Behind the story with Jenn Ladd

Each week the Philadelphia Inquirer goes behind the scenes with one of its reporters or editors to discuss their work and the challenges they face along the way. This week the paper chats with Jenn Ladd, who has been covering how food workers and restaurants have been handling the coronavirus pandemic.

Could you provide a brief timeline of events of how the Philly food community has been responding to COVID-19? It didn’t begin with a sudden shutdown, but a slowing of foot traffic and visitors, correct?

The last weekend I recall feeling normal was March 6, which was in fact when the first presumed positive cases were announced in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Business started to taper off the following week, but it changed day-to-day. At the start of the week, some restaurants reported traffic as usual, but it grew increasingly clear that social distancing was setting in without governmental enforcement. (Real-life example: I only had to wait 45 minutes for a table at Palizzi Social Club on a Saturday night.) Of course, there were still some packed bars and clubs that mid-March weekend, which effectively served as St. Patrick’s Day.

The city and state shutdown orders came on Monday, March 16 — only two weeks ago, if you can believe it. That’s when restaurants and bars had to decide whether to close completely or try to eke it out with pickup and delivery services.

What’s been the biggest need from the Philly food community?

It would depend on how you define Philly’s food community. Restaurants’ profit margins are notoriously thin, so business owners will need leniency and cash (and possibly good insurance policies), and if they’re doing takeout and delivery, regular customer support to cover reduced operating costs. Mike Klein lays a lot of this out here.

Then there are all the workers in the industry — many laid off, a few working reduced hours — who need to pay for rent, health care, their kids, etc. They’ll also need leniency and cash, and hopefully a job to come back to. But it’s hard to say what the restaurant landscape will look like when we emerge from lockdown.

Looking beyond that, restaurant suppliers — from big East Coast distributors to Lancaster farms — are hurting because their clients aren’t ordering in the same quantities. Many are starting to offer their services to the general public, which is kind of interesting to me as a home cook.

And besides money and consumer support, probably everyone could use some mental health services right now.

How have restaurants and organizations shifted their outreach and distribution amid a shutdown?

I can’t think of a time when social media was more important in communicating the basic functionality of a restaurant — it’s a lot easier to update your Instagram than your website. From what I’ve found, Instagram and Facebook are the best ways to check on what your favorite places are doing, whether they’re offering takeout, asking for your signature on a petition, or donating meals to others.

One of your stories mentioned an abundance of food that’s at risk of going to waste. What are restaurants doing to address this?

A lot of the restaurants and other organizations that shut down donated (and continue to donate) to food banks like Philabundance and Share Food Program. That has its own logistical hurdle, as volunteers are needed to collect, consolidate, and distribute the food.

Besides that, there are also some restaurants that offered to take food from their colleagues to give out to service industry workers or anyone in need. Other restaurants are cooking meals for health-care workers. And then there are some places that decided to cook and deliver meals for their neighbors in need.

What are some ways residents can continue to support restaurants?

I’ll assume that most of our astute readers have heard that gift cards act as micro-loans for restaurants, and most places that are closed completely are offering them. There’s also the option of buying merchandise if you don’t feel comfortable buying a gift card for a place that might not reopen.

There are a ton of GoFundMes (some sanctioned, some not) and other fund-raisers going on right now, and there are also a lot of petitions and calls to action circulating. It can be hard to know where to put your time and your money, to know who it’s going to and how it will be spent.

Personally, I’m ordering takeout and other locally produced goods (bread, pastries, booze) at least a few times a week.

What do you foresee being the biggest need from the food community as the shutdown continues?

Legislators and the government will need to step in. We’ll also see if the interruptions in business are covered by restaurants’ insurance policies, especially if there’s an end to the allowance of takeout and delivery (though there’s still no evidence that food has contributed to the spread of coronavirus).

What useful links or organizations can you recommend that can help community members support local restaurants?

This Google spreadsheet that’s been circulating is one of the most robust listings of restaurants doing takeout and delivery (thanks to the reader who sent it my way).

A lot of the official fund-raisers are corralled on Philly Restaurant Relief. There’s the Philly Restaurant Server Relief Fund, which my colleagues Katie Park and Juliana Feliciano Reyes wrote about last week. There’s also a GoFundMe that’s buying lunches for local hospital workers (and thereby supporting local restaurants in the process). Of course, I encourage everyone to vet whatever organization they’re considering donating to so you can make sure it’s credible.

You can stay in touch with Jenn on Twitter at @jrladd or by email at jladd@inquirer.com.

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