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Maureen Wallenfang
Appleton Post-Crescent
Published 3:39 PM EDT Apr 10, 2020
It might be a time of stepped-up demand, and not just for toilet paper and hand sanitizer.
It’s also a time of struggle as business owners try to keep companies afloat in the midst of coronavirus restrictions and traffic declines.
Here, The Buzz looks at some business survival stories beyond grocery and big box stores.
Restaurants
The business surge at some restaurants is deceiving because it’s not consistent.
Nationally, fast food restaurants with drive-thrus were still down 40% in the last week of March, and full-service restaurants were down 79%, said data analysis firm The NPD Group.
Those numbers are similar here.
JD’s Drive-In in Appleton, for example, has a drive-up line that fills its lot at mealtimes.
“The drive-thru is keeping us alive. Customers are being so loyal. It’s amazing,” said owner J.D. Grishaber.
“We’re busy, but it’s a teeter-totter. We’re losing a lot of inside sales. For sure we’re down 40, maybe 50%.”
He said he’s doing a rotation system so that employees who want hours can still get them.
Mark’s East Side in Appleton drew the attention of police last Friday night with lines of cars clogging nearby city streets.
“This is a trial by fire,” said co-owner Mark Dougherty.
He rerouted traffic, put up 50 orange traffic cones and created nine pickup-lanes that could handle the traffic.
Now, customers don’t call in Friday orders, but rather order when they arrive. They can get chicken or fish to-go boxes with limited extras.
Last week Dougherty said they sold more than 1,100 to-go boxes, more dinners than the restaurant would have served on a regular Friday in Lent.
“But one day doesn’t make a week,” he said. “Overall business is down 75% because the other days of the week are medium at best. And of course you have no bar revenue, which is 25% of sales. That’s gone.”
Guns
“Gun and ammunition stores and shooting ranges” were deemed essential businesses for personal protection in Gov. Tony Evers’ “Safer at Home” order.
Fireline Shooting & Training in Grand Chute saw the best March sales in its four-year history, “about 40% better than our best March, which is significant,” said co-owner Georg LaBonte.
He said strong demand, however, is tempered by short supply.
“Suppliers and manufacturers are cutting back, staggering shifts and slowing production,” he said. “Finding inventory is becoming more and more difficult, and ammunition is nearly impossible to find in certain calibers.”
The store cut hours, gun rentals and the size of classes to comply with and social distancing and group size limits.
Puzzles
U.S. toy sales jumped 26% in the week ending March 21, according to The NPD Group, because of homebound families. The fastest growing categories were games and puzzles, up 228%.
At the Neenah-based Geotoys, which makes geography puzzles, sales tripled in March compared to March one year ago. It’s selling out of the 1,000-piece city puzzles, which are typically purchased by adults.
Delivery services
Grocery and restaurant delivery business soared as consumers shifted from going out to getting home deliveries.
At Food Dudes, a restaurant delivery service, a 50% increase in March could have been even higher if a lot of its regular restaurants hadn’t closed down, said Mike Tracy, owner/operator for the Fox Cities, Green Bay and Manitowoc markets.
He bumped up his staff by about 50%, hiring a lot of laid-off restaurant servers.
“I know they won’t stay when this is over, but that’s okay. Right now, we’re helping them and they’re helping us.”
Contact reporter Maureen Wallenfang at 920-993-7116 or mwallenfang@postcrescent.com. Follow her on Twitter at @wallenfang.
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