The restaurant industry has been hit especially hard throughout 2020. Many restaurants cannot re-open due to COVID-19 precautions, and many patrons do not go to those that are open in an effort to reduce risk in the community. Since the first lockdown in March, the food service industry has lost $165 billion in revenue and is likely to end the year having lost $240 billion. Additionally, customer spending in restaurants has been down 34 percent so far this year. 

Kansas City has experienced the effects of these losses as countless, especially local, restaurants continue to shut down because of the insurmountable disruptions COVID-19 imposed on the industry. This article is the third in a series exploring the effect of COVID-19 losses on individual restaurants in Kansas City. 

Pirate’s Bone Burgers

Pirate’s Bone Burgers took Kansas City by storm when they opened in September of 2019. As the first fully plant-based diner in a veritable cow town, opening the vegan burger restaurant was definitely a risk. However, Pirate’s Bone soon became a staple for many Kansas Citians — even being nominated in four different categories, including Best Burger, in The Pitch’s “Best of Kansas City” awards. 

Even still, keeping such a young business alive during COVID-19 has proved difficult and at some times, disheartening. Zaid Consuegra, the chef and co-owner at Pirate’s Bone Burgers spoke to The Hilltop Monitor about the journey he has taken to keep his restaurant and its mission – to bring more plants to more people– alive. 

“Honestly it’s been pretty hard. We have not… I don’t think that we’ve gotten a sense of direction on how to go about things well. So [restaurant owners are] all going blindly and making the rules as we see fit at each restaurant. We’ve gotten here because of luck to be honest… We’ve crossed our one year anniversary [on] Sept. 16, so it was very close for us to shut down completely. We’re here just making rules as we go. We’re trying to be safe and responsible that way we don’t just get shut down,” Consuegra said.  “We have changed our menu, we have changed the way we do things: so price points, actual items. We don’t have indoor seating right now, we only have outdoor seating.”

The changes in menu items, seating and opening hours are all efforts Consuegra has felt necessary to make in order to keep his business running while maintaining the health of himself and his employees. The pandemic, Consuegra said, changed their main product from $4 sliders to burgers that range in price from $9 to $14. Even though businesses are open and people have been returning to restaurants, Consuegra worries that Kansas City is still hurting. 

“[Before COVID-19] we had so many people coming in and out all day, seven days a week – now we’re only open three days a week, so it’s not that many. As much as people are in and out, the Crossroads has not been the same ever since the pandemic started. We do see people on Friday nights and Saturday nights, but it’s maybe a fourth of what it used to be,” Consuegra said.

Pirate’s Bone is currently only seating outside, as are many Kansas City restaurants. But with the winter cold fast approaching, small restaurants are facing even more complications with not having a place to seat customers inside while still adhering to COVID-19 restrictions. 

“We’re going to try to keep our doors closed [during the winter] but we might be pushed to open back up if it gets really bad [financially]. It’s going to be a scary time to be honest. I don’t want to think about it just yet but we are taking steps to kind of have an idea on how this is going to go,” Consuegra said. “It’s all going to depend on how bad the situation is going to get in the Midwest – we’re monitoring the situation, so that’s going to be pretty scary. Honestly I hate to say this but this is the first time that, even six months in, I’m still unsure on how to handle this in the best way possible.”

Keeping himself, his employees and his customers safe has changed the restaurant for the foreseeable future. Even though he took these measures for everyone’s safety during COVID-19, Consuegra believes there should have been better guidance from national and local officials alike. In closing earlier than necessary back in March, Consuegra had to pay over $10,000 in bills while the business was getting virtually no income. 

“It’s not just me, I have other people to think about and then myself. I honestly wish we had more intake from the government – down from the national government to our local government officials – on how this was going to go. I wish they would have started that early on, because I don’t think we would have closed if we had enough information. I think we would have kept open, but the way that we’re doing it now. That way we wouldn’t have lost so much money by closing down and reopening back up,” Consuegra said. “Also with the close, I lost more than half of my staff – and that’s why we only open on weekends – so I think we would have done it a lot differently if we had more information on this. And that’s taken a toll on me for sure, financially, physically and mentally, emotionally… If I cannot grow mentally with what’s happening and adapt to it then there would be no Pirate’s Bone Burgers.”

Part of that overall strain has been trying to keep the business exciting even while burnout is high among restaurateurs. 

