In late February, I began to believe that like Italy, the U.S. could face an awful situation and that if we see the spread of COVID here, then our restaurants have an existential risk — Tock too. So in early March I gathered up our restaurant managers, front of house, back of house and the office, and said that we are now doing hourly hand-washing, temp checking the staff, wearing gloves, etc. … all before the orders from the governor. A few people thought I was nuts or a conspiracy theorist or whatever. I didn’t care. Then we started planning for partial shutdown, full shutdown, etc. … And then I said, “$30 take out from Alinea is our only option.” We had that in place and ready to go the day that the shutdown was mandated. I was hoping I was wrong, of course. But we had five contingency plans in place, ready to execute.
How Nick Kokonas pivoted hard at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, launching Tock to Go and other innovations
Prepare Now Before its too Late
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