CINCINNATI (WKRC) – Restaurants across the country are struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic, but many are offsetting losses by selling groceries.
“If before you thought of Fusian as a sushi restaurant, we can take many of the same ingredients we feature in sushi rolls and make all different things,” said Fusian co-founder Stephan Harman. “My wife and I made potato gnocchi the other day using redskin potatoes we have at the restaurant.”
Fusian, an Ohio-based sushi restaurant, was hit hard when stay-at-home orders went into effect. As sales initially dipped 50%, Harman and his wife were having trouble finding the foods they wanted in grocery stores.
“We basically said, ‘We have food at the restaurant. We have avocados, rice, soy sauce, vegetables. We can make a bunch of different meals. If we need to, we can just get food from the restaurant,'” said Harman.
In order to keep his employees working and not let all of the food that was coming into the restaurant go to waste, Harman then decided to start selling groceries.
“We quickly realized we have access to many of the same favorite food groups that people buy at the grocery stores,” said Harman. “We could simply put it onto our platform and have it delivered the same day and get produce and pantry staples into people’s homes very quickly.”
Groceries now account for over 10% of sales and Harman is considering making this a permanent addition.
“We really want to long-term look at this: How do we curate this to be meaningful to really kind of carve a niche in the grocery segment that otherwise is not met on a large scale?” said Harman.
Many other restaurants, like Panera and Subway, are also starting to offer groceries as well.
“We’ve been able to take what was a sushi roll visit and add avocados, bread, and avocado toast for the next morning, rather than just one meal,” said Harman.