaurant) in Midtown Reno. The Stanleys’ pandemic strategy?
“Focus on what the needs are,” Kaya says. “How you can fill that niche [reveals the path] of where to go next.”
And the Stanleys were trailblazers on that path. Instead of closing their doors in late March, they got busy reinventing their businesses to serve those needs. At Old Granite Street, they started by using their commercial purchasing power to create an online market of essentials for the general public, offering items such as hand sanitizer, toilet paper, produce, and food staples that were in short supply on grocery shelves.
At Reno’s Old Granite Street Eatery, owners Kaya and Kevin Stanley have diversified their operations in response to COVID-19. Initially, they were selling sandwiches and toilet paper, which gave them the idea to turn their restaurant into a mini-market as well
At Old Granite Street, they also tightened their menu to focus on their award-winning burgers, which were very doable as to-go items, added a deli sandwich grab-and-go component, and immediately shifted to an easy online-order/curbside-pickup operation for both food and sundries.
But that’s only the beginning. Hearing of another desperate need, the Stanleys started Feed Our Heroes, a program that delivered free meals to frontline hospital workers during their shifts. They created a highly successful website to raise funds to cover the costs. Then they recruited other local restaurants to participate in the program with them.
“We believe that a rising tide raises all ships,” Kaya says.
It certainly did. The project provided more than 26,000 meals to health-care workers and also helped more than 20 area restaurants to keep their businesses open and some workers employed.
Branching Out
Not surprisingly, the first restaurateur to join the Feed Our Heroes project was another busy person: Mark Estee, entrepreneur extraordinaire; star of a new Food Network show, Undercover Chef; and owner of the Reno Local Food Group, which includes five restaurants in Reno (Liberty Food & Wine Exchange, chez louie), Carson City (Cucina Lupo, The Union), and Gardnerville (Overland Restaurant & Pub).
Anyone who knows Estee knows he doesn’t do anything halfway. In addition to health-care workers, his concerns also included the 20,000 food-service workers who had been laid off. So he started Hospitality Industry Partnerships, or HIP, to provide hearty, take-home meals for struggling, furloughed food-service workers and their families. The project, which supplied 3,000 multi-portion meals (about 9,000 servings), was supported by donations from “like-minded business people,” Estee says (including edible Reno-Tahoe magazine).
Next, he took on the role of captain for Delivering with Dignity. This public service program, supported by Lt. Gov. Kate Marshall and United Way of Northern Nevada, is delivering quality meals, prepared by locally owned restaurants, to our most vulnerable populations during the pandemic. It’s a collaboration that helps local restaurants with needed revenue as well as providing 2,000 meals a week (totaling more than 21,000 at the time of this writing) to low-income, at-risk people in our community.
Additionally, Estee kept his restaurants going with a brisk curbside business of to-go dishes. He also created vital new partnerships in the community, including with Bently Ranch, which, unfortunately, closed its grass-fed meat program and LEED-certified butcher shop in August.
Return to Their Roots
Despite the initial shock and revenue loss, Jay Rathmann, chef/owner of BJ’s Barbecue in Sparks, was one of the luckier ones. After more than 35 years in business, he entered the shutdown with a deeply rooted community presence, a loyal customer base, a strong social media following, and the perfect menu for a quick pivot to a to-go-only operation. Within days, he was able to shift from an 85 percent dine-in model to total curbside takeout. He also had history on his side.
“Twenty years ago, that’s all we did,” Rathmann says. “So we just went back to our roots.”
And it worked. He uses words such as “amazed” and “grateful” to describe his reaction to the community’s overwhelming response. Within a few weeks, BJ’s Barbecue’s to-go business literally quadrupled, and the wait for takeout often was an hour and a half. That kept the bills paid and one-third of his employees on the payroll.
The worst part, Rathmann admits, was having to lay off the other two-thirds of his 45 employees. He calls them family, and he took care of them as if they were. He fed them, and their immediate families, through the whole shutdown, supplying them with all the groceries and household essentials they needed. He also made prepared meals for them — soups, stews, casseroles — individually packaged in family-sized portions. He made sure no one went without.
And since the interior of the restaurant was closed to the public anyway, he tore it apart and remodeled it — reupholstered the booths, installed new cabinetry, built waitress stations … doing most of the work himself, along with his staff.
“I call it the silver lining,” Rathmann says. “When we reopened, it was a much better place than when we’d shut down.”
Curbside Chic?
Trokay is a Paiute word meaning “everything is OK.” John Weatherson and his wife, Nyna, chefs/co-owners of Restaurant Trokay in Truckee, chose that name for its encouraging message. They really hoped it would hold true as the pandemic wore on.
