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The Pop-Up Restaurant Will Stay on the Menu
Pop-up restaurants, many launched as stopgap measures by struggling chefs and owners, may have staying power, the Associated Press reported. The format is proving durable as consumers continue to embrace takeout and delivery and the delta variant threatens to make dining-in less of an option.
Cheaper to operate than regular restaurants because they have less overhead and staffing costs, pop-ups let chefs and owners keep working and making a living during the early part of the pandemic when dining rooms were closed and the future of the economy was uncertain, AP reported. They’ve helped bring buzz to existing restaurants that host them. And some have even morphed into permanent new businesses.
Along with the lodging sector, the restaurant industry was one of the hardest-hit by the pandemic. It is still down one million jobs from the pre-pandemic employment level of 12.3 million. Restaurant sales in 2020 totaled $659 billion, down $240 billion from what the National Restaurant Association (NRA) originally projected for last year.
Sales have rebounded this year as the economy recovered and restrictions were lifted. However, AP reported that some economists are paring back expectations for U.S. economic growth, partly because they expect fewer people to dine out.
“2021 is definitely a year of transition for the restaurant industry,” Hudson Riehle, SVP of research for the NRA, told AP. “The industry is still being substantially challenged by the COVID situation.”
The flexibility of the take-out and delivery model helped Alex Thaboua meet those challenges. Thaboua is co-owner of Electric Burrito, which began as a pop-up at Mister Paradise bar in New York in 2020. A permanent location opened in May and is focused on take-out and delivery, so even if there is another lockdown, the restaurant will be able to operate, he said.
“This flexibility was something we found very important during our pop-up stages, when the world was getting locked down and heavy restrictions were being placed on businesses,” Thaboua told AP. “We’ve designed our operations in a way that we can continue to operate with a lean team, with every safety precaution taken, to be able to serve guests in both a to-go and delivery capacity.”
Hathorne, a restaurant in Nashville, has hosted about 10 pop-ups featuring local area chefs since the pandemic began. For the pop-up operations, it is a way to get exposure and have access to a full kitchen. For Hathorne, it’s a way to fill seats on nights it would otherwise be empty. Since reopening for in-person dining in October, the restaurant is open just four days per week.
