Bob Baumhower is no stranger to adversity.

But, he hasn’t seen anything like this.

Baumhower, CEO of Aloha Hospitality, owns and operates 11 restaurants in nine cities in Alabama. Like all business owners, he’s feeling the all-out economic blitz of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since mid-March, when on-premise consumption at eateries was shut down across the state because of the coronavirus, sales are down between 70-80 percent at Baumhower’s locations.

“It really is like being in a nightmare, and you can’t wake up,” Baumhower, 65, the former All-American for the University of Alabama under coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, told AL.com. “It’s like the worst scenario for a restauranteur because you are helpless, and it is completely out of your control. You work so hard to build a team, and you work so hard to build relationships with customers. Then, it’s like a bomb went off, and it is all gone. And, you are trying to negotiate through something that there is no rhyme or reason to.

“You learn a lot about the relationships you have and how strong they are. You learn a lot about yourself. You have to make some choices in terms of do you fight, or do you just close the doors?”

Dauphin’s, a fine-dining establishment on the 34th floor of the RSA Building in Mobile, has been temporarily closed as has his newest establishment, Las Floriditas - a prohibition-era speakeasy located in the basement of the same building.

Baumhower, however, isn’t benching his staff. Instead, he has re-assigned them, trying to find alternative cash flow streams to keep his people paid.

THE FINANCIAL HIT

All nine locations of Baumhower’s Victory Grille, however, remain open in Auburn, Mobile, Daphne, Huntsville, Birmingham (Lee Branch), Montgomery, Tuscaloosa (2) and Vestavia.

Gone is the in-house dining, replaced by online ordering, curbside pickup and Gabi’s “Just Wing It” drive thru. Starting on Monday, add “Victory Grocery” to the list of descriptions.

“The grocery store is just part of the story to me as far as the fight we got with this damn thing,” Baumhower said. “If I don’t get help, I’ll be out of business. This is the last payroll I can do with everybody being on board without closing. The grocery store is the last thing I can come up with to grow sales.”

Baumhower, like many, has applied for an SBA loan.

The Paycheck Protection Program is a loan designed to provide a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll.

SBA will forgive loans if all employees are kept on the payroll for eight weeks and the money is used for payroll, rent, mortgage interest, or utilities.

“The plan has been to do whatever it takes to keep employees paid,” Baumhower said. “We have applied for that loan, and the plan is to use that loan to get us to the other side.

“We’ve applied for help. We need help. What we’ve done, we’re working the plan. While we’re working the plan, we are trying to maximize our services to adapt to the market as it is today. I heard the grocery store shelves were bare. I had never experienced that before. I went into a grocery store, and I saw nothing on the shelves.”

THE VICTORY GROCERY

The Victory Grocery, which debuts Monday, will offer fresh boneless chicken breasts, chicken wings, chicken tenders, all in 5-pound packs, at $2.50 a pound. Orders will be taken over the phone or online, and customer can schedule a pick-up time between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. Other items include bread, milk, cheese, beer, wine, sauces, burgers and ground meat ($3.50 per pound).

“It’s a new business venture for us,” Spencer Baumhower, vice president of operations for Aloha Hospitality, told AL.com. “We have always been a scratch kitchen and only use fresh product, whether it is our famous black and white chicken platter or our famous hot lips, every piece of chicken is hand cut and hand-trimmed in house. There’s no growth hormone. It’s fresh. Not frozen. We’re going to be able to – as far as the proteins are concerned – sell fresh chicken for $2.50 a pound. You can go to the grocery store, and you can’t find that at that price, if you can even find chicken in the grocery story.

“We’ll have draft beer in sealed-gallon containers, which will be at very aggressive pricing."

Bottles of red and white wine are also available at discounted rates.

And, yes, toilet paper is for sale.

“While supplies last, obviously, 99 cents a roll,” Spencer Baumhower said.

The idea, Bob Baumhower said, is to try and make life easier for everyone, including his company and its employees.

“To me, offering this small grocery store package should be appreciated by guests, and I’m hoping they will pick up some chicken or a gallon of milk and buy a party pack of wings or something,” Bob Baumhower quipped.

CALLING AN AUDIBLE ON TRADITION

Aloha Hospitality, like many in hospitality, have made adjustments. Patrons of Victory Grille can still feast on their favorite Baumhower classics. They are just getting them in different ways.

“We’re re-writing our infrastructure on best practices and how to better execute for our guests through these new business initiatives,” Spencer Baumhower said. “We have a new process to better serve our guests.”

Many of the locations have tents outside. Armed with a cloud-based ordering system, a Victory Grille employee will take the order.

