Technically speaking: How technology helped save independent Dallas restaurants during the pandemic – The Dallas Morning News

As restaurants navigated the uncertainty of the pandemic over the last year, one thing quickly became clear: Technology was going to be a key to survival.

From low-tech intercom systems to high-tech delivery apps and virtual food halls, many forms of technology not only saved small, family-owned restaurants during the pandemic but also might be used long-term.

You might think a walk-up restaurant would have little to change during a pandemic. While this might be partly true, Reyna Duong of Sandwich Hag in The Cedars didnt want to take any chances. Requiring customers to use hand sanitizer before checking out on a mobile device just wasnt safe enough, Duong says.

When they order at the window, its not 6 feet of separation, she says. So she decided to go completely contactless. We installed an intercom system that was both ways: We could hear the customers, and the customers can hear us. That has been really productive.

The change was not only for the physical safety of the customers but also for the safety of her staff, especially the workers mental health. It alleviates any confusion and awkwardness, Duong says. Its been nice for the mental health of the team. If I can do everything I can to minimize the stress the team has in any type of potential confrontation with the customer, then thats a win.

Duong confirms that her restaurant will remain contactless for the foreseeable future. Now its just a wait and see, she says. In the meantime, I continue to follow science. My comfort level may change with allowing in-person orders if our Dallas vaccination percentage continues to increase. It would be great to get to herd immunity, so well see where we land this summer. Im not the vax monitor, nor do I want to be, and everyone has a different level of comfort. Keeping our safety protocol consistent is important for our team and our customers.

For Whisk Crepes Cafe owner Julien Eelsen, his restaurants COVID transition like many involved closing his dining room to customers in 2020. The first thing we did was create an online store selling crepes for pickup, merchandise and provisions, Eelsen says. The second thing was third-party deliveries like Uber Eats, Door Dash, and Postmates.

Having a wine license presented an added boost. I got a cottage permit, and that allowed us to deliver wine, Eelsen says. And that brought us an extra 10% of business from May through October. It didnt save us, but it helped a little bit. Id take my Crepe Mobile and deliver it myself.

Moving forward, Eelsen says, third-party apps will be an indefinite addition, and possibly online wine sales, too.

Its a big difference between mom-and-pop, independent restaurants and big chains, he says. That access to technology is really what hurts small restaurants. Its easy for them to implement something like that. For us, its super-hard. Were literally hustling for every sale.

Like Whisk, Oak Cliffs Kessler Baking Studio closed its space to guests, and it continues to do. In 2020, one of the biggest and most beneficial adjustments was adding curbside pickup with tech features from Square, a digital payments company.

When people arrive, they can text us to let us know they pulled up curbside, owner Clyde Greenhouse says. People are really embracing it, so we like that. Were looking to open our studio back up to customers in June, but curbside is definitely something we plan to keep.

Another boost came from Goldbelly, an online marketplace for local artisanal foods that Greenhouse began using earlier this year to ship items such as brownies and Texas pecan shortbread cookies nationwide.

For local delivery, Kessler Baking Studio uses Favor as well as Quick Dish Delivery a local food delivery company founded by Oak Cliff native Chavarria Carter which serves previously underrepresented areas such as Oak Cliff, Cedar Hill, Lancaster, DeSoto and Duncanville.

Many third-party delivery apps take a portion of a restaurants profits, but many small businesses say its worth it.

And as the delivery business thrived during the pandemic, buzz grew about ghost kitchens, which are delivery-only kitchens with no dine-in space. For Tyler Shin, founder of Revolving Kitchen commercial kitchen rentals in Garland, it was the perfect opportunity to merge the two. He created a Virtual Food Hall, a concept thats accessible online and on the recently released Revolving Kitchen app. You can order food from several of the restaurants at Revolving Kitchen and pick it up or have it delivered.

We decided that not only do we want to provide the kitchen, lets figure out a way to help them and bring in the business, Shin says. So you go on the app and you can choose whatever restaurant you want to order from within our facility. If you have a family of four and, say, you want wings and your kids want pizza or vegan food you can order all those things from different restaurants inside Revolving Kitchen as a single order, rather than having to go to three or four different places and have separate transactions and separate pickups or deliveries.

So whats the future of the restaurant industry?

The real answer is, I dont know, and if anyone ever tells you otherwise, theyre lying, Shin says with a laugh. But based on my experience, what the pandemic did was accelerate the technology advancement with human behavior.

Shin says that while people who want to go out for food will still go out, tech is likely to be crucial in providing convenience, especially during the week.

I think delivery and grab-and-go will be around, he says. The food delivery app has given every restaurant an even playing field. If youre looking for convenience, then delivery and takeout are here to stay.

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Technically speaking: How technology helped save independent Dallas restaurants during the pandemic - The Dallas Morning News