Restaurants adjust to new normal as take-out, drive-thru only businesses

ROCK HILL, S.C. — The pandemic forced most restaurants to make adjustments to the way they operate with many shifting to take-out and drive-thru only. Now, inventory and staff shortages are forcing many places to continue operating this way.

On a typical weekday, workers are making sandwiches as fast as they can at Sub Station II on Cherry Road in Rock Hill. The orders aren’t for customers eating at the restaurant, however. The orders are being placed online and are for take-out.

Owner Charlie Ruffalo said he’s still surprised at how his business has changed during the pandemic.

“Last February, I did 76 online orders. This February, I did 760,” he told Channel 9′s Greg Suskin.

In fact, Ruffalo said he’s had to hire seven more employees just to handle their take-out orders.

The dining room has been closed since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. Crime scene tape winds around the chairs and tables, keeping customers from sitting down. There are also markers on the floor reminding customers to practice social distancing, or stand “six subs apart” when they’re waiting in line to place an order.

“I don’t know when I’m going to open up my dining room,” he said.

Ruffalo said his employees don’t mind the change. “They’re more comfortable not coming out in the dining room and having to police the dining room, wiping the tables, sweep the floors, while people are in here,” he said.

Two blocks away another well-known Rock Hill restaurant is surviving on its take-out business. Wing Bonz owner Scott Howell said before COVID-19 about 40% of his business was take-out. Suddenly, it was entirely take-out.

Howell said he had to lay off his two dishwashers when the shutdown happened, but he managed to keep most of his staff by adjusting people’s schedules.

He said call-in orders and a popular app have helped his business survive.

“I remember sitting over there at that table on day one, scrambling to get DoorDash into the computer,” he said.

Howell said getting his menu on the DoorDash app was a lifeline and kept the restaurant going, but as the pandemic set in prices started going up on food, equipment and supplies such as fryer oil.

“Some of our costs of goods have just skyrocketed. I know wing prices, from what we pay, are up 40 to 50%,” he said.

Staffing has also been a challenge.

“If I can speak candidly, we probably have had about five applications all year. That’s the new pandemic now, is lack of staff,” he said. Until he’s fully staffed, his dining room will remain closed.

“When I do it, I want to do it right, and I don’t think we can do it right, right now,” Howell said.

These challenges are impacting national chains as well. Zaxby’s and Chick-fil-A have not reopened their dining rooms either.

Chad Sheley, owner of the Chick-fil-A on Cherry Road, said his restaurant lost 35-40% of sales when they shut down.

He said he isn’t in a hurry to reopen the dining room because of changes made before the pandemic. The restaurant had added a large awning that covers both drive-thru lanes, new technology such as iPads to take drive-thru orders, and card readers to speed up payments.

Each restaurant owner Channel 9 spoke with believes that the pandemic will permanently change their business.

“Pretty much the business model you see now is what we’re going to do going forward,” Ruffalo said.

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