“I’m doing it all. Trying to come up with new items, which is already hard enough. I don’t think people realize what it takes to come up with new food… We need to make something that’s good for 100, 200, 300 people and make it the same way every time and that’s the hard part,” said Consuegra. “Because before it was just so much different. You had a lot more chances to just test out things and to mess up things because you knew that there were 100 people coming the next day and you could test something out – and if it wasn’t great it just wasn’t great. Now we have to make sure it’s a burger that everyone is going to like. We can’t have negative reviews right now. There’s already a negative review over the whole world, so we can’t have a negative review over the restaurant.”

Pirate’s Bone now does a weekly or monthly special burger, so there is reliably something new to try upon every visit. They’ve also begun making their own aioli after supply ran out during COVID-19, which Consuegra is looking into bottling and selling from the restaurant. 

“Maybe [the aioli] helps us more with the financial things… [Running the restaurant during COVID-19] has been interesting. It’s kept us on our toes and it’s made us hustle again. But I gotta say this: as a person who has been hustling for most of my life, it’s not something you want to do at all times because you start to run on fumes every now and then. So if everybody knows what a hustle is, they know that they don’t want to do that for the rest of their lives,” said Consuegra. 

Customer support has helped Consuegra keep going through COVID-19 and the subsequent difficulties the pandemic has put on his business. 

“Community response has been great. Obviously we would like more. We have great staff, I trained them well. We could probably easily do twice as much as we’re doing right now but we’re getting by. We need the overall support of the community, the general public… I just received an email from The Pitch. We didn’t win any first place [awards] on their top Kansas City categories, but we were second place for four categories: Best Burger in Kansas City, Best Vegan, Best Vegetarian and Best Cheap Eats,” Consuegra said. “The fact that we got into best burger… that is all the burgers in Kansas City that were voted for. That’s amazing for us, so we’re thrilled and we just want to keep on doing what we’re doing. We have something that is good and we’d hate to lose it. We put our foot forward every time, every weekend we do our best and we can tell that people have noticed that we put effort into what we do.”

Like every restaurant right now, Pirate’s Bone Burgers needs the constant and determined support of patrons – loyal and new customers alike – to weather the seemingly insurmountable challenges COVID-19 has caused. The shuttering of restaurants like The Rieger and Black Sheep has served as a stark reminder that no restaurant is safe from the ever-growing list of COVID-19 caused closures. To continue the success of what is already one of the best burger places in the city, Kansas Citians must consistently buy from Pirate’s Bone Burgers and all of their other favorite restaurants. Eating outside (while wearing plenty of layers) and ordering takeout have never been more important to the culture of Kansas City.  

Pirate’s Bone Burgers is located in the Crossroads Art District and is open Friday-Sunday 12-7 p.m. Keep updated with what’s going on at the restaurant and any specials they have via their Instagram and Facebook pages.

The restaurant industry has been hit especially hard throughout 2020. Many restaurants cannot re-open due to COVID-19 precautions, and many patrons do not go to those that are open in an effort to reduce risk in the community. Since the first lockdown in March, the food service industry has lost $165 billion in revenue and is likely to end the year having lost $240 billion. Additionally, customer spending in restaurants has been down 34 percent so far this year. 

Kansas City has experienced the effects of these losses as countless, especially local, restaurants continue to shut down because of the insurmountable disruptions COVID-19 imposed on the industry. This article is the second in a series exploring the effect of COVID-19 losses on individual restaurants in Kansas City. 

Gigi’s Vegan + Wellness Cafe

Gigi’s Vegan + Wellness Cafe opened July 16 – just a short time after the lockdown ended in Kansas City – and is already being lauded as one of the best vegan spots in town. Run by Gigi Jones with the help of her family (her son is often at the restaurant with her), the cafe serves a full vegan menu, fresh cold-pressed juices and three different flavors of kale chips. Jones has also dedicated an entire section of the cafe to low-waste and wellness goods, as well as supplements. 

Operating a restaurant during COVID-19 is extremely difficult in its own right, and opening one in the middle of a pandemic seems even more daunting. For Jones (affectionately known as Gigi the Vegan), the difficulties didn’t deter her. All that mattered was offering fresh and healthy food to people in the Kansas City area. 

“We’ve been working on the space for roughly about a year and, right when we were opening, Kansas City shut down. We had invested so much time and effort into the space — and we knew what we were creating was all about health and wellness for the community, you know, good healthy food – all plant-based. Our decision was solely based upon [the fact that] people are actually looking to change their diet. They’re looking for a healthier alternative because of the pandemic,” Jones said. “For us, it was a no brainer, we had to do it and we had to do it because people were sick… So we just decided we had to do it in spite of what could possibly happen – a shut down again – in spite of not being able to make those numbers or our monthly goals, but we’re definitely here to serve the community.”

