Hi Square Sellers, for this feature I spoke with Anthony Strong, Chef/Owner of Prairie Restaurant in San Francisco. An early SQ for Restaurant user and the first seller to pivot to the general store model in the Bay Area. He also talks about his approach to meal kits, and the future of sit-down dining.
Tell us about your restaurant.
I opened Prairie in October of 2018 after working many years as a chef. I wanted to do a concept that was fun, not too fancy and everything came off our charcoal grills. We built the whole kitchen around that concept. I donโt have a single burner in the entire place. Itโs a constraint and I find it exciting. It forces you to be creative everyday.
Covid Adaptations
I knew customer behavior was dramatically having to shift so I needed to figure out how to reach my customers in a different way since sit-down dining was no longer an option. A while back, I opened one of the countryโs first ghost kitchen concepts. It was popular but in my experience it was next to impossible to survive on the third party delivery fee structure exclusively. I also knew that the market would become even more saturated than it already was during normal times. The margins are just not there. I also have a hard time giving up control of the entire process. Itโs very risky to place so much of your guest experience on a third party not based in hospitality.
You were one of the very first to pivot to a general store.
Yes, we had the store stocked and operating on March 15th, one day before shelter in place went into effect in San Francisco. I took some cues from my great grandparents who opened a general store in Dubuque, Iowa right after the great depression. The whole family worked there. They didnโt sell anything fancy. It was all the basics: flour, bread, eggs, lard, toilet paper.
In terms of the broader context, we had just shut down the restaurant for 4 days at the end of February to do a quick renovation, building out our new private dining room. Weโd been saving up for months so we could have a semi-private room right off the kitchen to host family-style parties. I brought my dad out to help. We opened the new space and had a week of dinners on the private table and it was amazing. Then Covid-19 arrived in the Bay Area and things took a nosedive really quickly.
I knew the first thing to go would be family-style dining with strangers. As I mentioned, I also knew the delivery space would be super impacted right away. As soon as I heard about people starting to stockpile supplies, I knew what the community needed would be changing quite a bit. They would need to get their hands on some pretty basic stuff. I have staples like chicken broth, dried pastas, high quality canned ingredients, and sauces. I never stop searching though, I find new products constantly which gives me the perfect opportunity to continue the dialogue with my customers. My Square marketing emails go out every week and there is always something new to talk about. Thatโs been a successful approach for me.
Different Supply Chains
Itโs important to realize that restaurants and grocery stores have separate and different supply chains. The retail channel has been overwhelmed. This means I had the opportunity to get our customers items and products that grocery stores donโt stock and have access to in some cases. Iโm now a chef that runs a grocery store. This gives me a chance to curate, taste test products and introduce new items to my customers. I only onboard items that I believe in, have integrity, and are delicious. We are a very San Francisco restaurant in that we use hyper seasonal and very perishable product that we typically sell within two days. So the store model is a completely different approach. I started hunting around for great stuff I can get my customers. We are doing our own delivery now as well. One round per day and we just started a delivery run down the peninsula as well.
Meal Kits + Farmerโs Market Boxes
Iโm building fridge-stable meal and pasta kits and theyโre going really well. Everything goes on my Square online Store. Some customers buy a couple different kits at once and then rotate them throughout the week. Weโre integrated into their home cooking routines. We send our kits with instructions that match our brand ethos and approach to food. Weโre also selling farmerโs market boxes. I pick them up and can literally sell as many as I can fit in my vehicle.
Specialty items
I just got a hold of 15 trays of uni. Iโll put that on the shop, promote the direct link on Instagram and it will sell out right away. Curating hard to find items is not something I thought I would ever do but I actually really enjoy it. Itโs a service and thereโs a lot of value in it.
Product sourcing and inventory
The downside of all of this is my administrative load has grown considerably. Itโs a different business model so thatโs to be expected. Iโm still supporting our current vendors. Iโm so grateful to have found a way to keep business flowing.
The Future of Sit-Down
We are anticipating having to be at half capacity for a long time. I believe there will still be demand for supplementing grocery operations. Weโll do grocery during the day and dinner service at night. There will probably be stacks of flour in the dining room but maybe it will somehow add to the atmosphere in some quirky but cool way.
Favorite Feature: Direct product links for Square Online Store. Perfect for promoting on Instagram.
Thank you Chef! Great to chat.
