Although H20 at the Hilton Pensacola Beach sits on a Florida beach that is among those reopening Friday, Mother’s Day 2020 at the restaurant will look much different than it did a year ago when it hosted more than 600 people with buffet brunch stations throughout the ballroom and hallway.
Buffets, of course, are out of the 2020 picture, said Chef Omar Torres. Holiday buffets and special menus were one of the ways the restaurant really got to flaunt pre-pandemic. The restaurant had made about $400,000 in a typical month, with more than half of its revenues coming from banquets.
“Nobodys going to go to a buffet,” Torres said. “It wouldn't be responsible for us to start putting our guests at buffets with the virus still out there. We’ll go a la carte with everything we do on property.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the curtailing of dine-in service at restaurants across the country. But restaurant meals are tops in the minds for moms for this Mother’s Day.
About 53 percent of mothers say the thing they want most this Mother’s Day is takeout or delivery from their favorite restaurant, according to a survey by foodservice distributor U.S. Foods.
Instead of a buffet, H2O will offer brunch baskets of five- and six-course meals to go. It expects to serve about 85 people this year, with meals priced at about $50 compared to the $65-per-person buffet price.
“We understand a lot of people are out of work, but they want to go out to a nice place,” Torres said. “People are more in the mindset of saving rather than just going all out and spending a lot.”
Restoration Restaurant at Old Trail Golf Club in Crozet, Va., is hoping that lobster will grab customers.
A typical Mother’s Day at the American-style restaurant, heavy on comfort foods and craft brews, sees about 150 people for a $28 brunch buffet.
Next week though, they'll put together a pre-order a la carte brunch to-go menu featuring quiche, chicken and waffles, chocolate peanut butter cake and steamed lobster—something that hasn't been on the menu in three years.
“We tried to think of something that would not be offered in our community pretty widely,” said Barbara Perkins, communications director. “It’s a way to offer a special treat.”
Restoration, which installed a 12-tap draft beer dispenser just ahead of the pandemic, also is among those leaning on alcohol for increased revenue, offering its blackberry and passionfruit-peach-tea sangrias and other adult beverages to go.
“That’s very helpful as beverage sales can be a big part of that additional margin and revenue,” she said, “People that loved a certain cocktail from us, they could take that home.”
Still, other restaurants are going outside of food and beverage to lure customers, with some offering virtual experiences or partnering with other businesses to provide one-stop shopping for Mom’s special day.
Sveta, an Eastern European restaurant and bar in New York’s West Village, is looking to create a virtual community dining experience in customer’s homes with its Zoom Mother’s Day dinner, through meal pickup and delivery.
Participants will eat along with Sveta team and enjoy live entertainment.
“It’s really just about reconnecting with our customers and the community,” said managing partner Dmitry Lesnik.
Gifts also are in play at restaurants.
Tribute Restaurant at The Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa is letting customers pair its Mother’s Day jumbo crab and gruyere quiche and wine bundles with gift cards to the Houston hotel’s Solaya Spa & Salon for pickup on Saturday.
Mel’s at 22 in Cooperstown, N.Y. teamed up with local gift and clothing store Kates’s Upstate and the Tin Bin Alley nostalgia gifts and sweets shop to create a one spot to pick up individual or family-style meals, chocolate truffles and other gifts.
The concept is meant to support local businesses and allows for less contact than making trips to several locations to get meals and gifts, said Mel’s manager Alex Gunther.
“A lot of businesses in retail are having to operate differently. We wanted to work with other businesses and support because we recognize the fact that we’re all in a tough situation,” she said.
Others, like the Epicurean Hotel in Tampa, are making sure they can facilitate the sale of flowers with their curbside pickup.
Michelin-starred o.d.o. by ODO is doing that and then some, selling it’s most expensive dinner ever—$350 for an individual meal accompanied by a floral arrangement by noted florist Kan Asakura.
The three delivery-only packages include a $70 Chirashi sushi option with seasonal sides.
The $350 individual Japanese meal will be delivered in a custom-made jubako box, a multi-tiered Japanese food box used to transport and present takeaway meals. The boxes were made in 1985 and the restaurant will retrieve them. A package for two is $700, with part of the proceeds benefiting the James Beard Foundation COVID-19 Relief Fund.
“People want to have special things for Mother’s Day, even in this kind of difficult time,” said Satoru Yasumatsu who, along with Chef Hiroki Odo, owns the 14-counter seat restaurant that served about 36 $200 dinners last Mothers Day. “And they’re willing to spend $350 for one person.”
Related: Georgia Restaurants Prepare to Reopen; Almost Half of US Restaurants Have Temporarily Closed.
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