The faith that Jones has in her business – and her unadulterated desire to serve a community healthy food and supplements – shines through all of her interactions. Her mission to bring health to the Kansas City community naturally extended to keeping her business and customers safe during COVID-19. 

“We really focus on the safety of our community and the safety of ourselves and my employees. That’s a big concern for me – that’s a big deal. We clean thoroughly and deliver curbside with gloves on. We offer outdoor seating and [everything is] wiped down frequently. We follow the procedure: six feet apart and everything is wiped clean. So, we try to do our part in keeping everyone safe. But we also want to help keep people well and we do that by serving plant–based food,” said Jones. 

The outdoor patio seating at Gigi’s, which has become a sort of staple to the cafe, has an especially sentimental meaning to Jones. 

“When we opened we didn’t have a patio whatsoever… My birthday was July 16 and my son surprised me and built a patio outside. He built a patio for me – he said ‘Mom, I think this will be great support for your space, especially with this pandemic going on: people can sit outside.’ He wanted to give that offering to the business and it’s beautiful. My flowers are out here, and it really is an attention–getter,” Jones said. 

The patio also serves as the safest place to eat during the pandemic. And while Jones admits that seating and serving will be harder during the winter months when it’s too cold for the patio, she’s already thought of a creative solution. 

“Now we’re doing delivery services – like Uber eats and so on and so forth. So that our customers will feel safe as well [when they don’t] want to come out when it’s cold – we’ll be a part of a delivery service. And then that way, too, we’ll have longer hours because we’ll be able to serve them,” said Jones. 

While this solution will ensure her business can stay open with the colder months approaching and sustained COVID-19 restrictions, Jones admits that it is especially hard to be a restaurant owner right now. But she recognizes the integral part that restaurants play in Kansas City’s culture and is not willing to let that go. 

“Of course, I believe that [COVID-19] has hurt the restaurant industry a lot, but at the same time people are still staying in business because they want to be able to serve our community as much as possible, and I think that once this thing is over, all is going to be well again,” said Jones. “If we all just sat down, then what’s going to happen? So we have to keep going.”

Above all, Jones has seen an outpouring of support for her new business – giving her hope for its longevity and success even in the face of a pandemic. 

“I was shocked, I went online last night — someone called me and said, ‘Gigi, have you seen the reviews?’ I went online and I saw [them], I couldn’t believe it. All five stars — one person said, ‘If I could give Gigi’s wellness cafe six stars we would.’ I was blown away by that,” said Jones. “We get new customers all the time, and we’re also experiencing customers returning.”

The success of Gigi’s Vegan + Wellness Cafe is a heartfelt and encouraging example during a pandemic that has been responsible for the closure of countless local restaurants. However, lasting success is not guaranteed, and local restaurants need our constant and deliberate support. Jones created an oasis of healthy food and goods in Westport for the good of the community – now it’s time we fight to keep it around. 

The restaurant industry has been hit especially hard throughout 2020, as many restaurants cannot re-open due to COVID-19 precautions, and many patrons do not go to those that are open in an effort to reduce risk in the community. Since the first lockdown in March, the food service industry has lost $165 billion in revenue and is likely to end the year having lost $240 billion. Additionally, customer spending in restaurants has been down 34 percent so far this year. 

Kansas City has experienced the effects of these losses as countless, especially local, restaurants continue to shut down because of the insurmountable disruptions COVID-19 imposed on the industry. This article is the first in a series exploring the effect of COVID-19 losses on individual restaurants in Kansas City. 

Happy Gillis Cafe & Hangout

Happy Gillis Cafe & Hangout – owned by chefs Abbey-Jo and Josh Eans since 2013 – has been a staple in the Columbus Park neighborhood. The breakfast and brunch spot serves sandwiches, breakfast classics and seasonal offerings on their rotating menu. 

The couple, who also lives in Columbus Park, opened Columbus Park Ramen Shop two years later in their 350 square-foot garage. Both restaurants are beloved by Kansas Citians for their commitment to supporting local producers and, above all, really good food. However, like most restaurants, COVID-19 forced the Eans’s to temporarily shutter their small neighborhood restaurants until it was safe enough to re-open. 

Happy Gillis has since re-opened for weekend brunch and their new meal kit service. The Hilltop Monitor was able to talk with Abbey-Jo Eans about how their restaurant is doing during this time and the state of Kansas City restaurants in general. 

