The Highs and Lows of Opening a Restaurant During a Pandemic.
Opening a second restaurant location is challenging as it is, but add a deadly pandemic in the mix and the uncertainty that owners face increases exponentially.
Two Hudson Valley restaurants decided to take the leap and open a second location in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the support of the community and staff, these two locations had the confidence to branch out to a second storefront. Ready Coffee, a handcrafted coffee shop located originally in Wappingers Falls, opened their second location last month in Newburgh. Rosticceria Rossi & Sons, originally in Poughkeepsie on South Clover Street, has plans to open their second location in the new Eastdale Village in Poughkeepsie in the late summer or early fall.
The business models of both of these restaurants has allowed for them to remain open in their original locations throughout the duration of the pandemic, and begin working on their second locations. “We are much more attentive to cleanliness and spatial awareness in our store. We make all the food on site, so with a big operation, we had to be careful with the amount of people working at one time,” Rei Peraza, Director of Operations and Culinary Development at Rossi’s discussed how they made changes to their location to keep up with safety.
Emily Jordan, one of the partners at Ready Coffee, described how the set up of their locations is ideal despite the changes the pandemic has brought on. “Our business model of a drive-thru with an outdoor walk-up window has allowed us to continue operating during the pandemic.” Without indoor seating at Ready Coffee, the staff does not have to worry about customer behavior inside the store.
The pandemic has also provided Rossi’s Deli with new ideas for contactless ordering. “At the new location, we plan on having a kiosk ordering system where customers can come in and order on the kiosk, and pick up their food at the counter. It is artisan, fast casual eating,” Peraza explained. This kiosk ordering system will allow for customers to have shorter wait times for food and faster service.
Each store was faced with challenges as they opened their second location. Both Jordan and Peraza described the concerns of opening a second location during such uncertain times. In building a second location, there were shortages of wood and steel for the storefronts, along with price increases of the equipment. Construction of the new Rossi’s location was slowed down by about six months.
For Jordan, training and hiring new employees for the second location has been a great challenge. Jordan explained, “Before the pandemic, we could host hiring events where applicants could come freely to our headquarters and interview in groups. During the pandemic, we have had to structure our hiring and training to follow state and federal regulations which added time and effort to the process.”
Despite the uncertainty and difficulty, both locations for each of these businesses have been successful and are looking towards the positive of having a new location. “We have embraced the delay. It is playing into our favor now that by late summer or early fall when we are ready to reopen, there will be fewer restrictions,” Peraza said.
Jordan explained how she is happy that the new location was able to bring some joy into the community during the pandemic. “Thankfully we opened our second location roughly a year after the start of the pandemic, so many regulations have been refined and proven effective at this point in time,” said Jordan.
Rossi’s Deli and Ready Coffee are evidence that despite economic challenges with owning a restaurant during a pandemic, there are ways to continue expanding and moving forward.