“Our whole premise is we’re just kind of winging it,” Spencer Baumhower said. “Back in the day, when dad got started in the ‘80s we were counter-service, quick-service restaurants with just wings. Operationally, our wing station is built for speed and is built so that we can execute wing orders in 1 to 3 minutes. We have folks driving up to the tent and placing the order. We’re ringing it in and by the time they drive around the other side of the building, the wings are waiting on them at a table.”

The response to the curb-side option appears to be catching on.

“It’s been unbelievable,” Bob Baumhower said. “It has been off the hook. For a casual dining restaurant, it is an amazing thing. Our core has been wings forever and ever. We have an advantage. We’re selling a lot of stuff. But by far, No. 1 is buffalo wings. They are taking off online and with curbside ordering.”

At Baumhower’s we are offering curbside service from our “PICK ME UP” menu, which offers 50% off select menu prices and family meals starting as low as $5 per person with a complimentary gallon of Red Diamond sweet or unsweet tea.



Stop by our drive thru, call in or order online! pic.twitter.com/U7puxyzoH3 — Baumhower's Victory Grille (@Baumhowers) April 7, 2020

Waitr and DoorDash are as much a staple to the Baumhower experience as high-definition flat screens and sports memorabilia that decorate the now-vacant dining area.

“The volume isn’t going to match what you would do if you were open for business,” Spencer Baumhower said. “I think people are getting used to our ‘pick me up’ program.

“We’re seeing sales grow from week to week.”

IT JUST ISN’T ENOUGH

Bob Baumhower continues to pull on the same perseverance and will to win learned from Bryant at Alabama when he used to chase down opposing quarterbacks in Tuscaloosa, then later executed in the NFL for Don Shula and the Miami Dolphins.

The most frustrating part for the former defensive tackle, who has been in the restaurant business since he opened his first counter-service eatery in Tuscaloosa in 1981, is trying to remain viable for his teammates, on all levels of his company.

“When something like this happens and you are me, you think about all the responsibilities you have to try to keep things afloat,” Bob Baumhower said.

“If I didn’t have the background I have with coach Bryant and coach Shula and the things I learned there and the whole ‘commitment to the best you can be and winning,’ I don’t know if I could make it.”

It’s his people he’s worried about. Curtis Clarke, for example, has been a cook for Baumhower’s company for 30 years. He is just one of hundreds of examples.

“The grocery store is the last thing I can come up with to grow sales,” Bob Baumhower said. “It is damn scary, man. I’m not sleeping much at night right now.”

A NEW EATERY RIGHT IN TIME?

There may be some relief around the corner, though.

Bob Baumhower is still on track for a May 1 opening of his 12th restaurant, WingFingers. The restaurant, located in Fairhope, may be just what Aloha Hospitality needs.

“WingFingers is us introducing a buffalo-style chicken finger,” Spencer Baumhower said. “Everything is fresh. It will be quick. It will be fast, but it’s not at all fast food. Everything we do is from scratch. We’re making our buffalo sauce from scratch. Our jumbo tenders are fresh. Hand-breading them. We’ll have traditional fingers, southern-fried tenders. We’ll be doing the gooey fries, Mojo-marinated grilled tenders, a few salads.

Bob Baumhower is going old school, back to a counter-service style. The old-school approach couldn’t come at a better time.

“If I can’t keep Baumhower afloat, I’ll literally be the head fry cook at WingFingers in Fairhope,” Bob Baumhower quipped.

His management team, including those at Dauphin’s and Las Floriditas, are currently team members at WingFingers, which is located at Greeno Road and Fairhope Avenue.

“This is definitely like nothing I could ever imagine,” Spencer Baumhower said. “Uncharted waters, and we’re doing everything we can do to navigate the storm. It is unprecedented. There’s no playbook. There’s no handbook. It’s never happened before. … We’re throwing the kitchen sink at this thing, trying to keep our people working, which is important, and to continue to support the communities in this state.”

There’s no question the adversity has worn on Bob Baumhower. It’s detected in his voice, but so is the resolve to get through the pandemic stronger than ever, once again citing his former college coach.

“It’s something that has really helped us in this business,” Bob Baumhower said of a daily devotional recited by Bryant that he keeps in his wallet.

“This is the beginning of a new day. God has given me this day to use it as I will. I can waste it or use it for good. What I do today is very important because I am exchanging a day in my life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever; leaving something in its place I have traded for it. I want it to be a gain, not loss - good, not evil. Success, not failure in order that I shall not forget the price I paid for it.”

Mark Heim is a sports reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim.