This series highlights hospitality professionals who are responding to the industry crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic in particularly creative, conscientious ways.
To date, most of the people I’ve interviewed for this series have been struggling bravely to keep the lights on in just one restaurant or bar. As co-founder and co-president of Los Angeles–based hospitality firm The h.wood Group, John Terzian is juggling 13. Though not all of their venues are currently operating, he and partner Brian Toll have channeled takeout and delivery orders for two of them, retro supper club Delilah and Mexican joint Petite Taqueria, through a third, Italian-American neighborhood spot The Nice Guy; barbecue shack Slab is also offering takeout and delivery. I talked to Terzian about the solemn responsibility he’s bearing as well as the logistical puzzles he must solve to ensure his businesses’ future.
Ruth Tobias: How did you come to the decision to keep the virtual doors of these four establishments open, and why did you choose to streamline operations for three of them?
John Terzian: The way COVID hit, no one could have predicted. But our company was started by entrepreneurs. We view ourselves as that first and foremost. That’s important because entrepreneurs learn to adapt or die—that’s what it is in business.
So we saw this coming by a week or two, and we were definitely prepared. We have a good amount of eyes and ears out there, with friends in London and Paris, and we felt we were going to be about a week behind Paris. At that point what we did was ask ourselves, what are our strongest brands for delivery that are diverse and that people love and crave? I believe that in every crisis people resort to things like comfort food.
But it’s a lot of moving parts all at once that my partner and I had to figure out. Early on we got shipments of masks and the proper gloves, so the staff had all that from day one. Next we tried to figure out what the cooks were going to do. You have to be careful in testing them. [We decided that] the best, most efficient way to make a safe haven and keep a close watch on cleanliness was to do it all in one kitchen rather than worry about who and what’s coming out of five different kitchens.
RT: Going beyond the basics, The Nice Guy is selling pasta, sauce, and other ingredients as well as finished dishes; Petite Taqueria has a tacos and tequila package for six—what are some other ideas you’re implementing?
JT: What we’re looking to do is show care and love to our guests. We think of the people who frequent our places as family. Some of them eat at The Nice Guy four days a week. So we’re trying to bring h.wood to their home. It’s evolving every day, but we want to offer a variety of options. One night you might want a date-night package; the next night you might want to have a Zoom cooking party with your friends.
Slab did a Passover dinner that sold out in a week, and we [did] the same thing for Easter—brisket and sides, a whole box to feed four. I’m the biggest preacher of live music around, and Delilah’s famous for its Sunday Jazz Nights, so I’m working on a package for delivery with a livestream of jazz to almost give you the feeling that you’re at the venue. I’m trying to come up with immersive things like that. All it is is thinking like an entrepreneur rather than sitting and sulking.
RT: What are your predictions and hopes for the future?
JT: I’m a pretty optimistic person, so I try to look at everything happening for a reason. This is a good time to reflect and look at what we’re doing as an operation. One reason we’re [keeping venues open] is it keeps some people employed, but it’s also really critical to keep the brand in people’s homes. That’s important to me, because we’re not going anywhere. We’re coming back. And big-picture-wise, no matter what anyone says, when we do come out of this, things will not be normal for a long time. Maybe 13, 14 months—who knows how long. I think a lot of people are going to think twice about going out to dinner. They’re going to be careful about the money they spend and about being out in public.
I’ve been through a lot in this business, and this is by far the biggest challenge. For a living, we bring people together! The exact thing that we do, in a matter of two weeks, it was taken away from all of us. How do you evolve? We have a ton of workers that have been with us for so long, and everybody has done an amazing job. We’re still in it. But it’s gotten us to think outside the box and realize this might not be the only time in our career that we have to evolve, fast. So I want to be at the forefront of offering a high-quality product for delivery. I want to perfect it, because it’s going to be part of our business for the long haul.
What I have liked seeing is that, prior to COVID, restaurant groups were all in their own little silos. This incident has caused everyone to come together. I’m talking to all these restaurateurs and bar owners I’ve never talked to before, and I don’t feel any competition at all—if anything I’m promoting other people. Everyone’s in it together. That’s pretty cool and special.
