TAKING OUT RESTRICTIONS

The good news for restaurants as they move into the third year of living with the coronavirus? The dining public, by and large, seems eager to return to dining out.

“After three years, I think it’s finally getting back to a time with people going out more. Everyone is happy to come in, try new things and have an experience,” says Roger Li, co-owner of three restaurants and a wine bar in Lawrenceville: The Parlor Dim Sum & Cantonese BBQ, Nanban, Umami and Allegheny Wine Mixer.

The challenge? Two significant issues continue to linger as the country moves closer to the Biden administration’s May 11 declaration of the end of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. Staffing remains scarce, and the fluctuating cost of ingredients continues to make it challenging to plan menus while keeping prices from rising higher than they already have.

“People have a reasonable expectation of what prices are going to be, given what they see at the grocery store,” says Grainne Trainor, owner of G’s on Liberty in Bloomfield. “But you can only pass on so much of the cost of doing business at this point, so you have to find ways to be smart about how you adapt.”

Here are snapshots of how four Pittsburgh restaurant owners are navigating what they hope is the start of the return to normalcy:

G’s wild ride

Ms. Trainor, who operated Mighty Oak Barrel in Oakmont from 1998 to 2013 and Blue North in McCandless from 2015 to 2019, opened G’s On Liberty in the former Alexander’s Italian Bistro space in late 2021.

Ms. Trainor says the past few years have been a roller coaster of uncertainty, but her loyal clientele from her previous restaurants and a private events space in the basement of the Bloomfield restaurant have kept business strong over the past year.

Her biggest ace in the hole as the hospitality industry moves into the post-COVID era is her decades of experience operating restaurants.

“I’ve been doing this for a very long time, which means I’ve seen all kinds of changes over the years,” she says. “You have to move with the times and keep understanding what’s going on in the hospitality community.”

It’s clear that most people who left hospitality during the first few years of the pandemic aren’t returning to restaurant work, she says. What’s changed from a year ago is an uptick in job applications from people new to the service industry. Hiring people eager to learn the trade, even if they don’t know the difference between a single-malt and blended Scotch, is G’s path forward.

“Training people is one of my favorite parts of the job. It’s a good feeling to teach the knowledge we’ve gleaned over the years and pass it on,” she says. “We’re a small space and we’re independently owned, so we can be hands-on when training our staff.”

On the other hand, supply-side variables require a different type of flexibility. Ms. Trainor says she’s still paying surcharges for “anything that comes in on wheels,” and market volatility remains the primary issue.

“It’s random things we won’t be able to get or will become very expensive. Two weeks ago, for example, cauliflower was exceptionally expensive out of the blue,” she says.

Ms. Trainor and executive chef Mark Stein constantly adjust the menu, which typically changes seasonally, to avoid passing price spikes on to customers. To that end, if cauliflower is suddenly costly and asparagus is lower in price, that’s what diners might see on their plates at G’s.

“It’s difficult to be proactive right now so we just have to adjust as we go. The farmers still need our support. Other small businesses still need our support. So we’re all still in this together,” she says.

Back To The Foodture

Angel and Eddie “Barnz” Magwood’s original Pitcairn location of Back To The Foodture had two tables, so pivoting their casual hamburger and wing joint to a takeout-only operation in March 2020 was a pretty easy switch. But by the time the couple moved to a more prominent location in SouthSide Works in May 2021, they were already knee-deep in a supply chain pricing tango.

“Just when you think you have the equation figured out that one cost will offset another one, the equation changes and you have to work it out all over again,” she says.

Despite the headwinds, the Magwoods embarked on what proved to be a Herculean effort, opening a second Back To The Foodture in January in the 6,400-square-foot space formerly occupied by Buford’s Kitchen, which closed in mid-2020.

Ms. Magwood notes that chicken wing prices have dropped significantly from the mile-high prices in the depth of the pandemic, but now eggs, lettuce and fryer oil are affecting the bottom line.

“You’d never think that lettuce would be a big cost to my overhead, but it is,” she says, adding that although they have raised prices several times over the past few years, she still feels they’re accessible to the everyday consumer at both Back To The Foodture locations.

Staffing is a much more daunting obstacle, particularly in Uptown.

Ms Magwood says stepping into a prime-time spot directly across the street from PPG Paints Arena is “a learning process all over again. Sometimes it’s exhilarating, and often it’s exacerbating.”

She notes that no-shows are common for job interviews and first shifts, and new hires frequently show up for work hours after they are called to start their shifts, even though she’s offering a decent wage – $17 per hour plus tips.

Unpredictable staffing is especially challenging on Penguins game nights. Customer expectations are all over the place, with some guests eager to hang out for several hours and others ordering a meal 30 minutes prior to game time, expecting they’ll be able to get in and out before the puck drops.

