Changing narrative is crucial to restaurant survival
If hustle points were dollars, nobody would've made more money since the pandemic spread than chef Bruce Rinehart. Since the first day COVID-19 forced Shelter in Place orders and other restrictions, Rinehart has been reaching in every direction for new revenue streams to buoy his two Rococo locations and The Manhattan downtown.
Rinehart's brands can currently be found at select Homeland grocery stores. He's used his own people to deliver, and the Rinehart family are becoming familiar faces on social media with their video updates to guests.
Before the pandemic landed on our shores, Rinehart was engaged in an ambitious move to lasso his assets together and anchor them to a new location on Western Avenue while keeping the original location as a catering hub and special events center.
Those plans remain in place, though the Western opening isn't expected until early fall.
In the meantime, Rinehart and chefpartner Jason Bustamante have been working hard to retrofit their offerings toward what is working during the pandemic. With dining capacity limited and droves of people limited in how much they can get out because of immunodeficiency or proximity to family, friends and colleagues with it, take-out menus are about the only thing thriving in the restaurant industry.
With that in mind, Bustamante and Rinehart have developed a menu of
focaccia-based pizzas, which can be ordered in the dining room as appetizers or by the box and with a salad to feed the entire family.
I tried several variations, starting with a fig, balsamic, pesto, prosciutto, and goat cheese pizza. I love those flavors. The focaccia is thicker than average pizza crust, but it also offers a light, airy center standards crust's can't match. A drizzle of balsamic is the piece de resistance.
Also tried a seafood selection that included clams and shrimp joined by smoked gouda and gruyere with fish veloute as the sauce. Was a great combo of hearty sauce with light seafood and two distinctive cheeses for a satisfying result available at the Northpark location only.
Same goes for the Margherita, which is topped with basil, tomatoes and burrata. For a little extra you can add fried pepperoni slivers for a nod to the 405 diningscape's pizza past. Whole
Loniesha Tempson-Harris and her husband, Corey Harris recently announced they will close their south location of Off the Hook Seafood & More this month, but the original location on Britton and Broadway will remain open. [THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES]
pizzas start at $12 be ordered with Rococo's signature Love salad for two for $32. A bottle of wine isn't free, but highly recommended.
Rinehart considered opening with pizza when he originally opened Rococo almost 17 years ago, but decided not to. Circumstances, obviously, have changed. Like every other restaurateur, Rinehart is
having to make big changes on the fly just to have a chance to survive.
On Monday, Rinehart and Oklahoma Restaurant Association president and CEO Jim Hopper spoke with us on the latest Community Table podcast to talk about what our state's hospitality industry is doing to keep workers and diners safe while helping keep restaurants open through the COVID-19 pandemic.
It's a serious subject that's intensifying as we enter August with no financial relief package from the Congress. That could change, but even if it does we are in for a long, slow slog to solvency for most independent restaurant owners.
In Monday's podcast, Hopper and Rinehart talked about the real peril the country's second largest employer faces and how they're trying to innovate on the fly.
Or close. That's what chef Corey had to do with his south Off the Hook Seafood & More location. Corey cited a dramatic drop-off in traffic along Interstate Highway 40, which is a usually steady business provider. Corey said his north location is still going strong, and has no intention of closing it. He's also got his Dope Foods business to concentrate on in the ever-reliable medicinal marijuana business.
On the innovation side, 84 Hospitality chief operating officer Rachel Cope announced intentions to fuse two of her group's concepts, Goro Ramen and Gun Izakaya, into a single concept concentrating on Japanese fried chicken. Clearly, another effort to adapt to the limitations imposed by a pandemic. Sources tell me 84 Hospitality will announce a new concept and perhaps some permanent closures.
Previously, Cope announced Empire Slice House's sister restaurant Easy E Slice Shop was moving to Nichols Hills Plaza under a new name. Empire Slice Shop will open in the former SlapFish location this month.
All these moves are an attempt to sustain enough money to keep staff safely employed for the immediate future. The economy can't afford a shutdown, but it desperately needs to make like a caterpillar and crawl until our hospitality and service industries can find a cocoon in which to blossom a a sustainable model for surviving an unprecedented global pandemic.
Thoughts and prayers are welcome indeed, but so is a commitment to make convenience secondary to how we support our local businesses.