At the back of the 25th Street Shopping Center, a black and white catering van is parked adjacent to a metal doorway.
The vehicle, with an illustration of a plane, serves as the only indication of human activity in the area.
Inside the hidden entrance, Columbus businessman Caleb Blackerby is creating a new normal.
Blackerby weighs and seasons sweet peas in aluminum pans while a roast cooks in the oven of his commissary kitchen. The floor is still a little damp, from the most recent mopping, insuring any possible germs are destroyed.
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Between each action, Blackerby takes as many safety precautions as possible.
Gloves are changed after every task, each surface is sanitized every 15 minutes and the entire kitchen is fully sanitized every two hours.
The parking lot out front of the strip mall has emptied Tuesday, as statewide COVID-19 restrictions have limited the ways most dining operations do business.
While some businesses can afford to close doors in full, the Blackerbys can’t — the family owns five businesses, and in a matter of hours on Monday, their livelihoods — and the livelihood of their employees — were put in jeopardy after an executive order by Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb.
In a continuing effort to slow the spread of novel coronavirus, Holcomb announced additional efforts earlier this week. Bars, nightclubs and restaurants were required to close to in-person patrons and may provide take-out and delivery services through the end of March.
A few hours before Holcomb’s announcement, Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop, joined by Bartholomew County Commissioner Carl Lienhoop and other local officials in a telephone press conference, urged restaurants and other businesses to promote take-out, drive-thru or delivery options; churches to reconsider any meetings; and all members of the community follow new guidelines from the federal Centers for Disease Control that recommend canceling or postponing in-person events that consist of 50 people for the next eight weeks.
Later in the day, President Donald Trump recommended that number be no more than 10 people in a gathering.
The new rules
Outside of Blackerby’s Hangar 5 restaurant, the family owns First Class Catering, Factory 12 Event Loft, Hangar 5 Catering and First Class Events.
While most operations aren’t able to continue, Blackerby is trying to adjust to the new set of rules by offering new services.
The business is now only doing deliveries on a dedicated line while also setting up a new online ordering system and keeping the public informed via its Facebook page.
“This idea of meal delivery has been something I’ve been thinking about for a long time since we do catering as well,” Blackerby said. “We already have the kitchen and setup, we just never had the time to do it. We have five companies and all five have essentially shut down Monday. We are in a place where we have to pay the bills. We need to keep our employees employed to the best of our abilities.”
Blackerby said the business has 24 full-time and 45 part-time employees. He said most of the part-timers are high school and college-aged, and that they’ve told them they won’t have work for a while.
“Full-time, several are going on unemployment like they are at other restaurants,” Blackerby said. “We’re going to try and keep as many as we can. If this idea takes off, the more people we can get back to work.”
Blackerby is offering no-contact delivery. You call and order a variety of food and pay for it over the phone. The food is left on your front porch without any interactions. Meals are good for four hours on the porch, can be kept in a cooler three to five days or be frozen for up to 90 days, Blackerby said. Instructions on how to cook/re-heat the foods are printed on the packaging.
Before any of his staff even enter the kitchen, which has never been open to the public, Blackerby has each staff member take their temperature to make sure they aren’t running a fever or show any signs of COVID-19.
When the news came down that the restaurant would need to close, Blackerby said that he allowed staff to take home food so it didn’t spoil.
While the sustainability of offering delivery is still to be determined, Blackerby is trying to stay optimistic that help is coming while encouraging citizens to shop local.
“Six weeks, or six months, from now people are still going to want to eat in their community,” Blackerby said. “If you don’t do something now to help support us, we won’t be around. The chains have massive insurance policies, but us small businesses don’t have all that in place.
“We all have insurance, but we’re not sure if it’s going to pay out or not. They are telling us to make a claim and see what happens. Hopefully some assistance is coming. We have a nest egg to last us a little while. I have told people six weeks we are OK, but six months we’re not.”
Finding partners
Blackerby’s isn’t the only organization changing the way business is done.
The Savory Swine, owned by Lisa Abendroth, is doing takeout — per usual — but has added delivery to its {span class=”oi732d6d ik7dh3pa d2edcug0 qv66sw1b c1et5uql a8c37x1j s89635nw ew0dbk1b jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id” dir=”auto”}deli, wine and butcher shop services offered in downtown Columbus.{/span}
{span class=”oi732d6d ik7dh3pa d2edcug0 qv66sw1b c1et5uql a8c37x1j s89635nw ew0dbk1b jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id” dir=”auto”}”Our fortunate position is that this is our eighth year of being here,” Abendroth said. “Our relationship with our vendors is very close. I only have two or three vendors I remain very close to.”{/span}
{span class=”oi732d6d ik7dh3pa d2edcug0 qv66sw1b c1et5uql a8c37x1j s89635nw ew0dbk1b jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id” dir=”auto”}A full truck of meat and other goods arrived on Wednesday and another was scheduled this week.{/span}
Columbus resident Jason Boyer stopped by The Savory Swine to pick up lunch before the truck came in.
“I honestly felt this place would be the cleanest … and their sandwiches are really good,” Boyer said. “I think it’s important to keep the money local. A lot of money is going to places like Amazon. People need to go to local restaurants and get away from the chains. It’s going to be a tough economic slide on top of the virus, so putting more money in our economy just makes sense.”
