We’re always on the lookout for interesting stories that define the restaurant industry and the tenacity of those who persevere in tough times. One such figure is Michael Schulson, celebrity chef, successful restaurateur, and founder of the Schulson Collective.
Schulson’s portfolio of restaurants in Philadelphia, Atlantic City, and South Florida includes Double Knot, Izakaya, the Graffiti Bar, Sampan, Harp & Crown, the Independence Beer Garden, Monkitail at The Diplomat Beach Resort, Giuseppe & Sons, and Alpen Rose. Once again, Michael Schulson is leading the way in balancing the responsibility of safely reopening and balancing that and serving the needs of his community. Schulson is looking to say thanks to hardworking people in the restaurant industry. His Schulson Collective is offering $5 staff meals to anyone who works in the hospitality industry. The latest Schulson eateries to open are Alpen Rose, Sampan and Giuseppe & Sons.
Walk us through the timeline of deciding to reopen?
My wife was a lobbyist who now does PR and marketing. For her, and this was kind of not to this level, she’s dealt with stuff like this her whole life. We spoke about what the direction was, and what we wanted to do. The advice that was given was all we could do in uncertain times is trying to make the right decision via face and communicate with our team effectively and be honest with them. And that’s what we chose to do day one and do what we believe in our heart of hearts is the right thing to do regardless of what other people are doing.
What was the experience like of closing?
We decided on the night of the March 14th before the Governor of Pennsylvania made it mandatory that we were actually going to close our restaurants down to do the right thing and what we felt was the right thing for the community, our staff, our team. . We thought that it was important for us to protect everybody, stop the spread of this virus and try and do our part in it. And that’s what we did. And we did a whole staff meeting of all our managers, we brought them into the restaurants. We had them shut everything down. And all the food that was there, we donated it to our team, we allow them to come in and take boxes of whatever they want so they could have something. Then after that, as this went on, the first week, we just kind of sat idle and the second week, we started to kind of do our version of a food drive. We would order food, put it at the restaurant and then we send out an email blast to our entire team, which is about 1,500 people. Who’s ever interested in picking up milk and egg, pasta, fruits and vegetables to pick a time and we would set it up almost like a grocery store and we would just give it to them and just kept communicating.
What was your PPP experience like?
After we furloughed most of the team, it gave us the space to think our next step through. We just kind of sat back and just kind of waited and waited and waited. And then as this went on, we probably spent the majority of our time, my wife and I, especially her reading, what these proposals were, what the bills were, what the stimulus packages were and discussing how we were going to go about it, filling out documentation and applying for PPP is kind of the process. We were lucky enough and fortunate enough to be approved the first go around, so that was kind of a load off our back. The unfortunate thing is, the PPP really wasn’t set up for the restaurant industry, it really doesn’t work very well for us.
Why isn’t it made for restaurants?
You need to bring more than 75-85% of your staff back. Very difficult to do if you don’t know when your customers are coming back.
What is that going to look like when customers do comeback?
I don’t know how they’re going to put limitations on how many people that we could have in our restaurant and require social distancing and think that we could actually survive. I mean, it’s like telling an online company that sells something that you could only sell 50% of your product.
What led to the decision to reopen with Takeout & Delivery?
Our guests and customers made it clear that supermarkets don’t have much stuff and this is a real struggle. We decided that we had a fiduciary responsibility to figure something out, to do what’s right for our customers and give them a way to eat and supply them with something maybe they could be a little more comfortable with and happy.
What does Takeout & Delivery look like from a P&L standpoint?
It’s definitely not a moneymaker. There’s no way to survive on it. I mean, if you look at the takeout business and you look at a McDonald’s or Wendy’s or a Popeye’s or even a Shake Shack, it’s a completely different business model than a restaurant.
What is your read on retaining and returning furloughed staff?
Our attitude was let’s get back to work. The other major challenge is, 90% of our staff makes less than $65,000. But people can just literally sit at home and make more money from a stimulus check and collecting unemployment. The government tried so hard to really get money in people’s hands so bad to protect the crash of the economy that they really didn’t think this through in terms of the ramifications of it.
Where do we go from here?
I think Sweden has done it really well if you read about what they did. Their belief was to quarantine the old people and the sick people and keep them at home. Then they keep the economy moving by letting the younger people resume normal lives. At some point, there has to be some kind of attention paid to the economy and at a certain point, we have to allow people to go back to work and do their thing.
What’s your read on the future of the industry?
At a certain point, we have to get back and do what we do and not destroy the hospitality industry. I’m hearing numbers that 30 to 40% of all restaurants are giving back their keys and not coming back. The longer this goes out, the worse the numbers are going to get.
Where do your landlords fit in the is puzzle?
The lesson learned from ’08 is that it’s really the insurance companies that need to be supported by government stimulus, not just banks. If business interruption insurance claims and been paid then it would have taken much of the burden off of the SBA. In fact the SBA loaned more in a week than they did for the entire year.
Did you have any experience in Takeout before COVID-19?
We never did takeout prior to this. We believe that where our concept is people eating in the restaurant, dining and they drink in restaurant and that’s our business model, so we didn’t believe in takeout. It has been eye-opening learning to work with DoorDash and the delivery companies. The real challenge was designing a limited menu that could stand up to the potential of 200 orders in a five minute window.
Are we looking at long terms protocol of hospitality being defined by gloves and masks?
Right now, everyone takes their temperature as soon as they come in. That’s the first thing. Everyone obviously is wearing gloves and a mask. We have dots on the floor that are six feet apart. We have a cleaning company that comes in at the end of the night and really disinfect the restaurant. We have sanitation wipes that are on the counters all the time now all over the place. We are cashless and contact free. We put the bag down and the customer picks it up.
I noticed also you’ve got $5 menu set aside for restaurant industry workers. Talk a little bit about that.
We just think it’s really important for in these hard times and when people are dealing with uncertainty and struggling at home to do something for the people in our industry. From pizza to stir-fry, we want to say thanks.
