CINCINNATI (AP) — Across the United States, restaurateurs are transforming operations to try to stay afloat. The National Restaurant Association warns the outbreak could cost 5 million to 7 million jobs and hundreds of billions in losses and is pushing for a special federal relief package for restaurants.
In an industry of traditionally tight profit margins, some decided it's time to take chances.
'Would you like fries and toilet paper with that?'
Frisch's Big Boy restaurants, a Cincinnati-based chain that laid off more than a third of its 5,000 employees in the first days of bans on in-restaurant dining, last week pivoted into the grocery business. Besides its signature Big Boy double-decker burgers and onion rings, customers at its 100 restaurants in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky can buy bread, milk and and produce at its drive-thrus and carryout counters and via home delivery.
Frisch's saw a quick jump in revenues at a time when people have been frustrated by long lines and shortages at traditional supermarkets. Toilet paper is in high demand, and Frisch's and others are using it as a lure.