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Thread of local businesses that don't survive the coronavirus


CooterBrown

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Putting in a plug for Churro Co on S. 1st Street. My oldest son turned 13 Tuesday and we finally got down there today to pick one up as a late birthday treat (They were closed Tuesday)

You call in your order, give them your make/model of car and what time you are picking up.

 

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On 3/21/2020 at 2:10 PM, BrazilHorn said:

Putting a plug in for Fonda San Miguel - I hadn't eaten there in years but they are doing a great family style deal with a choice of three dishes (Rotisserie Chicken, Pork Chops, Pork Baked in Banana Leafs) Rice/Beans/Hot Sauce/Chips on side.

Curb side, you never get out and they put food in car wearing gloves, touching nothing. We have been eating for like 3 days.

 

How much?

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Restaurant had to lay off my daughter. She was bartender first, waitress second, so she was expendable . Out of work for one week, but just had two job offers. She took the one at the hospital (YAY?) because it has better benefits and the start date is a month sooner. She’ll collect about two weeks of unemployment before she starts.

It helps when the person doing the hiring was your babysitter 15 years ago. 

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16 hours ago, ImissWallyPryor said:

Restaurant had to lay off my daughter. She was bartender first, waitress second, so she was expendable . Out of work for one week, but just had two job offers. She took the one at the hospital (YAY?) because it has better benefits and the start date is a month sooner. She’ll collect about two weeks of unemployment before she starts.

It helps when the person doing the hiring was your babysitter 15 years ago. 

Glad to hear she's landing on her feet.  And I wish her success in staying safe!

 

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On ‎3‎/‎26‎/‎2020 at 4:27 PM, bluto said:

These restaurants doing family packs and bundles, are they actually bringing in much profit on them? Some seem incredibly cheap, especially compared to normal menu pricing.

It's possible some are just trying to clear inventory and make what money they can on it, even at little to no profit.  It wouldn't surprise me if we see a lot of restaurants fully shut down in the next week. 

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Just now, South Austin said:

It's possible some are just trying to clear inventory and make what money they can on it, even at little to no profit.  It wouldn't surprise me if we see a lot of restaurants fully shut down in the next week. 

Agree. No way they are making much off these family packs. Just burning inventory and keeping people at work as long as possible. Vendors that serve restaurants have got to be so fucked. Huge inventory and no where to move it.

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38 minutes ago, Larry T. Spider said:

Agree. No way they are making much off these family packs. Just burning inventory and keeping people at work as long as possible. Vendors that serve restaurants have got to be so fucked. Huge inventory and no where to move it.

This is a major problem with our national supply chain for food.  In times of extreme crisis, it's too difficult to switch between the Commercial supply chain, and the Consumer supply chain.

I definitely expect this to be addressed before the NEXT "big one" whatever it might be.  We need a lot more flexibility in our food supply chain, and it's a matter of critical national defense that people are just now realizing was a gap in our emergency response processes.

I suspect we'll also see a shift toward more domestically sourced medications, which is another gap in national defense.  Lots of Lessons Learned to be had after this is all done.

 

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1 minute ago, 2300 Nueces said:

People are going to be absolutely shocked when the dust settles.  The business environment is going to be totally different.  Places you take for granted are going to be gone.  The only hope now is massive inflation in an attempt to escape the defaults.

Companies that can ramp operations back up quickly are going to be set to succeed. One reason that retaining employees now, as difficult as that is, will allow a company to come out of this red hot.  It's also an opportunity to reshape your employee base, and cut off employees who don't fit.

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Just now, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Companies that can ramp operations back up quickly are going to be set to succeed. One reason that retaining employees now, as difficult as that is, will allow a company to come out of this red hot.  It's also an opportunity to reshape your employee base, and cut off employees who don't fit.

I sub contract all of my employees.  Work to the lowest bidder.  I no pay til I'm satisfied.  Gotta retain margin and quality.

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1 minute ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Companies that can ramp operations back up quickly are going to be set to succeed. One reason that retaining employees now, as difficult as that is, will allow a company to come out of this red hot.  It's also an opportunity to reshape your employee base, and cut off employees who don't fit.

Like slackers that post on internet message board forums all day.

Oh wait.  Uhhhhhh.... gotta go!

