Navigating the New Normal Among Multiple Locations

When the pandemic hit the West Coast, University of British Columbia and French Culinary Institute graduate Angus An had to close down six restaurants: Fat Mao Noodles, Freebird, Longtail Kitchen, Maenam, Popina Canteen and Sen Pad Thai. 

Twenty-four hours later, Chef An’s places were up and running as takeout establishments, a move that got him through the early days of COVID-19.

We spoke to Chef An about the journey, and how it felt to have no idea what to expect.

You own and operate six restaurants in Vancouver. How did you choose to pivot each of your operations when the pandemic hit?

Before the provincial mandate called for it, we chose to close all of our restaurants on the same day. These closures were coming anyway, and we wanted to do the right thing. So, we closed them on a Monday and then reopened the kitchen to do takeout at Maenam, our flagship, by Tuesday. All of our other restaurants remained closed but takeout at Maenam was a way for us to utilize their inventory.

Initially, when I thought about the closure, I thought it was going to be two weeks to a month of quarantining, but it took much longer.

From day one, takeout was pretty decent. It wasn't as lucrative as our regular dine-in sales, but we got more orders than I expected. In the past, takeout represented five to ten percent of our business, but I think that doubled when we reopened, and it’s been growing from there.

In altering your establishment’s business model, how did your role as chef-owner/operator shift?

My role has changed from planning new restaurants and engaging in promotional activities to restarting stalled businesses, which takes a lot more work and energy. It’s increasingly difficult to keep restaurants open and running while simultaneously doing payroll, venue planning and other administrative work.

My days feel busier and less productive. I have more fires to put out and I’m working harder than ever before.

Now that Vancouver is in phase three, describe how you prepared each of your restaurants to reopen. 

It was definitely nice to get to keep Maenam open for takeout, but we kept everything else closed for at least two months. After Maenam, we reopened Fat Mao Noodles and then Sen Pad Thai, Popina and Longtail. And in each case, it was about talking to our staff about how comfortable they were, and spending time building a COVID-19 safety plan for each restaurant. We followed the guidelines issued by the BC government and Vancouver Cultural Health. We also increased use of disinfectants and HEPA machines. We created personal forms that the staff signed declaring they weren't putting themselves at risk by going to house parties or other potentially dangerous activities. If they don't feel well, there's zero tolerance, they can't come to work. 

In terms of seating, I had to re-map out the restaurants to maintain physical distancing of six feet. BC went from allowing 50 percent capacity to having no limit if you could space properly. For smaller restaurants like ours, having tables six feet away basically equaled 50 percent for us. 

What are the biggest front- and back-of-house challenges you’ve experienced since reopening? And what have been your biggest achievements? 

Usually, I can predict two months ahead based on past results, but we have no idea what any month this year is going to bring. That’s a huge challenge. It's difficult not having any idea what the future is going to look like.

Rising food costs also present a major challenge. As a Thai restaurant owner, we fly a lot of our produce from Thailand and there are fewer flights in and out now. We’re not getting the fresh produce twice a week like we used to, and what we are getting is 5–10 times more expensive because of limited access. This has been a nightmare for us to deal with. 

On the reward side, the reason we do all of this is to bring people together and to bring them happiness. The first day we reopened for dine-in, we were greeted right away by our long-time regulars. The locals are coming back and more regulars are returning, too. They all have smiles on their faces and appear so happy to see us surviving and doing well. That’s the biggest reward. 

Have you altered/adapted menus to offset operating costs? If so, how?

During the lockdown, my chef de cuisine started a rooftop garden so, for fun, we began growing our own herbs. This helped us offset some of the changes, but we can't continue to depend on that while we're in the full swing of things.

The key has been our move to a smaller menu so that a smaller team can execute properly. We also had to downsize our imported goods. Luckily for us, it's summer so there’s been lots of beautiful local produce. 

It's more the grilled mangos and the lemongrass that we cannot cut corners on and have to pay more for. While we don't feature dishes that overly use those products, we use them when they’re called for.

What measures are you taking to protect your restaurants against more unforeseen circumstances and/or similar situations?

Halfway through the lockdown, we started doing packaged, ready-to-eat foods like curries. We partnered with a local grocery delivery vendor to sell these, and it was going well before the restart happened. 

I think about introducing more takeaway-style sauces. People are cooking a lot at home; it can be nice to not have to make the sauce and having these kits or ready-to-eat packages can make it easy for people to enjoy at home.

What’s one piece of advice you would give a restaurateur preparing to reopen their restaurant?

Take it slow. When we saw the ready-to-open announcements, we didn’t jump at the opportunity. We waited about a week, saw what other restaurants were doing and how they were dealing with the new mandates. When we did finally jump back in, we didn't return to full hours or staff right away. 

So, my advice would be to ease back into it. Go slow and take it step by step maybe five days a week instead of seven. You should also make sure you can handle the new restrictions.

If you want to do five days of lunch and dinner, try doing just dinner first. If that goes well, go for five days of lunch and dinner the next week. If that also goes well, hire back your team and go for seven days. 

Given the new reality of the foodservice industry, how would you like to see it evolve and rise above the current situation?

Eventually, this thing has got to go but we don't know how much of the restaurant industry will be left afterwards. We are not over this by any stretch, we're barely in the middle of it.
I think it's safe to say people will always eat out because eating food brings people together. There's always going to be room for restaurants, but it will be a slow, painful rebuild for our industry.

I’d like to see more people supporting their favourite restaurants and businesses in a way that isn't putting other people at risk. We all need to take responsibility for being safe, patient, mindful of this virus, and we need to understand and empathize with restaurant owners who are going through it as well.