Coronavirus Diaries (7/3): When Government Funds Run Out
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In this latest round of reports from breweries trying to survive the Coronavirus, I noticed a theme in the writing: after nearly four months of the crisis, with no end in sight, brewers are starting to get both poetic and philosophical. These messages are so heartfelt and so full of important information that I’m not going to do an omnibus roundup. I’ll give everyone their moment in the spotlight. Pay attention and listen. This is the human cost.
As a short background, every county in Oregon is now in Phase 1 of reopening, with Multnomah County (Portland) finally getting the green light a couple weeks ago. Our numbers remain relatively low overall, but they are jumping up alarmingly. This week Governor Kate Brown issued an order that all citizens must wear masks in public.
Today we have Adam Milne, owner of Old Town Brewing. Old Town started as a pizza restaurant in the old town part of downtown in 1974. The brewery came in the past decade in a second location in Portland’s Northeast. As a restuarant-first brewery, the virus has hit Old Town especially hard. Here’s Adam.
Writing today’s post has me both grateful and sad. I’m grateful for the incredible team that has persevered and battled to keep our brewery going. They have dealt with the ups and downs of COVID, temporary layoffs, and an inept unemployment department. They have been riding a roller coaster that included a last-minute pause on dine-in business.
I am grateful for the team’s superhuman efforts required to launch our Brewers Market. From idea to execution happened in just 7 days. It was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever been a part of. The way the staff, fellow-breweries, and community came together was truly inspiring and it will be one of the joys I’ll remember reflecting on these difficult times. I have never felt more of a sense of solidarity and community—the pure emotion beaming from the team, customers and breweries felt really good.
Today, though, there appears to be rough seas ahead. We are now out of our PPP loan money. The loan allowed us to run a bit loose with how we staffed. Those funds gave us the opportunity to experiment with business hours and creative ideas like the Brewers Market. That time is sadly over. We now have to run our company with laser-focused efficiency. Every dollar we squander will shorten the time we can hang on.
To be completely upfront, our downtown location is really hurting. It is the foundation of our company. We were down 80% in our downtown location sales starting March 16, and we are now down even more. It started when the Governor opened up neighboring counties except for Multnomah County. With nearby options, there was not as much of a reason to get to-go food in Portland. That coupled with the boarding-up of downtown businesses [due to Black Lives Matter protests] has caused our city to avoid downtown. Those customers who did come in were turned off by the many tents overflowing our Old Town neighborhood and the daily arguments in the streets.
“Old Town has now hit a critical crossroads. It is costing us more to stay open downtown than temporarily closing. We have received no rent reduction during COVID from our landlord. Alongside us, Starbucks has pulled out of their new $1 million cafe, Hobo’s has closed and we are now the only retail tenant in the building.”
This week we have drastically reduced our operation to only Thursday through Sunday and will reassess our viability. I was hopeful that downtown would prosper with dine-in, but after a drive around last week, we are delaying opening for dine-in because it looks like the area will take a long time to recover. I am a fighter and will hang on as long as possible. Our best option will likely require us to temporarily shutdown our downtown location and “hibernate” to try and outlast the storm.
Thankfully our brewery location is doing fairly well. Our to-go business from the start has been decent and now with dine-in open, so far we have nearly restored back to our pre-COVID pub revenue. (Hopefully that continues). Our packaged beer has been performing well and we now have our top-seller, Pillowfist, in 4-packs in Fred Meyer and soon-to-be Safeway/Albertsons which will help.
One area I’m especially optimistic is that societal change actually seems to be happening. The peaceful protests have been a source of hope. The racism many thought was near extinct has been exposed. I hope we can all work together to repair the damage these months have revealed.