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Valentina's TexMex BBQ posted a video yesterday with Miguel inviting any laid-off service workers to show up and get some free street tacos for lunch.  Of course a couple workers of other industries immediately chimed in and started shitting all over him for not including their particular industry.  Of course they stayed classy and invited each of them over for free tacos too. 

TLDR:  People are shitty.  Valentina's is awesome. 

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26 minutes ago, BurntEyes said:

I've got to stop reading this thread. My fears keep getting stoked.

What really confuses me is places like Pinthouse closing?  That one stings.  Most the pizza guys I’ve talked to are actually doing fairly well relatively speaking.  Couple that with their beer business and they seemed like they would have been better positioned than most to sustain in this environment.  

One day before they closed all their locations the line at their Burnet location was wrapped around the building and on to Burnet.

The only thing I could think of the only thing I could think of (and this is 100% speculation) is perhaps one of their employees came down sick?

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Vendors that serve restaurants have got to be so fucked. Huge inventory and no where to move it.


In the article about H-E-B’s disaster planning it said Sysco and other restaurant suppliers are now supplying H-E-B. One of the suppliers said that saved them and is keeping them really busy.
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23 minutes ago, Chet Steadman said:

What really confuses me is places like Pinthouse closing?  That one stings.  Most the pizza guys I’ve talked to are actually doing fairly well relatively speaking.  Couple that with their beer business and they seemed like they would have been better positioned than most to sustain in this environment.  

One day before they closed all their locations the line at their Burnet location was wrapped around the building and on to Burnet.

The only thing I could think of the only thing I could think of (and this is 100% speculation) is perhaps one of their employees came down sick?

I think any problem Pinthopuse is having isn't unique to them but just part of the blanket problem across the whole industry.  There's tons of folks who frequented places like Pinthouse but for whom delivery and takeout just isn't feasible right now with job losses and fears of upcoming job losses.  People are suddenly living a lot more frugally and while delivery and takeout are nice to have right now they can't compete financially with  meals made at home and 12 packs from HEB.

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37 minutes ago, Chet Steadman said:

What really confuses me is places like Pinthouse closing?  That one stings.  Most the pizza guys I’ve talked to are actually doing fairly well relatively speaking.  Couple that with their beer business and they seemed like they would have been better positioned than most to sustain in this environment.  

One day before they closed all their locations the line at their Burnet location was wrapped around the building and on to Burnet.

The only thing I could think of the only thing I could think of (and this is 100% speculation) is perhaps one of their employees came down sick?

PHP closed because they don't want to risk exposure of their employees to potentially infected customers.  Between their pizza (rolls) and to-go beer I think they'd have been okay, but they didn't want to risk it.  I respect that and hope they are able to survive and thrive, one of the partners is a friend of mine that I went to MBA school with.  Great guy.

 

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On 3/28/2020 at 10:02 AM, utee94 said:

PHP closed because they don't want to risk exposure of their employees to potentially infected customers.  Between their pizza (rolls) and to-go beer I think they'd have been okay, but they didn't want to risk it.  I respect that and hope they are able to survive and thrive, one of the partners is a friend of mine that I went to MBA school with.  Great guy.

 

Yep, this is the other side of it that I didn’t appreciate. I’ve heard a lot of owners discuss how they felt completely out of place effectively making public health decisions and were putting their employees, families, and customers at risk. Take out wasn’t worth it. 

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My neighbor is a higher up at Hobby Lobby and he just informed me they let all their employees go today and are closing indefinitely.  He was despondent. 

My mom and sister were both laid off yesterday, they worked at different places.  

My job, even with the stimulus loans which I'm not sure they qualify for, can't survive another two weeks of being shut down.  If we're not back up by mid April, we're all out of a job.  I'm fine financially, but I think despair is how I would describe my co workers right now.

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4 hours ago, Bevo said:

Is Cabo Bobs open?

Free chips and queso with every burrito.  They are wrapping those burritos up with their hands though. I assume they're wearing gloves but the fact they aren't cooked past the handling point, would make me avoid them.

Edited by CooterBrown
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Putting plug in for Lamberts - Picked up some on Sunday (family 4 pack) - was good stuff and I was at WF downtown so it was convenient to pick up.

Another plug for Matties at Green Pasture - They are doing an Easter brunch family pack. Picking that up this Sunday.

Keep supporting your local places - tip them heavily - buy some gift cards etc etc

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