QSR: COVID Can’t Keep Barbecue Icon Pat Martin Down
We’ll shoot straight with y’all. This has been a hard year. A hard year for all of us, we reckon. This Covid mess has been one of the most challenging things we’ve ever had to do while running a business.
We were glad QSR wanted to talk to us at length about what we’ve been able to do in these highly unusual circumstances. Hopefully, some of what we’ve done can help our brothers and sisters in barbecue to continue preachin’ the gospel of whole hog.
Here’s just a sample of what Pat covered in the long, productive discussion:
“I tried to focus on any possible way I could to get my food in a customer’s hands. I would have looked at anything. We had to get really good at drive-thru. We had to be perfect. A drive-thru seems like common sense but a lot of people miss the point. We had to get our ticket times down to get people through the line. Adjusting the facilities for this new business model was one of the biggest changes. Our restaurant went from looking like a kitchen with dining room to a kitchen with a storage unit. You don’t realize how much space bags, clam shells, aluminum pans, etc., take up.”