Individuals, including Mayor Jim Lienhoop, came and went during the day to pick up items.
{span class=”oi732d6d ik7dh3pa d2edcug0 qv66sw1b c1et5uql a8c37x1j s89635nw ew0dbk1b jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id” dir=”auto”}Abendroth, who has 11 employees including five full-timers, said that downtown businesses are banding together during this tough time.{/span}
“What I really enjoy about our community and downtown business world is that we do a lot of co-promotions and co-marketing,” she said. “Right now, for example, we’re trying to put together a deal with the (Viewpoint) book store. We could do a charcuterie board, bottle of wine and also offer a book and card game, and we could deliver it. I love our community down here, we talk to each other a lot. We communicate on how we are doing and what we need.”
One of the greatest challenges for the restaurants is deciding on how much inventory to order to keep product fresh.
Abendroth has an idea of how to help that issue.
“I have been talking a lot to the other restaurants,” Abendroth said. “If they don’t want to place large food orders for delivery, I want them to let me know what they need and I can move it through my store and they can piecemeal it for what they need. That way they don’t get stuck with 60 pounds of something they don’t need for the next two weeks.”
Special products will also be available from the business.
Instead of meal assembly classes, the business is now planning to make those meals and sell them to the public. The meals will be posted on their Facebook page.
Those delivering food for Abendroth are students looking for work. She said that she feels like her workers are family, and that are going to weather the storm together.
“We’re a pretty good family here,” Abendroth said. “We’re on a first name basis with a large part of our customer base. I think our staff was just worried about losing that — providing food for the folks that rely on us and enjoy the products we have. I think they know we provide something the community wants and needs. We are going to work it out. We’re going to find a way to make this happen.”
Led by prayer
Some restaurants are offering a faith-based donation to the community while they continue to offer carry-out to paying customers.
Rohde’s Family Diner, 1644 Orinoco Ave., is offering free soup for carry-out Monday through Friday next week between 5 and 7 p.m. The free soup will be available for anyone.
In order to comply with the safety recommendations due to the pandemic, people are asked to pull up in front of the diner on Orinoco Avenue, and someone from the family will bring the food to them.
The diner’s normal business will continue offering free delivery (in the city limits) and carry-out, Monday through Friday, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Orders can be made by calling (812) 372-1890, and their menu is available at online.
In a joint statement, the owners, Jon and Sarah Rohde, said, “While many other people and organizations are doing a great job in fulfilling needs in our community, we prayed about how we could best serve. We were led to realize that we had the ability to help our neighbors and simultaneously keep them safe by offering this small token of support.”
Built on takeout and delivery
While Kurt Zwanzig has been in the restaurant industry for 18 1/2 years, he says he never seen anything quite like COVID-19.
Kurt and his wife Lisa, owners of ZwanzigZ Pizza, built their business on takeout and delivery, so they’re relying on the basics to continue a steady stream of revenue. Those two modes of transaction were the only two offered in 2002 when the pizza restaurant first opened up.
Inside their restaurant at 1038 Lafayette Ave., the Zwanzigs are trying to keep the mood upbeat, with music playing and workers buzzing around making food, filling up growlers with craft beer, and taking care of orders.
Kurt said that some customers have come in multiple days in a row because it makes them felt like a return to normalcy. He said said that ZwanzigZ staff have made an attempt to stagger the orders, so fewer people come into the restaurant at once.
While the restaurant hasn’t been hit as hard as some others that didn’t already offer takeout and delivery services, Kurt Zwanzig said there’s still a fear for all businesses of the unknown as there’s no timetable as to when the restrictions will be lifted.
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The Indiana Chamber of Commerce has created a statewide employer resource page providing information under three umbrellas: Health, Tools You Can Use and Government and Community Assistance.
The group is also taking specific business questions that will be answered by staff and private sector professionals.
The site – www.indianachamber.com/coronavirus – features guidance on key workplace and legal topics, a coronavirus toolkit and information on unemployment insurance from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, in addition to providing health and other government resources.
No Indiana Chamber membership is required.
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Governor Eric J. Holcomb announced Thursday that Indiana small businesses are eligible for financial assistance under a disaster designation by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
This declaration is in response to a formal request Gov. Holcomb submitted with the SBA on Tuesday, seeking assistance through the organization’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program for small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak in Indiana.
Under the program, small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives and nonprofits across the state are eligible to apply for low-interest loans up to $2 million to help overcome the temporary loss of revenue due to the COVID-19 outbreak. These loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills incurred during this public health emergency. The loan interest rates for small businesses and nonprofits are 3.75% and 2.75%, respectively, with terms up to 30 years.
To qualify for disaster loans, applicants must demonstrate credit history, the ability to repay the loan, and proof of physical presence in Indiana and working capital losses.
Additionally, the Indiana Small Business Development Center, which has 10 regional offices throughout the state, will provide free business advising and application assistance for small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak.
To apply for loans or receive more information about the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, visit SBA.gov/Disaster. Contact 1-800-659-2955 or [email protected] with additional questions. The deadline to apply for the disaster loans is Dec. 18, 2020.
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