No garlic, no catfish, no staff: Lexington restaurants are not OK. Will it get worse?
Lexington and Central Kentucky restaurants, still reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, are facing supply and worker shortages like never before. And the economic fallout is taking a toll on owners and employees alike.
“Every day’s a struggle,” said Rob Ramsey, who operates four Ramsey’s Diners as well as Missy’s Pies. “In my 32 years in business, I’ve never seen it like this.”
Although Kentucky’s enhanced unemployment benefits ended at the beginning of September, Ramsey and others said the hiring crunch has not diminished even as businesses have raised wages, added perks and hiring bonuses.
“We thought when September came around, we’d see that ease up without the federal stimulus but nothing’s changed,” said David Carroll, owner of Red State BBQ near Georgetown. “We’ve got some people working six days a week, some working longer shifts. I hope we can add some more bodies soon.”
In some cases, people are afraid of returning to riskier jobs until COVID case numbers improve. Lack of affordable childcare is also a major issue, as is uncertainty over quarantines for school-age children. As more people become vaccinated and once children ages 5-12 can be protected, many of these issues facing the industry may get better.
But that won’t help shorthanded restaurants, who are being caught in a vise between twin shortages.
Nationally, the hospitality industry is in dire straits, with almost a million fewer people working in restaurants and bars in September compared to February 2020, before COVID hit, according to the Federal Reserve Economic Data.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics September jobs report also noted that weakness in employment in leisure and hospitality over the past two months has coincided with stagnating sales and operating cost increases for restaurants.
The Independent Restaurant Coalition, which is lobbying for more direct aid for small restaurants, said more than 82 percent of restaurant and bar owners nationally worry they will have to close without a Restaurant Relief Fund grant after the fund ran out of money in July. And one survey found that 51 percent of restaurants said they couldn’t pay rent in September.
What Lexington restaurants are facing
▪ As food costs rise and some items remain in short supply, local restaurants are cutting back on their menus and raising prices.
▪ To cope with shortages, some restaurants are closing locations and paying worker bonuses in an effort to maintain normal business hours.
▪ Employees are overworked, facing burnout from double shifts and pushed to tears by rude customers.
And, given the ongoing shipping backlog, the bad news is it could get worse before it gets better with winter coming.
Nearly half a million shipping containers laden with everything from processed foods to restaurant supplies to Christmas presents are stuck on cargo ships in ports with no clear idea of when the supply chain will untangle.
It’s basic supply vs. demand and it’s driving up costs for many restaurants, who sometimes have to forage at the local grocery store as a last, and expensive resort.
Restaurant supply shortages
Most local restaurants report shortages of items, seemingly at random. Restaurants place orders, then the distributor’s truck shows up and stuff is just missing. As Red State’s Carroll put it: “Every week is a weird merry-go-round of different things we can’t get.”
Everything from artichoke hearts to Northern white beans seems to be hard to come by these days. Especially packaging items for carryout, to go meals or catering.
Days before UK’s Oct. 9 home football game against LSU, Bourbon N’ Toulouse posted a social media call for wire pan holders: “Does your office have a giant stack of these in your break room? Do you like FREE Bourbon n’ Toulouse? There is a national shortage on these and we need A LOT of them for tailgating packages this weekend!!!
We’re desperate & would love to trade you food for your catering stands!!! Shoot us a message to work out the details. Huge, huge thank you in advance to anyone who can help out!!!!”
The plea worked. Within two days they had enough to get through the LSU game: “We asked, you delivered! Thank you Bn’T Family! We now have enough of these to get us through the this weekend and next until we’re able to get our shipment in. Y’all are the best!!!!”
Earlier this month Luna’s Coffee, Wine & Butterfly Cafe in Nicholasville alerted customers to what they are facing, saying on Facebook: “We heard this morning that Starbucks was out of some of their plastic cups. Imagine their buying potential and then think of how difficult and expensive it must be for a small place like Luna’s to buy a case of plastic cups. This week we tried to buy straws, cups, bacon, wine, bourbon, and tea and were unsuccessful because of shortages. So if you can, please support small and local.”
