This restaurant owner didn’t just survive the pandemic - he figured out how to thrive

Welcome back to Big Trends in Small Biz, a weekly newsletter bringing you the news, tips and trends to help you with your business. Click subscribe above to be notified of future editions.

Shannen Tune left his 17-year career as a hotel executive chef to start a food truck in Houston, going on to win an episode of “Chopped” on the Food Network and expanding his food concept into a brick and mortar shop at popular Houston food hall.

He knew the pandemic would be a game changer for the business. What he didn’t expect was the massive price hikes that would come with it. His Angus beef supplier raised prices from $4.50 a pound to an astronomical $12 a pound. Ramekins, utensils and boxes — all critical ingredients as restaurants were forced to shift to take-out only — also became more expensive.

Tune had to reinvent, and quickly. Rather than try and attract customers back downtown after workers fled for the suburbs, he decided to follow them. He closed his food hall location in favor of starting up again in a popular suburb outside Houston and started two new franchises.

This is Tune’s #BusinessReimagined story of how his restaurant not only survived the pandemic but grew.

How have your customer demographics changed over the past year? Are there changes or adaptations you’ve made that are here to stay?

In other restaurant news, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund is now accepting applications for its $29 billion grant program. The Small Business Administration is in charge of giving out the funds and restaurants, bars and other food-related businesses can seek a grant equal to their pandemic-related revenue loss, up to $10 million per business.

Latest Developments

• Amazon is loosening its grip on its third-party platform, allowing some sellers to contact their customers and followers on the site. 
• Utah outperforms on WalletHub’s ranking of the best cities to launch a business in with six of the top ten located in the state.
• Etsy and its army of small retailers lured shoppers in with the promise of comfy, affordable masks. Customers stayed to stock on home furnishings and jewelry. 
• Ottawa is the latest municipality to take on credit cards’ merchant fees. 
• Did the Paycheck Protection Program save small businesses? A year and $770 billion later, NPR dives into why we still don’t know.
• A recent survey finds that the majority of companies in the United States will require employees to submit proof they received the COVID-19 vaccine in order to return to work.
• Delivery app DoorDash is changing its structure for charging restaurants commission fees, introducing a tiered system. 

Conversations For You

• Small businesses are struggling to find workers to fill open positions, regardless of industry or location. Owners are sounding off on how they’re finding prospective employees.

Resources

• The Small Business Administration has additional $5,000 grants available as part of the EIDL program for businesses in low-income communities with 10 or fewer employees. 
• Firms in Binghamton, New York can apply for grants that are part of a $140,000 program aimed at helping businesses with 50 or fewer employees. 

Something Good

• Not sure whether to laugh or cry at the accuracy of this eight-year-old girl mimicking her mom working from home.