Food hubs are the new food halls, as restaurants team up to make it through the pandemic
There’s the old saying about imitation and flattery. For restaurants wading through the coronavirus crisis, imitation, especially when it works, may be the key to survival.
The Triangle now has a pair of food hubs, collections of multiple restaurants organizing to sell meals, pantry staples, produce and even protective masks at weekly pickup sites. Think of it as the food hall trend for the coronavirus era, a model built on working together while everyone tries to stay apart.
The model started with Carrboro United back in March, just after the restaurant shutdown started. It continues on weekends with Ko.mmunity Hub, from the Cary restaurant ko.an.
“We were definitely inspired by Carrboro,” ko.an chef Drew Smith said, crediting Tabletop Media owner Kristen Baughman and consultant Jenn Rice as partners in the venture. “I think of it as a drive-thru restaurant market.”
Ko.mmunity takes weekly orders, closing sales on Thursday for pick-up Saturday at ko.an in Cary. For the first week, Smith said they did 200 orders. Among the Ko.mmunity vendors are Zenfish poke shop, Papa Shogun, Baba Ghannouj, Slingshot Coffee, Botanist and Barrel and others. Fo Ko.mmunity, Smith said food distributor US Foods has loaned them a refrigerated trailer to store orders.
“It’s taught me you have to be able to adapt on the fly,” Smith said. “You have to react to your surroundings. I never imagined we’d be doing what we’re doing now.”
Surviving and treading water
Ko.an was among the first restaurants to open up its pantry to customers and operate as a small-scale grocer, in addition to serving takeout. Smith said the move meant that the restaurant’s 11 managers kept their jobs, that three cooks could come back to work and that several servers became delivery drivers or ran curbside pickup. A third of the restaurant’s revenue returned and it started to feel like ko.an had found its bottom and could start the climb back up.
“We’re surviving,” Smith said. “We’re treading water, but we’re not going to sink.”
At this point, even the goal can seem unclear. Are restaurants scratching and clawing to ferry the business to dry ground on the other side of this moment? Or is there no dry land and we all live on boats now?
As restaurants begin to consider their own reopening timelines, Smith expects to strike a balance between the old world and the new. Eventually though, he thinks people will be passionate about returning to restaurants.
“We’re trying to figure out how this fits into our business model,” Smith said. “Maybe we could do the hub on Saturday mornings and have a dinner service Saturday nights. We’re still thinking about what this looks like. ... “We’re grieving in common. We’re going to be celebrating in common, too. Even though it’s weird.”
The hubs address a couple pangs troubling this temporary economy, Smith said. Traditional supply lines are struggling, but that demand is still there. He said looking to local sources can be the answer.
“If the chain is breaking, we’re going to create a new one,” Smith said. “This will stem from a very sustainable model. In the future people are going to have to rely on more local options.”
‘It’s grown every day’
In Carrboro, the food hub has grown each week and now includes two dozen different vendors preparing as many as 1,500 orders per week. The vendor list includes Acme Food & Beverage, which helped launch and organize the hub, Glasshalfull, Grey Squirrel Coffee, Carrboro Coffee, Oakleaf, Luna Rotisserie and Empanadas and others.
“We are thrilled with the response,” said Carrboro businessman Tom Raynor, one of Carrboro United’s founders. “It’s grown every day.”
Raynor said he’s encouraged to see ko.an’s food hub pop up and hopes to see more around the Triangle. He expects restaurants and creations like the hub will continue to evolve as the public adapts to new safety measures and guidelines over the coming months.
“You can have numerous hubs, just like numerous supermarkets, and they can all be successful,” Raynor said. “There’s going to be a seismic change in the way people eat. ... Food is a language everybody speaks. It’s a really important part of the (coronavirus) conversation. But it’s a long-term conversation.”
McKenzie Reinhold now organizes Carrboro United and said they’re starting to think about the future beyond reopening.
“Those are conversations we’re going to have to have pretty soon,” said. “It’s kind of up in the air; I’d love to keep it going.”
To order from Ko.mmunity or Carrboro United, visit their websites at koancary.com/kommunity-hub or https://carrborounited.com.
This story was originally published May 11, 2020 at 8:30 AM with the headline "Food hubs are the new food halls, as restaurants team up to make it through the pandemic."
