This series highlights hospitality professionals who are responding to the industry crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic in particularly creative, conscientious ways.
Tampa, Florida–based restaurateurs Roger and Suzanne Perry have known a thing or two about adversity since they launched their comfort-food flagship, Datz, in the midst of the recession in 2009. They also know a thing or two about overcoming it, having proven successful enough to follow up with a bakery, Dough; a catering company; and three ventures in St. Petersburg: smokehouse Dr. BBQ, museum café The Canyon, and an outpost of Datz. In fact, on the day that Florida’s restaurants were ordered to close, Roger explains, “A third Datz was due to start training. We had to call 75 people and say, ‘Sorry, we have to put this on hold.’” Adds Suzanne, “In the morning, we were still interviewing chefs, and literally six hours later, we’re looking at each other: ‘This is it. It’s over.’ It was honestly a shock. We had two choices: Either close [the existing properties] right now or attempt takeout and delivery. Now we’re just trying to survive again.”
In the process, they’re discovering and rediscovering not only their own flair for ingenuity but also the courage and compassion of their community.
One extraordinary example involves their decision to launch an online “quarantine liquor store” a few weeks ago. As Suzanne explains, “At the time, some of our stores were not covering their payroll, never mind bills, and we were personally covering payroll for existing staff. So we decided to offer our top bourbon collection.” That included a bottle of 25 Year Old Pappy Van Winkle for the eye-popping price of $20,000. “We did it almost in a moment of hysteria—let’s put this 1-in-700 bottle up and hope that the people [at the company] won’t be super-offended.”
Offers rolled in immediately, but the prospective buyers were “really lowballing,” she says—until April 2, when “somebody called me and asked, ‘If I bought this bottle, what are you doing with the money?’ I said, ‘Listen, we’re just trying to keep going. I’m trying to pay this little baby staff I have left.’ And he said, ‘Yes, I think I’ll take it—I’m going to move some things around and come in tomorrow with a cashier’s check.’” The next day, he showed up and handed a folded check to her husband. “Roger opened it and turned around and said, ‘The amount’s wrong.’ And the gentleman said, ‘No, we want you to have this.’” He’d given them $40,000—double the asking price.
To this day, Suzanne admits, “We have no idea why he was moved to do that. I know he’s been a customer in our restaurants for many years and that he’s a philanthropist; I suspect he may have been associated with causes we’ve supported over the years.” But whatever his reasons, she says, the publicly unnamed buyer “made a huge difference to us.” So, incidentally, did the reaction of Julian Van Winkle III, who—far from being offended—“was very pleased,” according to Roger, and has even offered to come to Florida and sign the decanter.
Given that reprieve, says Suzanne, “We have been working daily to improve our online presence, since that’s the only way our customer sees us now. And we’re pivoting every 12 hours because it’s all so incredibly fluid.” The effort to stand out shows. Datz’s menu includes a “Love Is Contagious” date-night package of two steak dinners with a bottle of Champagne and a box of chocolates; family meals for four that range from mac-and-cheese stuffed meatloaf to chicken and waffles; and DIY meal kits for breakfast, lunch, and dinner—all in addition to a huge selection of à la carte items. To pair with it all, there are single-serve cocktails—think frozen Mudslides and salted-caramel Old Fashioneds—as well as cocktail kits, numerous under-$20 bottles of wine, and so on (if, that is, you’re not in the market for a $900 bottle of rare Scotch). And for dessert, there’s a cake that resembles a roll of toilet paper, which is naturally selling like, well, toilet paper; the bakery is also turning out cookies decorated with the mask-wearing emoji. As Suzanne puts it, “We’re trying to be lighthearted with this, trying to keep a sense of humor.”
On a more serious note, they’re working to support their neighbors as they’ve been supported with the sale of prepared meals to front-line workers. “You can go online and say, ‘I want to buy ten $10 meals for the fire department down the street,” Roger explains, “and we’ll make and deliver them.” They also match the donation—so each meal purchased is really two.
It’s a lot to take on all at once, Suzanne admits: “This is all just completely, totally, daily new. But when we come out on the other side, we hope we will be much stronger…We’re learning and growing every day.” —Ruth Tobias