Eans began by discussing the perilous situation the restaurant industry is in right now. 

“I think [the current state of the restaurant industry] is pretty scary. I think that we have some really great independent restaurants, and the challenge is that they have the hardest time because they don’t have deep pockets, they usually don’t have big investors,” Eans said. “I’ve been telling people lately that I feel simultaneously super grateful and I can’t believe that we were closed and now we’ve reopened and people are coming back. Like, not many places can do that and not many places can make it through what we’re making it through. But at the same time I feel really freaked out because: oh my gosh, are there enough people coming and how will I make it through the winter and what will happen… It’s kind of just a lesson in this crazy speed of running after something super hard and also holding things kind of loosely so you can be appreciative as the positive things come in so that you can keep going and you can tackle the next challenge.”

The COVID-19 safety measures put out by the city have not really affected how the Eans run their business. According to Eans, it’s actually a matter of being clear about their commitment to safety. 

“We’re kind of doing a lot of the same things that we would do anyway. Like restaurants that are successful, they do make sure that their spaces are clean and sanitized… It’s kind of just taken to the next level… We serve on paper now and I’m hoping that that will change in the future and we can go back to using dishes and stuff,” said Abbey-Jo Eans. 

A lot of changes had to be made to Happy Gillis for the Eans’s to continue their business and still be successful. One such change was the creation of their meal kit delivery and pick-up service. Customers can order meals that feed 2-4 people, sides and kitchen staples like eggs and vegetables through Happy Gillis. The food is delivered on Fridays or can be picked up during brunch hours on Saturday and Sunday. Still, changes that have been made in response to COVID-19 have been reactionary, calling their permanence into question.

“We still don’t really know what [changes] are going to be permanent. I think for us, we kind of switched really quickly. For Happy Gillis specifically, we shut our dining room down like two weeks after everything happened. It was maybe in mid-March we had to let our whole staff go and then by the end of March we had our dining room closed and we’ve been working on these meal kits… So we switched. The permanent changes for us are that we have this new kind of like baby business model that we created and I think that’s something that will stick forever. I think that people have learned through the inconvenience of COVID-19, we’ve kind of learned how to get things more conveniently – like having to have everything delivered,” Abbey-Jo Eans said. 

Although Happy Gillis is now open for weekend brunch and the meal-kit service, the Eans’s other restaurant, Columbus Park Ramen, remains closed for the time being. 

“[Columbus Park Ramen] is kind of – I don’t want to say difficult – but it is a difficult situation. The ramen shop is in a garage so there’s no social distancing space available. It would be almost impossible to use that space, so I think that’s been a huge challenge for us and I think that right now what we’re doing is we’ve just put it on hold. We don’t have an opening date yet because it’s just not feasible… If it was my only business it would be even harder. People that have had to close their doors for the one business that they do [have],” Abbey-Jo Eans said. “It’s not that it’s less hard… I’m not saying at all that we can afford to let it go. But I think because we have Happy Gillis there’s something to kind of help keep us going. We had to decide how to best focus our energy because this time is just financially draining, it’s emotionally draining and we needed to focus somewhere. For us Happy Gillis is where we really started down here and so we just felt like that was where we could feasibly work with.”

It is challenges like these that have been plaguing restaurant owners since the start of the pandemic. Figuring out how to stay open and feed people in a safe way is an ever-changing and not easily accomplished task. Happy Gillis – a small corner restaurant that used to have 14 tables – is down to five tables inside the restaurant and additional tables outside on their sidewalk. 

Sidewalk and patio seating, like Happy Gillis has done, has been a sort of salvation for restaurants this summer. Since restaurants had to eliminate much, if not all, of their indoor dining space to comply with COVID-19 health regulations, patio seating offers a place that customers can sit safely outside with proper air circulation and distance. However, winter brings a new set of challenges as the cold weather will likely put an end to outdoor seating. This means Kansas Citians will need to dedicate themselves to preserving the restaurants they love. 

“I don’t know what’s going to happen in the winter. I don’t know if Kansas Citians are going to be ready to push through and still eat outside when it’s cold… Sometimes we’re not able to be open, you know, like some other restaurants that can just be open all the time. Sometimes we’re just not able to do that and we’re doing our best,” Abbey-Jo Eans said. “The situation is kind of requiring everyone to go a little bit beyond what’s maybe the most comfortable and the most convenient… It’s also hard because we want people to come but we’re also not in a financial place where we can go out to eat all the time and support places. So it’s a weird fine balance of, like I said before, of being super appreciative that people are coming and spending their money here but also trying to help people understand that by doing that, we need them to do it more, we need them to do it more consistently and just more in order to survive.”

