Chef Andrew Gruel is the founder of Slapfish, a fast-casual chain based in Huntington Beach, Calif., that was launched as a food truck in 2010 and opened its first brick-and-mortar location a year later with the mission to “make seafood sexy again.”
Now with 25 locations, most of them franchised, Gruel has overseen the chain’s shift in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic to a concept with modified service offering takeout and delivery.
In this video, Gruel discusses the ways he has implemented social distancing for his staff as well as for his guests, and how many Slapfish locations have managed to keep sales from cratering by remaining engaged in the community, listening to their customers and providing them what they need.
In his own restaurants, Gruel is offering groceries and giving away masks which he’s purchasing from local company Anti-Microbial Masks.
This is part of our Stories from the Front Lines series.
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