Owner Alison Davis said that things appear to have eased slightly: “The tea shortage seems to be over but I have to hoard cups and straws and takeout containers,” she said.
Catfish crisis at Ramsey’s
Ramsey said his restaurants are operating still at reduced capacity, not because of COVID restrictions, which were lifted in June, but because they don’t have the staff to manage more customers.
“We used to have eight waitresses on a Sunday shift. Now you’re lucky to get four,” he said. “You take a Sunday when you don’t have enough people to staff both shifts, so you have people working doubles, working as hard as they can for eight hours. The shame of it all is that we’ve got great employees and they’re burning out.”
Waitstaff might make twice as much in tips, he said. Even so, he’s only been able to hire a couple of people, even with enhanced unemployment benefits ending.
Ramsey said he has been paying bonuses “to keep the doors open.”
Because the customers are there. “We’re still doing an incredible amount of carryout. ... Sales are way up,” he said. “If I had the staff, I’d be doing phenomenal business.”
If he can get the supplies, that is. He’s faced shortages of everything from tonic water to cherries and dark Karo Syrup for their popular pies.
“We had a crisis a month ago. Couldn’t get the proper catfish,” he said. He spent hours online and calling, trying to find the kind that wouldn’t turn to mush when its fried. “We had two or three weeks when we didn’t have it on the menu.”
Gumbo Ya Ya closing one location
For Greg and Tressa Todd at Gumbo Ya Ya, the latest head-scratcher is jarred garlic, which goes in just about every dish the Cajun restaurant serves.
“Greg goes through four to six cases of garlic a week. Now they are limiting us to one case,” Tressa Todd said. “He’s cooking 60 gallons at a time. So he could use one case on one batch. That is having a huge impact.”
Beyond shortages of garlic and crawfish, prices of chicken and just about everything else have gone up, she said. “Just in the last two-three weeks, our payments to our food supplier have gone up 20 percent across the board.”
Eventually that will have to translate into higher prices on the menu. “That’s just the way it works,” Todd said.
So she and Greg debated how best to prepare for the future. Eventually they decided to consolidate operations at their Brannon Crossing location and close the South Broadway spot at the end of the year after almost 18 years.
“We’re very uneasy about how things are going to go in the next year. We will reduce our risk, lower our overhead,” she said.
The Todds hope their loyal customers will make their way south for their maque choux and etouffee. And once things improve, they plan to expand again, with another Lexington location or maybe a food truck.
“I feel bad, like we’re abandoning our customer base but we have to do what’s best to continue to stay in business,” she said.
Nightmare customers at J. Render’s
Restaurants are facing another problem on the rise: Rude customers. In July, a Massachusetts restaurant shut down for a “Day of Kindness” to give workers a break. Job statistics show that restaurant workers are quitting in droves, with difficult customers a significant reason why.
This week, Gwyn Everly, owner of J. Render’s Southern Table and Bar in Lexington, posted on the restaurant’s Facebook page that she and her husband, Ren, “were extremely disturbed to hear that ... we had some guests who were so rude and unkind to one of our servers that they actually made them cry. Yeah, that’s not who we are. Josh tried to explain to the table but they said they didn’t care if we were shorthanded, it wasn’t an excuse for the service they received. Yes, we are still shorthanded. Yes, we wish we weren’t.”
Everly said a table of 12 came Oct. 9 after a day at Keeneland, when the restaurant only had four servers working.
“One of our best servers had them,” she said. They ordered dozens of beers and drinks as well as food. Altogether, more than $300 worth.
But then things went wrong and the customers started complaining. “Everything took too long, nothing was too their liking and they said something to the server, who had the manager come over,” Everly said.
Although the manager discounted the bill by $100, two people at the table still refused to pay, walking out on checks of $40 and $54.
“And then they didn’t tip her. They left her only a few dollars,” Everly said. “She was crying.”
Everly promised the server it won’t happen again, even if it costs them customers.
“We will not tolerate guests who make our staff cry,” Everly said in the Facebook post. “If you can’t be kind to our staff, please consider another restaurant.”
This story was originally published October 15, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