Over the course of the pandemic, the constantly precarious situation that restaurant staff and owners live in has become clear. Wages depend on tips, and a restaurant’s profit depends on being at or over capacity. With tips lessening or disappearing during the lockdown and subsequent decrease of dining, and restaurants only being able to seat about half of their normal clientele, people are losing their income, and restaurants are closing. That is why wages are one of the things Abbey-Jo Eans hopes changes after the pandemic. 

“I really hope that our labor force and what we pay people and the kinds of working environments that people have and the restaurant culture itself, I hope that that’s changed for the better… People need to understand that the people cooking their food make minimum wage sometimes… like we have to get to this place where that’s not acceptable anymore. We can push it all day, but if people don’t support it it’s never going to work,” said Eans. “I mean, if the wage goes up, which is awesome, then we have to charge more. And if people really understand what the cost of food is – which hopefully they are learning that as they are having to go to the grocery store themselves now and buy and cook at home more – hopefully all those things will kind of spur change for the better.”

Above all, the lockdown and its effects have hopefully shown Kansas Citians the importance of constantly supporting the places that they love. If people want restaurants to stay open, to keep serving their delicious and creative food, and to maintain Kansas City’s status as a hidden gem for foodies, they have to support local. 

Restaurants provide us with good food and comfort, especially during times like these. When we buy and eat local we are supporting other Kansas Citians, like Abbey-Jo and Josh, in keeping their dreams alive – as well as ensuring we have spaces to continue to frequent. Local restaurants have been there to give us comfort during everything from nights out to business meetings to stay at home orders – now it’s our turn to support them.

To support Kansas City restaurants and food service workers, visit KC Runs on Hospitality

Being a college student with limited time and money, it’s not possible to eat at the sheer amount of places that I want to. But if I could build my perfect fall menu, my day would start and end with these meals:

Breakfast: 
I would head to the Westside neighborhood and bask in the sunlight on the patio as I eat a cinnamon toast crêpe at Seven Swans Crêperie. The crêpe has cinnamon, sugar, kerrygold butter and a touch of salt (crucial for the crêpe to not be too sweet) then is topped with whipped creme. The crêpe is so flavorful you’ll forget you’re not really eating french toast. The batter at Seven Swans tastes great and the crêpes are perfectly cooked. I would also add a sunny side up egg to balance out the dish. 

Seven Swans Crêperie: 1746 Washington St, Kansas City, MO 64108

Lunch: 
My breakfast was sweet, so I would be in the mood for something savory to balance it out. There’s nothing better than some warm comfort food on a crisp fall day. For me, that comfort comes in the form of a hot, scratch-made soup. I love the tomato soup from Thelma’s Kitchen. They always have a scratch-made soup on the menu, and it’s always delicious. Thelma’s is Kansas City’s first donate-what-you-can cafe, and it’s nice to know that you’re helping feed others just by grabbing a great lunch. 

Thelma’s Kitchen: 3101 Troost Ave, Kansas City, MO 64109

Snack: 
An afternoon snack on a day full of eating is definitely necessary. For the perfect fall bite, I’d go to Mud Pie Vegan Bakery on W 39th St. I’d grab a Mexican hot chocolate and a chai spiced apple pecan muffin. Then I’d sit on the patio and bask in the cool air as I savor my fall-flavored treats. 

Mud Pie Vegan Bakery: 1615 W 39th St, Kansas City, MO 64111

Dinner: 
Evening means it’s time to go to dinner at one of my favorite spots in Kansas City, Fox and Pearl. The restaurant rotates its menu seasonally and sources its ingredients from local farmers, so everything here is fresh and fulfilling. I’d order their smoked pork belly off the fall menu. It’s served with confit duck sausage, blue barley, smoked apple butter and apple chutney — it truly is a taste of what Kansas City has to offer in the fall. 

Fox and Pearl: 2143 Summit St, Kansas City, MO 64108

Dessert: 
To finish off my day of perfect fall eating, I’d head to Ashleigh’s Bake Shop in Westport for dessert. They make all their pies in house each morning, and their handmade all-butter crust is proof that a crust’s flakiness really does equate to my happiness. I’d order their apple & cranberry pie with oat crumble. The balance of sweet and tart gives excitement to each bite, and there’s nothing better than a good crumble in the fall. 

Ashleigh’s Bake Shop: 115 Westport Rd, Kansas City, MO 64111