By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
The COVID-19 pandemic has had debilitating effects on businesses, with restaurants bearing a huge brunt. Since 2020, Sunset Bistro restaurateur Prudence “Prudy” Brott has significantly cut hours of operation, lost nearly 87% of her staff and yet found ways to reinvent the operation and keep customers happy.
Brott told the Bowling Green Kiwanis Club on Thursday how she and her staff survived the past two-plus years.
According to the National Restaurant Association, 51 percent of U.S. restaurants reduced hours of operation, 34% closed additional days and 26% reduced seating capacity, and they continue to deal with high food prices and staffing below pre-pandemic levels.
Brott’s statistics confirmed the association’s survey. Her staff went from 47 employees to six. She is closed three and a half days each week and she has eliminated eight tables and two booths.
Throughout the pandemic, the saving grace has been the support of her team and the community, Brott said.
“I learned a lot professionally and personally. I learned that you are only as strong as your team. There’s no way to thank all the people who got me through,” she said.
She was glad to report that despite the reduction in staff, she didn’t have to tell anyone that their position had been eliminated.
Anyone who wanted to still work, could. The ones who chose to leave had various reasons: graduation, a different career path and the need to figure out a new routine because their children were home schooling.
As soon as the pandemic happened, Brott stood firm that the quality of the food had to remain at the same level. “It would have been easy to go to frozen meals, pre-made meals where anyone could come in and heat it up. But we wanted to keep it fresh, chef-made food. I’m really proud of the fact that the quality of food hasn’t suffered throughout COVID,” Brott said.
“Running a restaurant is a balancing act requiring adaptation and innovation, two areas where restaurateurs excel. They are working hard to continue to provide quality and value for customers. Serving great food, providing exceptional service and creating a memorable experience remains the foundation of every restaurant,” said Michelle Korsmo, president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association.
Sunset Bistro has lived up to Korsmo’s statement.
“But to make that happen required us to be a completely different business,” Brott said.
In addition to implementing curbside-only service in the beginning, the Bistro team found other creative ways to keep the food coming. They created a Fair Food Day, offered boxed meals for some of the big holidays, and most recently offered groups to book the space exclusively for special events.
Fair Food Day was planned after Brott was “cranky about not having Elephant Ears when fairs and festivals were canceled. My main concern was ‘What about the Elephant Ears?’”
She was doing online research about the cost for a cotton candy machine as she asked her staff what they thought about offering a day of fair food. She bought enough supplies to make cotton candy for years and planned to serve Bistro’s own favorite fair-style French fries. She contacted Pisanello’s Pizza that makes the Elephant Earsdough, and Belleville’s Meat Market for their Pork-a-Lean sandwiches.
They didn’t know how many to plan for; however, two hours before they were set to open, a line had already started. Eventually it wrapped around Ridgewood Drive all the way to Wintergarden Road. People waited as long as five hours, but the response was phenomenal, she recalled.
“Some of the stories were amazing. Families watched movies. One person was enjoying a little time away from family, which hadn’t happened in the three months prior.
A mother-daughter duo used the time to paint their nails, not once but twice when they decided they didn’t like the first color choice,” Brott said.
Bistro has offered fair food two additional times. Improved processes and a better understanding of the demand resulted in service times no more than about seven-and-a-half minutes, she rightly bragged.
The holiday boxed meals was Brott’s brainchild after hearing many emotional stories while she talked with customers curbside. She learned that many people would be eating alone during holidays when families weren’t able to gather for holidays.
“There was a lot of emotion in the parking lot hearing those stories. I was listening and my heart was breaking for a lot of people,” she said.
While the Bowling Green native had always prided her decision not to open the restaurant for many holidays so her staff could be with family, she modified the decision during the pandemic. “Now I’m proud for something very different.”
The first big holiday was Thanksgiving 2020. The bistro offered boxed holiday meals for curbside pickup only. “The number of orders that came in for a single person who wanted one box of food was eye-opening to me,” she said.
Then she started getting calls for people who offered to pay for someone’s dinner who was eating alone. She also pulled in Call of the Canyon to provide some of the meals when the number of orders exceeded what her staff could do.
“It started a big movement in this community that was unreal to me. Not only did I get to see where we were making a difference, but that other people were making a difference, too. We got to watch this goodness during a very chaotic and confusing time of COVID,” she said.
The trend of providing boxed meals mostly for people eating alone has continued, though the numbers have decreased significantly as more people are able to get together.
The idea to open the restaurant for special group events came in fall 2021 when Brott and her team were missing the hustle, bustle and noise of having customers in the restaurant.
She decided to offer the room for lunch and dinner to one group per time. They would be the only ones in the restaurant and there would be enough time to thoroughly sanitize the space between the groups. People could feel comfortable dining only with people they knew and the staff didn’t feel overwhelmed with a full dining room of different folks.
Again, the response was overwhelming. They had Christmas parties, retirement parties and even an adoption party.
“It was so neat to be trusted with important days like that. That’s a big compliment,” she said.
With currently relaxed COVID restrictions, the restaurant now welcomes customers inside and on their patio during limited hours and at fewer tables. Curbside remains an option.
“It’s been amazing to be back inside with laughter and being able to make you a drink or two” Brott said.
“I’ve never been more thankful for the people that showed up over and over and over again. Customers showed up and people showed their support and their love. I’m blown away by the love of this community.”
