Pivot to sauce rescues calgary italian eatery
CALGARY • When a pandemic hands you lemons, turn them into pasta sauce.
That’s the mindset of a prominent Calgary Italian restaurant that’s turned its downtown eatery into a designer pasta sauce production and bottling line after repeated COVID-19 lockdowns starved its regular business.
“Things got really slow and my serving staff was laid off,” said Centini co-owner Chevonne Miller.
“But now everyone’s working together — there’s nothing like a pandemic to get things going.”
Miller and her team quickly pivoted to cook up an alternative business based on what they already knew well — crafting pasta sauce.
They also found a source of thousands of 750-ml jars to host their product — glassware stored in a dining room — while staff in the kitchen churn out high-end product with names such as Mother of All Sauces.
It’s also the mother of necessity — one shaped by a pandemic market, said Miller, whose restaurant still offers takeout.
“What if dining doesn’t come back?” she said, on a day her staff would be filling 2,000 bottles.
“We have to keep pivoting, we’ve got to read the market and people are heading to grocery stores.”
But “running on adrenalin and just the right amount of fear” wasn’t enough to monetize that switch, she said.
That was solved when Centini quickly forged a partnership with Calgary Co-op to carry its line of four sauces, starting on Thursday, said Miller.
“There aren’t many businesses that operate 22 locations where you can seal a deal with a handshake,” said Miller.
And if the line of pasta sauces proves a hit, it could become a permanent business.
“We plan to manufacture fresh pasta as well, to make chef-inspired dishes at home,” said Miller’s business partner, Marie-bernard Poulin.
“Not everyone can afford to eat at Centini but everyone can afford a $9 or $10 bottle of pasta sauce.”
It’s vital that locals businesses support each other during an uncertain time, said Adam Tully, Calgary Coop senior director of grocery and food operations.
“We are pleased to be partnering with Centini; a relationship which provides our members the convenience of purchasing gourmet Italian sauces ... and at the same time helps a local business to innovate and thrive,” he said.
A pandemic that’s wiped out many businesses and gravely threatened others has also led to numerous tales of innovation, say officials with the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.
“While the COVID-19 pandemic has and continues to pose many challenges, it has also galvanized the creativity and resiliency of our business community,” said the chamber’s interim CEO Murray Sigler.
“Each of us can support our economy and recovery by shopping local and being open to new ways of engaging with business.”
In September, some of those entities were recognized by the Chamber’s resilient Business Awards.
Another business that charted a new pandemic path is Beltline nightclub Mikey’s on 12th, whose owner expanded on its knack for tacos when COVID-19 shut down or severely constrained its regular operations.
Last summer, owner Mike Clark opened Mikey’s Taco shop at 4121 4th St. N.W., which has proven a thriving takeout stop.
“We certainly saw the writing on the wall and we made it a takeout place because of the pandemic,” said Clark.
“you’ve got to try to stay in business somehow, or die.”
The expectation was students at nearby James Fowler High School would provide a major customer base, said Clark.
“That hasn’t really happened, but business from the neighbourhood has been exceptional, it’s become a neighbourhood favourite,” he said.
Even so, frustration remains high with the continued shutdown of his main business on 12th Avenue S.W., a restriction that’s been extended to bars and restaurants until at least Jan. 21.
“We’re really disappointed we can’t start up — my staff are just waiting around, it’s tough on them, it’s tough on us all,” he said.