Takeout keeps local dine-in restaurants alive for now

Read "My four days of takeout," the author's account of her family's experience sampling some the area's takeout food.
 

On March 15, when Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced that in two days, restaurants would have to stop serving food and drink for on-premise consumption, some decided to close their doors and wait for the pandemic to pass. But many local restaurants took up the challenge to quickly convert their operations to takeout. Now that they are a month into the takeout business, most of the logistical difficulties have been worked out, but there is no denying the financial hit has been substantial.

An employee at Il Forno in Littleton delivers a takeout order to a curbside customer. Customers can call ahead, place orders and pay, then pick up orders without leaving their vehicles. (Photos by Lisa Aciukewicz)

At the Bull Run Restaurant in Shirley, owner Alison Tocci said the restaurant has been in business for 74 years, but takeout and delivery were never part of the operation. Despite that, she said their takeout and delivery business was up and running on March 17. While there were a couple of bumps the first few weeks, such as figuring out staffing and inventory, things are going smoothly now.

“We called it ‘The Battle of Bull Run,’” Tocci joked, and she said the staff made it all possible. “We had 80 employees, so we had a big pool of people to choose from when we made the switch.” Some of those people worked on the concerts and functions held at the restaurant, and that business is currently closed, so a large number of people had to be let go.

But the Bull Run was able to keep a core staff of 25 people who have plenty to do. Tocci said it takes a lot more steps to execute takeout and delivery than it does to walk food over to a table, and constant sanitizing has added yet more work. The Bull Run has two full kitchens, and one is now dedicated to preparation of the family-style meals that the restaurant is offering, while the other kitchen is for a la carte orders.

Tocci said the hard part is not knowing how busy they might get on any given day. “When you have a dining room that seats 150 people, you know the maximum number of people you’ll be serving at any one time. When you deliver to nine towns, that’s potentially a lot more people to serve.” While business is not what it was, “it’s steady enough to keep 25 people employed and that’s what’s important to me,” Tocci said. She added that if restaurants start opening with social distancing requirements, the Bull Run is in a good position because it has seven dining rooms and an outdoor patio.

A street sign in Ayer directs Lucia’s takeout customers.

Markoh DiCicco, owner of Lucia’s Tavola in Ayer, said the start of the takeout business was a bit rockier there. Lucia’s closed for a week to ramp up for takeout, but one of the first hurdles was finding takeout containers. “It was like toilet paper,” DiCicco said. “The shelves were bare.” The restaurant opened a week later for pickup inside the restaurant, but people were spending time there waiting for orders, and the staff wasn’t comfortable. DiCicco closed the restaurant for a week to regroup and make things safer for everyone, especially the staff.

“We also realized we’re a white-tablecloth, fine-dining restaurant, where food presentation is important. That doesn’t translate into a to-go box meal.” The menu was redesigned to be better suited to travel, and the restaurant opened again with curbside pickup, which is now operating smoothly.

‘We’re getting slaughtered’

But financially? “We’re getting slaughtered,” DiCicco said. For one thing, alcohol is a large part of how restaurants like Lucia’s survive, and while they are offering wine to go, DiCicco lowered the prices to be competitive with liquor store prices. And he worries that if the restaurant opens with social distancing, the number of people in the restaurant will be lower, “but the bills will be the same.” He hopes that they will be able to maintain the takeout business as well to help cover costs.

For Il Forno Restaurant and Catering in Littleton, owner Mike Mohamad said the transition to takeout was easier because takeout and catering have been part of the business since it opened. Despite that, the restaurant is now doing only 10% of the business it was doing before the pandemic.

A masked customer walks to her car with a takeout order from Woo Jung, a Korean restaurant in Ayer, Sunday, April 19.

But Mohamad said he still has all his kitchen staff, and catering helps keep them busy these days. Currently, they are preparing breakfast, lunch, and dinner for National Guard troops deployed in six different locations in Massachusetts. In addition, a donation from United Way of North Central Massachusetts to Making Opportunity Count (MOC), a Fitchburg nonprofit that provides services to low-income families, was used to purchase 200 Il Forno family-style meals for MOC clients in early April.

While the waitstaff is not currently working, Mohamed said that customers are tipping generously right now, and the restaurant is matching every tip dollar and using those funds to buy Market Basket gift cards for his waitstaff. In addition, he gives them Il Forno gift cards, “so they won’t forget the taste of Il Forno.”

All three owners agreed that the business they have is not enough, but they’re trying hard to survive. Mohamad summed it up best: “Somehow, some way, we have to get through this together.”