Southern California restaurateur Andrew Faour on converting one of his restaurants into a retail market during the coronavirus pandemic

As part of our Stories from the Front Lines series, Restaurant Hospitality reached out to restaurateurs to share their experiences during the coronavirus crisis. Andrew Faour is the co-owner of three Southern California restaurants: Wicked Cow in Upland, Clubhouse 66 in Glendora and The Pub at Chino Hills. He has converted The Pub at Chino Hills into Market Square, comprised of three different concepts: The Farmer’s Market, which sells produce, meat, canned goods, paper goods and family meal kits; Off The Grill, which sells family-sized meals cooked to order; And Happy Hour Any Hour, which sells beer, pre-mixed cocktails and bottles of wine and spirits. Here is his story.

With my whole family being entrepreneurs, past and present, I was always taught to plan for a rainy day, because they will always show up. A ‘rainy day,’ from past experiences, was typically a problem in one of our locations for a short period of time or a major shift in the industry that just takes some adjusting.

But for every store to be shut down, and for an extended period of time, that’s something you never really expect to happen.

The hardest part for me is not being able to provide for my entire staff, who are always willing to work and help. Nonetheless, reality is reality.

A business owner needs to manage their business and do whatever it takes to keep it afloat until things bounce back, which is how I came up with Market Square. For me, it was the best way for us to provide the community with what they need (groceries, daily necessities, hot foods and comfort drinks), keep some of my staff employed and mitigate our losses. The response has been great. The support for small businesses increases tremendously in time of crisis.

This is part of our Stories from the Front Lines series.