“We try our best to let them know we’re cooking everything from scratch and there are already a ton of orders, so it’s going to take longer. A lot of people understand but some people get upset,” she says.

To that end, Ms. Magwood’s adjusted the menu on game and concert nights to offer a smaller selection of wings and appetizers. The restaurant’s 43 hamburger and 18 hot dog builds are available only on evenings when the arena is dark.

“Eddie and I have learned to really depend on each other. You might find me pouring drinks and Ed is even cooking sometimes. We’re not afraid to pick up the role of who is supposed to do what,” she says.

“Once we get the equation of our systems down and more people hired, I see nothing but more Back To The Foodtures in the future.”

The Parlor game

“There’s an uptick in business at Umami late at night now, and we didn’t see that a few months ago,” Mr. Li says.

Things aren’t totally back to normal, however, as his third-floor izakaya is only open until 10 p.m. on weekdays and midnight on weekends, two hours earlier than it was prior to the pandemic.

“I don’t think we’ll have the staffing to go back to those hours any time soon.”

Mr. Li says his biggest challenge Parlor Dim Sum & Cantonese BBQ. In addition to rising costs, many of his products are labor-intensive.

“People have this impression that dim sum should be cheap, that Chinese food should be cheap. But that’s a stereotype. We’re making everything from scratch here and that takes a lot of work,” Mr. Li says.

He reports that eggs now sell for $65 for a case of 16 dozen compared to $21 before the pandemic, and some of his suppliers won’t have ingredients such as gai lan (Chinese broccoli) that used to be easy to find and affordably priced.

To educate potential customers about why his menu items cost what they do, Mr. Li uses social media to demonstrate the labor that goes into the various dishes and meals.

“People usually don’t see the process that goes into it. Making dough, grinding pork and chopping vegetables — it all takes a lot of work and a lot of time. So we’re letting everyone in behind the scenes,” he says.

Parlor Dim Sum faces two challenges regarding staffing, he says: Many prospective front-of-house employees are new to the hospitality industry, and nearly 70% of the people who apply through job search websites don’t show up for interviews or their first shift.

“It’s getting a little better with service, but everyone is pulling from the same pot of potential employees, especially those with any kind of experience. So we have to train a lot of people from the ground up,” he says.

Back of house, he says, is another story. Even though he offers competitive pay, two consecutive days off each week and health insurance, Li still hasn’t been able to find new chefs to join the culinary team. The lack of line cooks, in particular, represents a fundamental shift for restaurants, and it’s exacerbated for him.

“It’s a lot of work to learn how to work a wok station or to make sushi, and to want to keep doing it day in and day out.”

Herky’s energy

Herky Pollock has his hands in many places in the hospitality industry. He’s the executive vice president and Northeast director of the retailer services group of CBRE, a developer and a restaurant owner.

“From a brokerage, development and restaurant core perspective, I expected a lot more restaurants going bankrupt than what happened. That’s a credit to how they ran operations, federal help, third-party deliveries and the people of Pittsburgh,” he says.

Mr. Pollock and business partners Mike Hanley and Jerry Dilembo launched the casual gourmet hamburger concept Burgatory in 2011 (they have seven locations, plus two stadium outposts).

Over the past couple of years, he jumped more deeply into the ownership side of the hospitality trade, a sign of confidence, he says, in the future of nightlife in Pittsburgh.

In early 2022, Mr. Pollock, Dilembo and Hanley opened Shorty’s Pins X Pints in the former Tilted Kilt space on the North Shore and then launched a sister establishment, Shorty’s Tap x Taco, in the former Bar Louie space in the Waterfront in December.

In March, Mr. Pollock embarked on his most marque project yet, opening Ritual House with his wife, Lisa, and business partners Michelle and Ricky Kirsop in the former Union Standard space Downtown.

“The analogy I give is that we were in a war and now we’re in the PTSD phase of it. For the last two years, we were in survival mode not knowing when it would end and fighting daily to survive,” he says. “People’s attitudes, values and lifestyles have changed dramatically and we’ve had to adjust on many fronts to be successful in the future.”

Mr. Pollock says he’s adapting to the shortage in staffing by augmenting hours, tailoring schedules to employees’ needs as much as possible, and operating under a principle that “the employee comes first and the customer comes second. If the people who are working are happy, they’re going to make the customers happy, and everyone wins.”

He says the win-win strategy is largely paying off because the two Shorty’s locations and Ritual House are designed with amusement in mind.

“People are back out. They missed going out and having a great time with people that they don’t see every day. We’re seeing that come back in full force,” he says. “It’s incumbent on us as operators to give them the best experience so they keep coming back.”

Even with a fair amount of restaurant closings over the past few months, as leases expired and burnout took its toll, Mr. Pollock sees sunshine on the horizon.

“A week hasn’t gone by that I haven’t met with a local restaurant owner who is looking to grow,” he says.

Hal B. Klein: hklein@post-gazette.com