'We are finished': Takeout and delivery isn't sustaining Indianapolis restaurants

Mike Gomez has a firm modus operandi during the coronavirus pandemic that locked down his micro restaurant at Indianapolis City Market.

“I’m looking at this like no one’s gonna help us, we gotta pay our bills, and we gotta figure out how to pay our bills,” the owner of Gomez BBQ said.

Like many other restaurateurs across the metro area, Gomez hatched a food-delivery plan rather than depend on government aid to save his business.

He still unloads meats each morning from the vintage smoker he scored in Detroit last fall and lovingly refurbished. Top-selling brisket the pitmaster usually piles on sandwiches and plates, gone by mid-lunch on a normal weekday, now gets vacuum-packed.

Gomez himself delivers meats in surreal circumstances. Customers, even regulars and friends, refuse to open the door for the happy-go-lucky guy they joked with at Gomez's barbecue counter just two weeks ago.

“I drove out to Ironworks to meet somebody in a parking lot to drop off a family dinner tray. It felt like a drug deal,” Gomez said. “We got in the parking lot. She gave me cash, and I gave her some food.”

Gomez also organized other City Market vendors into a food delivery consortium that “brings the City Market to your door.” In two days, the effort generated a few hundred dollars in sales, something extra on top of the takeout they’re able to sell at City Market. Every little bit helps, but no one is kidding themselves.

“It’s not enough to keep employees. It’s not enough to pay myself. It’s enough to maybe pay the bills,” Gomez said. "And if its enough to pay the bills and get through this, great."

'We quit. We are finished.'

When Gov. Eric Holcomb halted dine-in service March 16 to control the coronavirus’ spread, many restaurant owners quickly shifted to takeout and delivery. Social media lit up with customer calls to “support our local restaurants.” Organizations created hashtags like #carryoutwednesday and #TheGreatAmericanTakeout. Efforts have boosted sales but not nearly enough, Indiana Restaurant and Lodging Association president Patrick Tamm said.

Indiana's restaurant industry overall lost an estimated $433 million in sales and more than 53,000 jobs during the first 22 days of March, the InRLA reported.

Owners have cited sales declines of up to 80%, Tamm said. Even restaurants with established takeout menus, places with drive-up windows or that already used third-party delivery services such as UberEats, are down, some to as little as 3% of their typical carryout income.

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“We’re seeing the effects as each day goes by,” said Rob Chinsky, who owns 18 Penn Station sub shops.

Although his restaurants have long relied on carryout, Chinsky said, “Last week, we saw 30% drops, and now they’re just continuing to grow. I have some stores that will potentially close (for takeout) just because they’re not doing the volume.”

Some restaurant owners offered takeout just long enough to sell what was left on shelves and in coolers. Many had stocked up to serve the influx expected during the Big Ten basketball tournament, which was canceled four days before Holcomb clamped down on dine-in service.

Others just gave up on takeout and shuttered until further notice.

Famous Milktooth concluded its take-out run March 27 with free soup for medical professionals and anyone in need. Chef Neal Brown's Ukiyo in SoBro, burger favorite Kuma’s Corner in Fountain Square, the north side's North End Barbecue and Late Harvest Kitchen and the southside's beloved Roscoe’s Tacos locations also discontinued takeout.

It wasn't just about the money. Roscoe's owner felt closing would help keep people sheltered in place.

“We quit. We are finished. For now. Maybe forever,” James Roscoe Townsend wrote March 24 on Facebook.

“It is our best choice. Quitting is winning. Stopping is correct. It is a question of morality,” Townsend wrote.

'It's survival time'

Some places, like St. Elmo Steakhouse downtown, Juniper on Main in Carmel and Cunningham Restaurant Group brands Rize, Vida, Nesso, Union 50, Provision and Tavern at the Point, never turned to carryout or delivery after the dine-in cease order. Others who gave those measures a shot knew they weren't long-term options.

“I never saw it as a sustainable business model, being ‘kind of open,’ ” Late Harvest Kitchen and North End Barbecue owner chef Ryan Nelson said.

Food sales at his restaurants, even with carryout, dipped 95%.

“If you’re operating, you still have all these other charges, all these other vendors, all these other costs," he said. "And if you’re doing just a small amount, just a fraction, of your normal business, who are you paying?”

Neighborhood restaurants, including those offering family meals to-go, have fared a little better, Tamm said. Communities have rallied around places like Vino Villa in Greenwood, Northside Kitchenette in Broad Ripple, Tuchetti’s in Fountain Square and Napolese in Meridian-Kessler.

All Napolese takeout sales and tips bankrolled parent company Patachou Inc.’s employee emergency relief fund. The account usually carries around $10,000, Patachou founder Martha Hoover said March 23 on the Take Away Only podcast.

On March 25, Patachou reported the fund was up to $40,000, money that helped 50 employees immediately pay for rent, utilities, medication and food.

By March 27, Napolese joined the Patachou group's other 11 restaurants as closed until further notice.

'They simply will not reopen'

Fewer carryout options may pressure already-stressed grocers. Americans spend nearly 40% of their food dollars on meals away from home, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Some restaurants, including Rooster’s Kitchen on Mass Ave., Sahm’s restaurants, Big Lug Canteen in Nora and Studio C and Half Liter BBQ in SoBro, have stepped up to ease the crush by becoming curbside food markets.

Restaurants need a miracle: But they keep giving back

As unwilling as they are to surrender, restaurateurs know that they are operating on borrowed time as the number of COVID-19 cases in the United States rise.

“These are the first few weeks when everybody is rallying, and everybody is trying to support everybody, which is great ... but we all know that has a shelf life,” Nicole Oprisu said.

Her five Broad Ripple-area restaurants — Delicia, La Mulita, Northside Social, Northside Kitchenette and Old Pro’s Table — are down 70%.

“More people are going to lose jobs," she said. "It’s going to be harder for people to get out and about. It’s going to be harder for people to come pick things up.”

As sales dry up, permanent restaurant closures will follow, Tamm said.

“We already have restaurants that we know, unfortunately, will not reopen, barring some mass cash infusion, free cash infusion,” he said. “They simply will not reopen.”

The federal $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, OK'd Friday includes direct payments to Americans and expanded unemployment benefits, two things that will support laid-off restaurant staff. Being able to take care of them is the top worry of many restaurant owners.

Help on the way: How the $2 trillion federal stimulus helps Hoosiers

Restaurateurs themselves can go after Small Business Administration Loans, but Oprisu said proprietors need a hand filling out the application's detailed questionnaire.

The act also offers tax breaks, something.restaurant owners wish Indiana consider, specifically deferring state sales and food-and-beverage tax bills.

Oprisu also suggested a break on state rules prohibiting carryout cocktails.

Quart jugs of margaritas and sangria made in-house accounted for a third of Delicia’s overall takeout sales since March 16, but Indiana rules do not allow bars and restaurants to pour alcoholic beverages into containers and sell them. Filling beer growlers is the only exception. This week, state leaders reiterated those rules.

“Now seems like a ridiculous time to place limits on what we can do to survive, let alone go out of the way to limit something on a technicality,” Oprisu said.

Patachou Inc.'s Hoover said on the Take Away Only podcast that she fears people don’t yet recognize how vulnerable restaurants are, even successful restaurants like her Café Patachou, an Indianapolis favorite for 30 years.

“We all require cash flow. We all require butts in seats and sales to operate," she said. "These are really fragile ecosystems. And we are now learning how fragile we are.”

Follow IndyStar food writer Liz Biro on Twitter: @lizbiro, Instagram: @lizbiro, and on Facebook. Call her at 317-444-6264.