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By Scott Nishimura
Dozens of cars line for the nightly takeout dinner deal at Bonnell’s, Chef Jon Bonnell’s workaround amid coronavirus restrictions.
Jon Bonnell has had a front-row view of the hundreds of cars that have lined up at dinner time in the last week to take him up on his $40 family meal four-packs. He estimates he’s sold 3,700 meals in the first eight days since he closed his Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine and Waters fine dining restaurants in Fort Worth to just curbside sales of multi-course, prix fixe dinnertime meals and extras like frozen margaritas to go, ready-to-grill meats, and pints of Melt Ice Cream, an entrepreneurial Fort Worth product whose owners Bonnell has mentored.
By the time daily sales open at 4 p.m., cars snake from the Bonnell’s parking lot at Southwest Boulevard and Bryant Irvin Road up the highway frontage to the Chisholm Trail. It’s Bonnell’s chowline job to open the doors of vehicles and insert bags full of food.
“I recognize 70% of customers in the line,” he said in an interview Monday night, the crew’s first day off since beginning the family meal plan. “It’s all of our best customers. Our favorite people. I’ve seen one guy seven days in a row.”
Bonnell opened his flagship Bonnell’s Fine Texas in 2001 and has built years worth of goodwill with his willingness to front nonprofit events and help other entrepreneurs. So the community’s largesse in return shouldn’t be a surprise. But like other restaurateurs, Bonnell’s restaurants – his two Buffalo Bros. sports bars in Fort Worth remain open to curbside pickup, delivery, and catering orders – have been socked by the fallout from coronavirus.
Bonnell estimates $400,000-$500,000 of catering jobs evaporated as coronavirus shut down events. “Every single thing on the calendar called and cancelled,” he said. Bonnell estimates his restaurant trade is still off 80–90%. “It’s been good” and gratifying, he said of customers' response to the family meals. “But it’s not the way I would choose to do business.”
The idea came quickly, Bonnell says, after a group of restaurateurs and Mayor Betsy Price met during what was supposed to have been a skeet shoot for the now-cancelled Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival. “We all knew it was a matter of time before they shut down all the restaurants,” Bonnell said.
He decided to make a go of it, rather than closing. “People are still going to need meals,” he said. “We decided to abandon full service — there wasn’t a place for that right now — and just get as many people fed as possible for a reasonable price.”
He laid off 240 of his workers. Six remain at both Bonnell’s and Waters, including eight kitchen staff, and two at the curb for each day’s 4 p.m. curbside sales. He has 10 remaining employees at each Buffalo Bros.
“We were trying to keep as many people working as possible,” Bonnell said, when asked about his expectations for the service. “If it didn’t work, we’d have to fire everybody. A lot of restaurants took that path, and I don’t blame them.”
The entrees have ranged from salmon to braised short ribs, turkey and fried chicken, with sides and desserts included. Beer, wine, frozen margaritas, and ready-to-grill meats are available as extras. Bonnell announces each menu on his Facebook pages early in the day.
The margins are razor thin. “There’s no way you can make money at $10 a head. Fried chicken night, I think we were undercutting KFC. We can sell a few extras, and just limp and see if we can make this.”
Instead of allowing orders off of the Bonnell’s and Waters menus, Bonnell opted for prix fixe. “We decided we’re gonna turn off the phones, turn off the email, and just say here it is, come pick it up.”
The restaurants are referring all catering orders to Buffalo Bros., which have taken some jobs like orders from the University of North Texas and the Fort Worth Police Officers’ Association, which is rotating orders among restaurants to help keep them afloat.
Each day begins at 7 a.m., and finishes 12 hours later, after the completion of sales and cleanup. Sellout typically takes less than 90 minutes. Demand has been significantly stronger at Bonnell’s, at Bryant Irvin Road and Southwest Boulevard. Waters’ sales dropped off, with office closures downtown and the sharp decline in tourism.
Bonnell has been making adjustments on the fly. He switched Waters’ model to a two-meal pack for $30. And by the end of this week, he said all food prep for Bonnell’s and Waters will occur at the Bonnell’s location. At 1:30 p.m. each day, a crew will drive the Waters meals downtown for sale there. Bonnell said he’s planning for 500 meals per day at Bonnell’s — 125 family packs — and 120 meals per day at Waters.
“it’s hard,” Bonnell said. “It’s not our normal cuisine.” The tasks involved in high-volume cooking are different. And the restaurants’ supply chain has been disrupted by coronavirus. “The product that shows up may be different” than what was ordered. Prices of eggs, for one, have risen with shelter-in-place orders. “Everybody knows how to cook eggs,” for one, so demand and prices are up, and supply has turned unpredictable.
Bonnell has also been trying to help his employees find other jobs. The company is pooling the tips it’s making into a fund. “We’re going to our employees who are sitting at home now, and going to be able to give them a little extra,” Bonnell said.
He’s also set up the Bonnell’s Restaurant Group emergency fund via the Venmo mobile app that patrons can use to make donations to employees. “We’ve let all of our employees know, if you come into an emergency, call,” he said.