Fine dining venues such as Trokay faced the hardest challenges during the shutdown. Multi-course, high-end meals that rely as much on atmosphere and presentation as spectacular cuisine don’t translate well to curbside takeout.
The Weathersons took a unique and daring approach. Instead of shutting down and fretting about it, John decided to have some fun. He created a series of completely new “pop-up” menus that had just the right touch of curbside chic, so to speak — gourmet food that boxed up well.
“We went from a reservation-based, multi-course, fine-dining, dinner-only restaurant to a to-go business that was selling whatever cuisine it wanted to for the month,” John says.
The first month focused on comfort foods — chicken, ribs, burgers — created with a gourmet touch. The next month was Asian themed, using fully traditional Vietnamese, Korean, and Chinese recipes. And, recognizing the financial challenges others were facing, John says they kept their prices low — just enough to pay the bills.
“The concept was very well received,” he says. “People liked the idea they could get items from what was arguably the fancy, fine-dining restaurant in town and taste what the chefs in that restaurant are capable of, in a much more approachable way and at a much lower cost.”
In a sense, it was the Weathersons’ way of telling their community not to worry: Everything is OK!
Ups and Downs
Amber and Nicole Sallaberry got to see both sides of the coin, success and failure, resulting from the pandemic. The sisters are the founders, co-managers, and driving forces behind Reno’s Great Basin Community Food Co-op, an organization dedicated to increasing community access to affordable, sustainable, and wholesome food.
Amber is the general manager of the retail grocery operation, which supplies 80 percent of the co-op’s revenue. With the era of coronavirus pushing demand for food, the grocery business went through the roof.
The downside was the demise of DROPP (Distributors of Regional and Organic Produce & Products), a division of the co-op managed by Nicole that served as an important local distribution link between food producers and area restaurants. Local farmers and ranchers, as well as regional distributors, took their products to DROPP, which then delivered them to the dining establishments. It was a win-win for all.
Mary Rubin stocks vegetables at the Great Basin Community Food Co-op in Reno, where the grocery business has been booming due to the pandemic
Once the restaurants shut down, DROPP sales declined drastically. For a while, the Sallaberrys tried packaging products into family-sized orders and offering home deliveries to co-op member/owners. While they were grateful for the enthusiastic community support, the venture proved too laborious and costly. When Burning Man — an event that accounted for a huge portion of DROPP’s annual revenue — was cancelled, that dealt the final blow.
The Sallaberrys don’t regard it as a defeat, but rather a valuable learning experience. They hope to be able to reopen DROPP again someday, implementing the lessons they’ve learned because they are passionate about the importance of maintaining local food hubs. Especially now.
“I read a study a few years back saying that Washoe County had less than two days’ [worth] of food security, meaning that if I-80 got shut off, we’d have two days’ [worth] of groceries and we’d be wiped out,” Amber says. “That’s pretty scary. I think there’s a lot more work that needs to go into developing food security in Northern Nevada because we all got to see it firsthand — all of our grocery stores being completely wiped out.”
Enough said.
*End note: The pandemic remains a fluid situation. At the time of this writing, all of these restaurants had reopened dine-in facilities at reduced capacity, per physical-distancing requirements and government ordinances. They still face many financial challenges in the days ahead and appreciate the community’s patronage.
Reno writer Barbara Twitchell was awed by the ingenuity of these individuals. She admits that while she’s not quite ready to brave the dine-in scene yet, she’s thrilled by the numerous to-go options. See y’all at curbside, folks!
RESOURCES
BJ’s Barbecue
80 E. Victorian Ave., Sparks
775-355-1010 • Bjsbbq.com
chez louie
160 W. Liberty St., Reno (Inside the Nevada Museum of Art)
775-284-2921 • Chez-louie.com
Cucina Lupo
308 N. Curry St., Carson City
775-461-0441 • Cucinalupo.com
Great Basin Community Food Co-op
240 Court St., Reno
775-324-6133 • Greatbasinfood.coop
Liberty Food & Wine Exchange
100 N. Sierra St., Reno
775-336-1091 • Libertyfoodandwine.com
Old Granite Street Eatery
243 S. Sierra St., Reno
775-622-3222 • Oldgranitestreeteatery.com
Overland Restaurant & Pub
1451 Hwy. 395, Gardnerville
775-392-1369 • Overland-restaurant.com
Restaurant Trokay
10046 Donner Pass Road, Truckee
530-582-1040 • Restauranttrokay.com
The Union
302 N. Carson St., Carson City
775-885-7307
Theunioncarson.com
