How a French Restauranter and Entrepreneur is Coping during COVID-19
With the global pandemic affecting every aspect of our lives, Rhudy & Co. is highlighting a few entrepreneurial friends around the world to hear firsthand how they’re pivoting, reinventing and adjusting to the challenges of 2020.
Meet Barbara Basalgete, the owner and operator of Be Juice in Nice, France.
Tell us about your business.
I have a plant-based restaurant in Nice, France, where you can drink your veggies and eat healthy. We also offer well-being events and workshops. We’ve been opened since May 2016.
How has your business pivoted or adjusted as a result of the chaos of 2020?
We have had to change our operating hours to optimize demand, offer delivery service, and reduce our workshops and event offerings. Since we came out of confinement, we see that our clientele has changed.
More local people seem to have become aware of the benefits of eating healthy, but we have lost a bulk of our customers who were tourists, as there are very few travelers these days. Our numbers are still not the same as 2019, with a decline of about 30-40%, but we have optimized our costs by making almost all the products that we sell and drastically reduced our resale products.
This is unfortunate for some of our suppliers who we consider partners in the movement of sustainable development, but we have had not much choice.
How has COVID-19 affected how you work and connect with employees and customers?
We have had to space out our tables and chairs to respect the social distancing rules; collect and record names and phone numbers of our customers and times they were in the restaurant; wear masks all day; and increase our sanitizing procedures. In France, where it is customary to greet with a kiss, we have had to stop physical contact with our customers.
What’s your professional outlook for 2021?
This month, more restrictions have gone into effect in Nice as our number of infections have exponentially increased. We now have a curfew in place from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. for the next six weeks. Our president has already confirmed that disruptions will continue until summer 2021, so I don’t think things will be going back to normal in 2021, or even thereafter. I think there’s a new normal that we all going to have to create.
Do you have any communication and management advice for leaders during the pandemic?
During these uncertain times where it is difficult to make sense of information, the best way to communicate is to be as transparent as possible with clients, and do what we say we will do.
Practicing consistency and integrity in communication and management is what seems to bring repeat customers and keep healthy relations in the workplace. It’s also been more important to listen to what our customers’ new needs are and reinvent our services to meet the demand.
Jonathan Rhudy and Barbara Basalgete met in high school in Richmond, Va., and studied journalism together at James Madison University.