NEWBURYPORT — Outdoor dining and the ability to adapt when necessary have been two of the most important ingredients local restaurants have used to keep cooking their way through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ted Epstein is the owner of Newburyport ‘s Loretta and has the benefit of over 12 years of experience in the downtown restaurant scene. He quickly switched his Pleasant Street restaurant to take-out only when the pandemic hit in March of 2020.
“We never shut down and we never cut anybody’s hours,” Epstein said. “Being established helped us a lot. But things changed so much that it was hard to plan. Every day you put one foot in front of the other, figuring out what you were going to need to do differently.”
Amesbury Chamber of Commerce executive director Phil DeCologero said the owners of Ristorante Molise, Elisa Zullo and Antonietta DiLemme, also quickly dedicated themselves to take-out in their own restaurant across the river.
“They worked it and they did well,” he said. “Molise is a great example of a place where the people who are doing the cooking are the owners themselves. What are they going to do? Sit at home?”
The great outdoors
Loretta began offering outdoor dining in early June of 2020 and Epstein said the parklets the city quickly planned have turned out to be a terrific addition.
“Outdoor dining has been a savior. People love it and I think it will be good this year also,” he said. “Everybody says it is so European.”
Outdoor dining was also very popular in Amesbury, where DeCologero said there are more restaurants now than two years ago.
“We’re not losing anybody from outdoor seating, we’re only gaining them. It has been an important lifeline. Who doesn’t like eating alfresco?” he asked.
DeCologero also said that downtown mainstay, Crave, has added several more outdoor dining seats that have given owner, Sean Toomey a chance to expand.
“That is a direct reflection of what happened with this pandemic. We have seen a lot of energy and have had a lot of businesses open up. It’s pretty cool to come to our downtown,” he said.
The new guy
While well-established restaurants such as Loretta, Ristorante Molise and Crave were able to make use of their experience and reputations to ride out the pandemic, newer eateries like Amesbury Hoppy’s Cantina faced much more serious challenges in getting off the ground.
Hoppy’s Sean Hopkins took control of his Elm Street restaurant and began a year’s worth of build out in May of 2019.
Hopkins had closed his Lobster Q restaurant in Hampstead, N. H., to open Hoppy’s. He was offering tastings and looking at hiring his first employees when the pandemic hit in March 2020.
Since he was working on his own at the time, Hopkins said he was unable to take advantage of any federal or state aid.
But he quickly changed his focus and started a business phone number at 1-978-LUV-TACO and began taking to-go burrito orders.
“I changed things from a thriving strategy to a surviving strategy. I didn’t try to chase every dollar, I tried to minimize all the risk,” he said. “That conservative growth forced me to do things differently and it has paid off in a lot of different ways.”
The to-go burritos soon had bowls and appetizers to keep them company and Hopkins then added Margaritas to his mix.
Hoppy’s Cantina has moved about 17,000 Margaritas since last fall according to Hopkins, who said he has now expanded to indoor dining with an expanding Mexican fusion menu, while also taking on roughly 10 employees.
“I took on payroll in January and I think we have posted a profit every month but one, when I got caught up on a bunch of the things that I owed,” Hopkins said. “So, here we are now. People are loving the food, we are getting great reviews and I can feel the momentum.”
Sitting it out
Charlene Walsh opened her Mama Dukes breakfast and lunch diner on Newburyport’s Merrimac Street in February of 2019.
Although Walsh and her husband Tom were able to get through that first, perilous year of owning a small business, all bets were off when it came to moving into their second year in March 2020.
“COVID hit and everybody was petrified,” said Walsh, who shut the diner down soon after the pandemic hit. Mama Dukes, however, did not open again for well over a year.
“I thought we were going to just sit back and wait, I thought it would just go on for a couple of weeks, I didn’t know that was going to go on for over a year,” she said.
Walsh and her husband ended up selling their West Newbury home to be able to open Mama Dukes once again in November 2021.
Everyone at Mama Dukes was vaccinated, the diner opened for five days, one of the waitresses got COVID-19 and Walsh said she had to shut for another 10.
“It was a struggle,” she said.
But Walsh got right back on the horse and Mama Dukes has been open since late November. She said that the picture is looking brighter as the warmer weather approaches.
“It’s been a long road but I am just happy to have the support of my customers and the town and everybody. I have been very humbled by the outpouring of support,” Walsh said.
Constant adaption
Taking care of the employees at Loretta was another key to surviving the pandemic for Epstein.
He said he had his restaurant fogged with a antibacterial mist on a regular basis, while also keeping a close eye on the indoor air quality.
“My objective over the past couple of years has been making sure that my employees are OK, over the usual objective of putting butts in seats and a lot of people told me they felt pretty safe coming in here,” Epstein said.
Loretta also shortened its hours and limited its menu. But Epstein said being able to take advantage of the many benefits offered by the federal government, like the federal Paycheck Protection Program loans and the city’s updated zoning measures, were very helpful in keeping his restaurant open and eventually flourishing.
“We would probably still be here but it would have been a lot harder had it not been for the city and for the federal government and the programs that were out there to help us,” Epstein said.
Help still wanted
Although the pandemic may have subsided for many, finding quality waitstaff and kitchen help has, however, proven to be a difficult job for many restaurant owners, according to DeCologero.
Local eateries are offering generous wages but their biggest challenge is finding the right people.
“They are trying to attract tough, quality workers. Because it is a tough job and they recognize the work that their employees do is tough,” DeCologero said.
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