Marketing is usually top of mind for restaurants — except when a natural disaster strikes. In the wake of any catastrophes, the need to preserve the store and protect employees comes first for restaurateurs.
But even amidst a dramatic event, restaurants can bolster their brand. Giving back to the community can make an unconscious impact on the patrons that a restaurant serves. In addition, post-disaster renovations — while typically based on necessity —ultimately can result in better business.
Martin Mayer, chief operating officer of the Loop Pizza Grill, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based, 27-unit fast-casual chain, vividly remembers when Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992.
"When it hit, it was utter devastation," said Mayer, who was working at a different company at the time. "The basic essentials of life were no longer there."
Unquestionably, surviving the aftermath of a storm calls for grit, long hours and fierce determination.
"The recovery part is probably the most difficult," Mayer said.
Hurricane Katrina was a bit of déjà vu for Mayer, whose Mandeville unit near New Orleans still is struggling to hire personnel two years later. And other restaurants along the Gulf Coast still feel the effects of the 2005 hurricane.
Shearn Lemoine, founder and "chief burger officer" for Times Grill, a Louisiana-based, six-unit casual-dining chain, said employment is just starting to stabilize at the Mandeville and Slidell stores.
"What we found was the labor pool was so much smaller and the competition was so much greater that it really drove up the average wage," Lemoine said. "It was just probably over the summer [that] things started to normalize."
Both Mayer and Lemoine acknowledged that business would have been worse had the companies not prepared properly for the hurricane.
"Preparedness is the key," Mayer said. "After going through Hurricane Andrew and the subsequent six storms hitting Florida, you can never be prepared enough."
Lemoine, for one, feels grateful for having invested in proper insurance.
"You hate to pay it, but when you need it, it keeps everyone employed," he said.
Storms also have a lasting impact on a community. In debilitating situations like Hurricane Katrina, small acts of charity can go a long way. Lemoine's restaurants donated refrigerated food, such as cheese, ground meat, vegetables, fish and chicken, to the local fire department, nurses and hospitals. While it was not a brand-building initiative, it helped to build connections with patrons, Lemoine acknowledged.
"We were able to not only do the right thing but build some goodwill with the community as well," Lemoine said.
Josh Kern, vice president of Vicorp Restaurants Inc., which owns the family-style chains Baker's Square and Village Inn, noted that giving back to the community and the store employees is an obligation.
"In any kind of disaster situation, we believe it's our mission to support the community, and food is a good bridge to get people to take a minute to enjoy themselves while they are fighting these catastrophes," Kern said.
Earlier this month Baker's Square raised $6,000 during a fund-raiser in California to help people recovering from the wildfires. Thankfully, none of the employees at the Baker's Square stores were affected. Fund-raisers help boost the morale of employees, he said.
"I'm not seeing this as a brand-building program that will triple sales, but it's kind of a morale-rallying cry for people on the ground and at our restaurants — from a cook to a server to a host. If they know they have corporate's backing, they start to feel better about the organization and the community they support."
You can't underestimate the impact of fund-raising on business, noted Joseph Durocher, associate professor of hospitality management at the University of New Hampshire.
"Give people a tangible reason to come in," he said. "You are looking for all the hooks you can get to get back," he added.
Addressing employees' concerns following a disaster is key. The little things, such as making sure employees can fill up their gas tanks, is an essential part of the recovery plan, according to Mayer of the Loop Pizza Grill.
"We can never take the people part out of the business," he said. "We need to provide resources so they can get back to a productive state of life."
While no one asks for disasters, tough times also can present unexpected opportunities.
The migration of residents from New Orleans to the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain actually has helped business at the Times Grill stores, one of which was still in the process of being built when Katrina landed.
"If there was a silver lining, the area we had picked to build in was not affected and was only positively affected in the short term by people leaving the New Orleans area," Lemoine said.
Restaurants often have to renovate, but this too might be a profit-making endeavor. When Hurricane Wilma destroyed many restaurants owned by the Mexico-based Senor Frog's chain, renovations were a chance to re-introduce the fun-loving brand, according to the Quantified Marketing Group, a marketing firm that represents the chain. It incorporated fun concepts like miniature putt-putt golf with a $100 bar tab prize, inner tubes in the ceiling and a hot tub in the middle of the restaurant. The result? More guests than ever before.
New business insights also can emerge out of the wreckage. Lemoine of the Times Grill said he learned an important lesson as a result of Hurricane Katrina: Nothing is more important than customer service — especially with the increased business competition in the area.
"It's just not good enough to have great food anymore," Lemoine said. "To differentiate yourself from your neighbor, you must have great food. You also must have great hospitality."
Planning ahead
You can never be too prepared for a disaster. Following are some readiness tips from restaurateurs Shearn Lemoine and Martin Mayer, who have experienced Mother Nature's fury firsthand:
- Revisit your inventory. Make sure you have plywood to board up buildings, sandbags for areas prone to flood, flashlights, first aid kits and other emergency essentials.
- Make sure you have the best insurance possible.
- Know where to go to reserve back-up generators.
- Have contact information for all employees and have an employee phone tree system in place. Also plan to activate a hotline during a disaster so employees or management can call in for information.
- Be aware of an employee assistance program that helps with employees' grieving process following a disaster.
