This time, if Kansas goes into another lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic, B & B Country Cafe will be ready.
Restaurant owners Mike and Kim Larios have been adapting and modifying their business model since early March, when the impact of the pandemic first affected their business.
Since then, they’ve expanded their services to include takeout orders at a drive-up window or curbside delivery. Most recently they’ve added GRUBHUB, an online meal delivery service.
“Things have changed dramatically from the beginning of this,” Mike said. “It’s hit everybody hard in the restaurant industry. We’ve had to make adjustments.”
During the lockdown this spring, the couple shut the doors to their busy cafe for several weeks and sent employees home to collect unemployment, wondering if they could keep the business solvent long enough to reopen when the time came.
The building at 324 W. Garfield had once been a liquor store and featured a drive-up window.
Fourteen years ago, when they opened B & B, Kim thought they might utilize the window for to-go orders. But the cafe proved so popular with dine-in customers, they never needed it.
Until 2020.
That drive-up window allowed them to get through the lockdown. Mike and Kim handled everything by themselves, allowing employees to stay home. It was a difficult time, but paid off in many ways, Mike said. Typically, Kim works in the kitchen as the primary cook. Mike had to help.
“I got to be in her world for a bit,” Mike said. “This is our way of life, with just me and her, bouncing ideas off each other.”
ONCE the cafe could reopen in May — by reducing capacity from 45 to 20 in the main seating area — Mike and Kim found many customers still preferred the take-out orders.
“We were doing more take-out orders than serving in the dining room when we reopened,” Kim said. “It changed everything.”
They still needed to adapt, adjusting hours and closing on Sundays. They’re now open from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Some customers haven’t returned, concerned about the safety of indoor dining. Mike wondered how they could reach those who were reluctant to leave the house, even for take-out.
Then one night in early August, Mike saw a television commercial for GRUBHUB. He brought the idea to Kim, who had many questions.
How does it work?
How does it make money?
Who would deliver the food?
Soon, Mike was on the phone with a GRUBHUB agent, learning all he could about the delivery service.
He liked what he heard.
“I’m really surprised more places aren’t doing it,” he said.
