The COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial impact on the restaurant industry, forcing many to rethink and redesign their ways of service. From outdoor seating implementations and menu changes to developing innovative methods of food delivery and takeout, restaurants have shown just how adaptive they can be during the pandemic.
Oat Shop was among the many restaurants and cafes in Davis Square to implement various new safety measures during the pandemic. Founder Alan Donovan discussed several of the measures the store took to satisfy the needs of customers and the company.
Starting in March,changes included increasing levels of sanitation of all store surfaces and ending the use of reusable bowls. Corporate catering ended almost overnight, and soon after, Oat Shop had to close for a number of weeks, Donovan said.
“At that point no one knew what was going to happen so my thought was we just had to shut down. The store is really small, so there’s no real way for staff to social distance,” Donovan said.
Reopening was a slow process for Oat Shop, especially through the execution of many drastic changes, like a decrease in the number of staff and the addition of a home delivery service to surrounding towns.
“We take preorders and then deliver all sorts of stuff you would find in-store,” Donovan said. “The idea being, most of us are stuck at home, let’s stock up and do it in a really contactless way where we can just drop it at your door and you can be set for the week with some healthy and interesting options.”
The process of transitioning to COVID-19-friendly measures has been one plagued with challenges and hardships for those in the food industry. But Donovan has made the most of it, using it as an opportunity to experiment with new ideas for the cafe.
“There’s been a lot of change in figuring out as we go,'' Donovan said. “It’s definitely been a big struggle … we’re not doing nearly the amount of sales we did in the past, but we’ve managed to kind of survive, which I think is all you can really do at this point."
Mr. Crêpe, a beloved crêperie in Davis Square, has also found new ways to connect with customers during COVID-19. Bleona Gashi, barista manager, shared how the restaurant established a new website.
“We got the website after the pandemic because we saw that people felt safer ordering online. They can just pick it up and then get to eat at their houses,” Gashi said.
In addition to takeout, Mr. Crêpe was one of the few Davis Square restaurants that created socially-distanced outdoor seating. While many restaurants simply put out tables and chairs for customers to use, Mr. Crêpe went a step further to construct outdoor dining areas separated by physical walls.
“To get the outdoor seating areas, we had to actually ask the city if they'd allow us to take the parking spots,” Gashi said.
Gashi shared some of the challenges she and her co-workers faced when adjusting to the new COVID-19 protocols and procedures.
“If we have a line and 10 people out of that line give us money in cash, we’d have to take the money, wash our hands, then go to the next person. So that has taken us more time, but thankfully people are very understanding right now,” Gashi said.
Neighboring Davis Square establishment Tsurumen has made similar efforts to adapt to the current pandemic status. Josh Lyons, full-time worker and operations manager, has been by owner Masuo Onishi’s side throughout the transition process.
“Prepandemic we were strictly dine-in only, no take-away whatsoever. People would come line up and we didn’t take reservations. As soon as the pandemic hit we had to shift pretty rapidly. Now we’re on Grubhub and Uber Eats. We also use Square for an online ordering system, and we have a SimplyBook.me account where people can make reservations,” Lyons said.
With a limited maximum capacity of 20 people, both indoor and outdoor, Tsurumen initially grappled with the idea of takeout dining.
“Offering the takeout was a pretty big thing for us,” Lyons said. “There are some things we just don't feel we can do adequately in order to make it takeout. Our bowls of ramen are very difficult to do takeout simply because it’s supposed to be served hot and fresh.”
Lyons added that one takeout-friendly alternative to classic ramen is their Tsukemen, or dipping noodles.
“You get a separate bowl of soup and noodles. Nothing is going bad because they are supposed to be kept separate. We include a little bit of dashi to loosen them up and you take them out, dip them in the soup and eat them,” Lyons said.
When it came to additions to the menu, owner Masuo Onishi came up with a creative and modern spin on ramen that made it easier for takeout.
“We call it the Makitate... we mix our noodles in a sauce and then throw it into a tortilla with some other raw ingredients like cilantro and lettuce to add freshness,” Lyons said.
Despite the initial setbacks of the pandemic, many restaurants have taken this time as a unique opportunity to expand their businesses and adapt to the new norms of dining. Those in the restaurant industry have certainly come to learn a lot from these challenges.
“At least for me I can say I appreciate the customers that do come in a lot more nowadays. It used to be kind of a grind, but now it's much easier to be thankful for those things,” Lyons said.
Donovan noted important lessons as well.
“The biggest takeaway is watching and asking for what your customers want ... Do you need healthy options delivered, do you need a place that you can pop out to if you’re working from home? I think just being flexible has been our biggest change and takeaway,” Donovan said.
