I knew we were in trouble when our server, after taking our drink order, told us that roughly 40% of the menu was unavailable.
I was out for dinner to celebrate my wife’s birthday last weekend with another couple. We were at a restaurant she had meticulously selected from a group of places she had yet to try but had always wanted to. Because of the ebbs and flows of the calendar, this was one of the few opportunities we had to do so.
After ordering 3 or 4 small plates, we waited roughly 45 minutes for a bite of anything to show up. It did not. Our server then approached and apologized. “We had to get a group of 13 out first, but you guys are up next.”
Meh, OK. Cool. I’m good. They kept on top of our drinks, so I’ll roll with you.
It wasn’t all that long after that when a manager showed up to tell us that their chef had an emergency and had to leave. She looked like she’d seen a ghost. She couldn’t offer us any more than that. There would be no food. At all. Sorry.
“We’ll bring you your tab for your drinks.” she said.
As the 4 of us kinda stared at each other mouths agape trying to figure out our next move for a Saturday night, I watched this manager make the rounds around the dining room repeating the news to other tables. I hated it for her.
About 20 minutes later, we still had no tab. My wife stood up and approached the bar. The bartender had no idea where our tabs were. It would have been easy to drop some cash on the table and walk, but I probably had $30 cash in my wallet at the time and I knew our bill was much more than that. I mean, we’d been sipping for about an hour.
We live in an increasingly cashless society, you know.
When the bartender told us he had no idea what was going on, I informed him that we were leaving. This was a disaster. We found out shortly thereafter that their chef had walked off the job mid-shift on a Saturday night. When our server called the owner at home to tell him what had happened, they had words and the server was fired. Yes, on the spot. Over the phone.
I apologize for the bait and switch, but I’m sure most of you are dying to know where this happened. It wasn’t in Savannah or Bluffton or Hilton Head Island where I generally make the rounds.
It was in Tallahassee, Florida. But the bigger point is it very easily could have been here. No problem at all.
The stories I continue to hear from restaurant owners about the state of their worlds will make you want to throw your hands up into the air at best. Break your heart at worst.
Supply shortages, late deliveries and the high cost of the products you can get your hands on are squeezing restaurants already slim margins like never before. Oh yeah, and then there is the labor pool. Which absolutely continues to be an issue.
“Multiple mornings a week I get a call from our delivery truck telling me they are going to be late.” is how one restaurant owner put it. “They can never tell us how late, but sometimes they show up at 4:00pm”
“We need our mornings to do our prep for the day.”
Yeah, it’s pretty bad.
I won’t put a name to any of the quotes I’m sharing because no restaurant owner wants to draw attention to the fact that they are struggling behind the scenes. All that matters is your dining experience. But the reality is, a majority of them are jumping through all of the hoops to make sure all of their dots are connected week to week. In some cases day to day.
I’ve heard stories of sales reps being asked to jump in a truck to make a day’s worth of deliveries because there is no one else to do it.
I’ve heard countless stories of the cost of commodities jumping so high that restaurants are losing money on their meals. It is not uncommon to see a single chicken wing going for $2.00. We paid that downtown Savannah back in August and just for cross-reference’s sake, I checked the menu at Hooters. Yup. $2 a pop.
That’s insane. $24 for a dozen chicken wings?
A few weeks ago, I grabbed my favorite Savannah turkey sandwich for lunch. Rock solid for years because it is always fresh roasted turkey breast. This time, it was clearly sliced deli turkey. Did I get upset? Of course not. That was just living proof of everything we’ve been talking about here. Time will tell if it was an isolated incident.
My guess is fresh roasted turkey would push that sandwich over $20.00. Which would cause demand to nose-dive.
I’m speculating, of course, but it certainly got my attention.
They’ll all tell you the most important thing is keeping good people on your staff to help you navigate this nightmare. A nightmare that will likely continue for a while. It is not like there is a finite date when we can say ‘boy, I’m glad that’s over.” It’s only going to be healed over time.
Some months ago heading into the Summer, I had an owner tell me they were blowing up their budget in order to keep fully staffed. Positions that were getting $15-17 per hour are now commanding $25 an hour in some cases.
He told me it was manageable during the Summer because business is great, but he was concerned about his ability to continue to pay those kinds of labor costs when business drops to a trickle in the Winter. Great news for the labor pool, but a dicey situation for businesses who were already bludgeoned during 2020.
Like anything else, the strongest will survive. Unfortunately, some may not. A routine drive through downtown Savannah last Friday afternoon told me numbers continue to be great. It looked like St Patrick’s Day out there with everyone getting their ghost on. Which is good.
But we can still do our part by supporting local restaurants, being patient during your dining experience and understanding that sometimes things are not always as they seem.
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