Restaurant News: Indigenous in Sarasota on responding to pandemic

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sarasota restaurant Indigenous has learned to adapt.

When Florida restaurants were ordered closed except for to-go in March, Indigenous moved to a takeout system. And after a recent rise in new COVID-19 cases in Florida, chef/owner Steve Phelps moved to provide table service outdoors only, along with still offering curbside pickup.

Indigenous has earned acclaim, with Phelps a two-time semifinalist in the prestigious James Beard Awards. The restaurant focuses on sustainable seafood and peak ingredient availability, with the menu changing regularly. In a phone interview Monday, Phelps discussed persevering during the pandemic.

What does your dine-in setup look like now?

So the other day, just watching the spikes go up, I got a little bit worried and right now I am just doing takeout and outdoor seating. Right now, that gives me nine spaced-out tables. I’m so lucky I’ve got a hard-roof cover out there and everything on the front porch. We can seat about 45 comfortably.

How have customers been responding to dine-in so far?

I think we’re really lucky that we’ve got a loyal following. When the indoor seating was available, most of my regular diners tend not to dine indoors. So most of the people who were indoors were new guests, and we kept it super, super overly spaced. So it wasn’t just a six-foot issue to us, we made it eight to 10 with our own personal caution. Feedback was fine; I think that what we noticed was those people who were dining indoors had really no concerns about a lot of situations going on. So it was good, but you could tell there was a little bit more of a laid-back attitude and they weren’t really inquiring about much, they just went about their dining experience.

What are you doing now for takeout and other options for people who don’t feel comfortable doing dine-in yet?

From March 17, when it started, we immediately switched over and our one dining room area turned out to be our takeout operation center. We were calling it “TOC.” It was such a learning experience from day one, but we kept that going strong and made it available for people, and all they had to do was contact us or look at our social media page. It’s a lot easier for us to change our social media posts than our website; our website is a little bit antiquated. So we keep them updated on that, then we were able to have our website have a jump page to bring them to Facebook.

So we just kept them informed with that, and I would say probably 80% of the people didn’t get out of their car. They just popped the trunk, we were trying to make it no hands, no conversations and no credit cards, so everything was paid over the phone. We even made takeout order forms from day one that just had the vehicle model; we’re just taking reservations for pickup times because we couldn’t have all their cars in the same spot. We’re lucky that neighborhood’s real quiet during the evenings, there’s not a lot of huge business over there. So we get their make and model of the car and they reserve a time, let’s say 5:45, to pick it up. We continue to master it as much as we can — they pull up, pop the trunk, bag goes in and you wave goodbye. So that’s worked out very well for the concerned guests. We’ve seen a lot of return business from them, which makes us feel great.

Beyond social distancing, what are you doing in terms of sanitation/safety?

With a very, very proper staff in our restaurant, they’ve always kept the place spotless. We invested a little bit more money in some nicer sanitizers that were really legitimate and not going to be a cheap over-the-counter sanitizer, so we have some really good-grade sanitizers. And every day before our shift, we always have a pre-meal shift.

Our pre-meals went from “Here’s what we’re running tonight, here’s where the product came from, here’s how we’d like you to introduce it to the guests” to “How’s everyone feeling today? Where’s everybody been going?” We’re trying to trace the employees, and we’ve kind of kept the same group in all from day one. But every pre-meal is an update on how we’re feeling; I was very interested every day if we were doing the right thing, and asking my staff. Not making my own decision for what we did every day, but asking them, “How do you feel about it, should we do this today, should we not be seating?” I think that brought us all closer together.

What does your staff look like now?

Regular business times, we’re a staff of 22 in total — kitchen, management, service. We did not truly lose anybody, but I would say 90 percent of the people that work for me, they all have other jobs and careers. There were a few that haven’t come back to work just because they’re able to do their other job properly right now and make a lot more money. But for the most part, we brought back our full staff in increments, slowly phased them into it with a lot of questioning first. But out of all that 22, we’ve really only lost a couple permanently, and that was for career changes and children.

What has staff morale been like?

It’s been good, as depressed and worried as I am — which is such a huge issue I think we’re all going to have pay attention to in this business right now, is the mental health of the hospitality industry. I have days where I don’t want to go to work because the stress of dealing with it’s so bad, but I have to because I’m the orchestrator. So I walk in that door no matter what trying to keep the staff happy and laughing and alert and ready to make some money. And it’s not an easy task, but our morale has been absolutely phenomenal. I think they know that since we share so many thoughts making group decisions, they’re empowered to make a lot of decisions by themselves there, that now they’re actually putting a decision into “Should we be open? Should be closed? How many days a week should we do it?” So I think that when your staff has become a part of the decision-making for a business, it really brings them up and says, “Hey, we appreciate you caring about us.” So the morale’s been actually spectacular for what we’re going through.

How would you compare this pandemic to other challenges you’ve faced in the restaurant business over the years, such as red tide or recessions?

I keep using the word adapt. Since I’ve moved to Florida, everything in my home life and business, I’ve had to really adapt from the cooler changing of the seasons to hurricanes, red tide, flooding and all this stuff. This one’s been the toughest, for sure. At least with a hurricane, you know it’ll end and red tide, you know it’ll end — well, I didn’t think that last one was going to end. But this is something that I don’t know when it can end, and that’s been the struggle. With a hurricane, you worry about losing power, and there’s a way to make up for losing power — you can take stuff other places, generators, all that. Now we’re just losing the actual clients and you can’t make up that. I don’t care how you advertise or how you discount, you can’t bring them back. To me, the word vaccine is going to change everything, of course. But it’s been the hardest adjustment to make since I’ve been in this restaurant business, for as long as I have. I’ve seen a lot of s---, and this one is the stinkiest.

Indigenous (239 S. Links Ave., Sarasota; 941-706-4740; indigenoussarasota.com) opens for dinner 5:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, with curbside starting at 5 p.m.

Some of the most popular menu items:

• One of the best-sellers is the smart catch fish sandwich, with Indigenous participating in James Beard Foundation’s Smart Catch sustainable seafood program. Phelps said he still plans to open a fish sandwich shop in the future.

• Shrimp and scallops are baked with Everglades spice, butter, lemon, tarragon and breadcrumbs.

• The restaurant’s wild mushroom bisque remains popular, with Phelps saying customers will still order the hot soup outside in “105-degree heat.”

• Phelps said they’ve also begun bringing back a crudo appetizer, which features thinly sliced raw fish such as cobia, lightly dressed and garnished.

DINING INFORMATION

Restaurants are now permitted to reopen with 50% indoor capacity and outdoor seating following recommended social distancing of at least six feet. There’s no limit on capacity for outdoor seating as long as social distancing guidelines are followed. The governor’s executive order does not mandate the use of masks. However, the FRLA recommends customers, employees and employers consult the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for employers responding to COVID-19, and certain cities and counties such as the city of Sarasota and Holmes Beach have introduced mandatory mask rules.

RESTAURANT NEWS

For the latest Sarasota-Manatee restaurant news — including updates regarding local bars, breweries, coffee shops and food trucks — visit heraldtribune.com/sarasotamanateerestaurants. Please email restaurant news items to ticket@heraldtribune.com.

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Read more stories by Jimmy Geurts