When we last talked to Brian Connell, the owner of St. Pete’s iconic 4th Street Shrimp Store, in June 2020, he was already making changes to meet the challenges of the pandemic business environment.
The business, an SBF client, closed in March 2020 and reopened April 1, 2020. “Within the first five days of reopening, we literally modified our front dining room to become a takeout counter,” Connell said. “We moved network cables, reconfigured computer terminals, and built a counter area for order-taking and pick-up. We also updated our website and POS software for online ordering and signed up with Uber Eats for delivery.
It’s more than a year later, and Connell and the 4th Street Shrimp Store are still dealing with constant change.
“I’ve been in this business for over 30 years. I’ve learned more about the restaurant business this past year than all the prior years combined,” Connell said. With customer demand changing along with rising COVID-19 case numbers, the restaurant leadership team evaluates its approach week by week, making changes to its staff, vendors, and service model where necessary.
“Everything we’ve done has been dictated by what customers are asking for,” Connell said. In August 2020, after having built a profitable takeout business, they started offering a full-service dining experience again. “Customers wanted to get back to ‘normal,’” Connell said. “And volume started building back up on the dine-in side, even though the demand for takeout never went down.”
So, they adopted a hybrid model — the restaurant still offered counter service and carry-out to those who preferred it, in addition to dine-in seating. From February-May 2021, the 4th Street Shrimp Store saw some of its busiest months ever. On one hand, that was a relief. On the other, it meant trying to meet a new challenge — staffing the restaurant amid an unprecedented worker shortage.
“We went through record sales months with the least amount of people we’ve ever had,” Connell said. “The candidate pool is scarce. Like anything, we learned to adapt. We called prior employees to ask them to come back, and everyone we had on staff stepped up and pitched in.”
Historically, the 4th Street Shrimp Store has always paid more than minimum wage to get experienced workers who stick around. That was certainly necessary when they faced a staffing shortage, and it will serve the business well as the state increases the minimum wage in September (and gradually more each year until 2026). Tipped employees are also seeing an increase, from just over $5.50 an hour to just under $7, starting September 30.
Connell says the way to deal with these increased costs is to be more efficient. “We want to get the right people who can do their jobs efficiently, make every hour count. And our new hybrid service model allows us to function on lesser staff if needed.”
From handling staffing challenges to shopping around to find lower prices on supplies, Connell has had to find a way to continually adapt. After all the restaurant has been through over the past year and a half, he maintains a positive attitude and says figuring out how to overcome the challenges is actually a fun part of the job.
“At the end of the day, we’ve made it through the worst of the worst,” he said. “And no matter what, we’re going to rise to the occasion and figure it out.”