Bad timing: These Lexington places launched just before the COVID dining shutdown
Imagine trying to open a new restaurant: You invest your time, energy and dreams, not to mention lots of money. And then the pandemic hits.
That’s exactly what has happened to these Lexington entrepreneurs.
Both opened in early March, just as the coronavirus officially arrived in Kentucky.
Both had days to launch before Gov. Andy Beshear ordered restaurants to close to dining in.
Neither had time to build much of a following with customers, but both are managing to stay open for takeout.
Shake It, 814 Euclid Ave.
The partners in Shake It opened March 4 and had an instant hit on their hands.
“The first week we sold out of a month’s worth of product,” said Greg Ladd, a Lexington attorney who is a co-owner with Ryan Conner and EJ Fields in the restaurant, which sells low-calorie protein shakes that are anything but basic.
With 68 flavors like Brownie Batter and Lemon Pound Cake, they were off to a running start.
“Then corona happened and basically I make enough right now to keep the doors open, essentially,” Ladd said.
He still has two employees, and they are taking orders over the phone or via Instagram for their shakes, and running them out to the curb for pickup. They have stayed off online delivery platforms for now because of the expense.
Ladd said that two big things have helped: The other Chevy Chase restaurant owners, who have been supportive and referred customers to them. And online communities, such as social media groups for women with gestational diabetes, where the low-sugar options have been big hits.
“Our sales are down about 70 percent from what they were that first week. It’s tough to stay afloat,” he said. “We are reliant solely upon community support. I have two amazing girls that work for me. We try to provide a great product with a huge smile on our face. And it’s the repeat business that keeps us afloat.”
Shake It is open 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday. ShakeItLex.com
Jefferson Street Coffee, 471 Jefferson St.
Owner David Barnes had been working on getting a coffee shop open at his Smokin’ Aces Coffee roasting business for some time. More than a year actually and on March 9 it finally happened.
He wonders now if it had been delayed another week, would he have been able to get the permit to open at all.
“We were planning on doing pastries, and gab-and-go food items but when we soft-opened, it was just to get the coffee shop going,” he said. “We hadn’t even made a decision on what pastries, or who we were going to use to provide it, and we were hit with the news we had to limit everything to to-go to limit the spread of the virus. So we put all the food on hold.”
But the coffee shop is still pouring, and on the increasingly warm days the big garage doors are open for customers to get a cup to take with them.
Barnes said most of his business is wholesale coffee roasting, and while the restaurant side has slipped, home sales have picked up, so it’s balancing out.
“I think we’ll be fine,” he said. “The wholesale business was always meant to be our bread and butter and the coffee shop is the icing on the cake.”
Jefferson Street Coffee has a full espresso bar, drop coffee and bags of roasted coffee for sale. “Basically, any coffee drink that you want,” Barnes said.
The shop is open Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Backroads Bakery, 109 West Sixth St.
Backroads Bakery had been around as an online business for some time when sisters Ruth and Katie Ralph bought it and decided to open a bricks-and-mortar location. The yellow building that last year housed a Caribbean cafe seemed like a good spot.
They opened 10 days before the shutdown forced them to close to in-person customers. But they are still taking orders, including for birthday cakes, and still cranking out cheesecakes. You can even get slices to go.
Daughters’ Southern food truck
Owner Chris Cain, who had been working at FoodChain, decided to take his pop-up and catering business to the next level. And in February he became the proud owner of his own Daughters’ Southern food truck.
He launched March 5 at The Garage Bar. After the COVID-19 shutdown, he did one gig at Rock House Brewery for carryout and pickup.
“I realized it’s impossible to social distance in a food truck,” he said.
“But the only thing I’m losing right now is momentum. I’m not losing any money, I don’t have staff or inventory … so I thought it was best to just park it. So folks will spend their money with local business that have rent and employees.”
He has a couple of dates on the books in July and September at local breweries, “but who knows where we will be in July.”
Follow him on social media for updates.
For now, he spends his time volunteering at FoodChain and helping his daughters with their schoolwork.
This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
