Three Amigos

THREE AMIGOS

REINVENTING RESTAURANT DINING POST COVID WITH 3 OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL RESTAURATEURS IN SOUTHERN CA DAVID SLAY, MIKE ZISLIS AND MIKE SIMMS

To say, “Covid killed the restaurant business…” is no surprise to anyone. Yet walk though Manhattan Beach Blvd after dark on a Friday or Saturday night and the question is clear, “Where did everyone go?”

Once a bustling active thriving city well past 11pm, Manhattan Beach is now eerily quiet. The downtown area, the heartbeat of the city, any city, every city, is its bars and restaurants. Destroy or remove the moving, active, inviting eateries central to a downtown area, and the city will die.

After the Covid shutdown, the city of Manhattan Beach extended a helping hand to allow restaurants to use existing parking spaces as an extension of their restaurants. It was this idea to build and open outdoor dining areas in front of their own restaurants, that caused hope to become real. Covid fearful patrons could now feel safe and secure to enjoy a meal outside in the ocean breeze, finally free from their Covid-prison home.

The outside dining areas also brought an unexpected bonus of “influence.”

Happiness is contagious, and on any given day, many people doing daily activities, walking to an eye doctor appointment or to other shops would notice table after table filled with happy guests enjoying food and drink in the sun. Bringing out feelings of missing out and people felt inspired to do turn around after their errands, call a friend and head back to these dining places to enjoy the moment themselves.

Outdoor dining also opened an “early dining” trend, bringing diners to the city to see the sunset early, because eating outside by the ocean, you can actually “see” the sun set. It is a unique amazing experience, enhanced with the ocean and sand.

During the Covid closing of restaurants, an unlikely friendship grew between some owners, who put their heads together to navigate the endless web of changing health reports, ordinances, bans, customer fears, and Covid-19 PPE paperwork. Experiencing the endless ups and downs since March 2020 was like riding a rollercoaster, unbuckled, in the dark, with no handrail and no “push here” escape button. But there was help…friends… that bound together as “three amigos” (David Slay, Mike Simms and Mike Zislis) resilient to a tornado as they worked toward sane and hopeful and normalcy to the restaurant world.

What is normal, a new normal? Outdoor dining saved the Manhattan Beach restaurant business. Temporarily. Today, now that they had a “taste” of what it was like with the outside seating livening up the downtown, as temporary outdoor dining went away, down went the rollercoaster as restaurant owners huddled together again to figure out their next move. And for the three amigos who shared their thoughts with me for this article, the oddly curious and mostly positive part of Covid was that the three competing restaurateurs became close friends.

WHAT NO ONE UNDERSTANDS:

David Slay (Slay Steak + Fish House, Slay Italian Kitchen, and Fete Bistro by Slay as well as the new Slay Hermosa in Hermosa Beach) vividly remembers the repeated business that would flow in after attending Disney’s Concert Hall or the Los Angeles Philharmonic for a closing bite to eat at 11pm. “Those days are gone. People now hit one thing or another, they don’t do two events anymore. They will just go to eat or go to the theater and do just one thing and then, they go home.”

Mike Zislis (The Strand House, BrewCo and Rock n Fish) and Mike Simms (owner of Simmzy’s, Fishing with Dynamite, MB Post, Arthur J’s, Tin Roof Bistro, and The Kettle) agreed that Covid caused people to change their lifestyle, saying, “Walk down Manhattan Beach Blvd on a Thursday night at 8:30pm, and it’s a ghost town down here.” And “People are eating earlier more than later and by 9 or 10pm, they just want to be at home.”

BIGGEST CHALLENGES TODAY:

Since Covid forced people to work in their homes instead of working in the office, lunch is slow. People working from home, work alone, so there’s no need to go out for lunch as often when you’d be going alone anyway and leftovers from last night’s dinner are a 40 second microwave zap away.

Of all the challenges facing restaurants today, managing Labor is at the top. So much so that Mike Zislis has brought in two employees solely dedicated for interviewing, hiring and on-boarding new employees. Because as all will attest, turnover today in the restaurant biz is on the rise.

It wasn’t always. The three amigos shared that Pre-Covid employees would actually fight for hours at work. And the employee call-off rate? Almost zero. Simply because when an employee calls off, they’d risk losing their job. Plus, the attitude that met this call-off was fierce, “If you miss work, you don’t get paid. In fact, you may even lose your job.”

That was then. Today, post Covid, it’s a new world to work in the restaurant hospitality industry as owners face more daily call offs than ever before. The three men shared a few of the excuses they have heard with imitation voices:

“I really want to go to a concert…sorry….”

“Surfs up…I’ll be in tomorrow!”

“Um…I’m just not feeling like work today…”

While we laughed at the oddity, the point is very serious. Workers today just do not care about their work than before. Especially since the majority of staff are brand new. What happened to the old staff? Many employees never returned back after Covid…as the need to create income for family forced these workers to seek employment in the construction world or other areas of restaurant supply business where the workday is 8 to 5 and comes with healthcare and a 401k.

Today’s young new employees are also extremely aware of their “feelings” and are selfish of their time. Interviews with young workers have produced comments and feelings about how short life is, that things can be taken away in a heartbeat, or that everything is temporary and there is no reason to be loyal to anything or anyone.

“The number of employees that just don’t even show up to work is mind boggling,” said Mike Simms. The three amigos talked about the loss of “work ethic” and how it has all but disappeared with this new generation of post Covid employees. Because when an employee calls out or doesn’t show, employers must deal with the fall out of that missing/absent employee…which means added costs of sick pay, Covid pay, as well as the cost it takes to find another person to cover the now vacant station. The whole process, of securing employees, keeping them happy, as well as getting them to just come to work, stay at work, be engaged at work and then replacing them when they fail to show up for work is expensive and stressful.

NOTICING NEW TRENDS:

When David mentioned that “Drinking during meals has been decreasing and slowing down over the years,” Mike S and Mike Z agreed as they all have seen a new trend of young adults in their mid to late twenties not drinking as much as the older crowds.

“It is as if they just haven’t found having a glass of wine or a cocktail during dinner to be something they enjoy.” Many young people would rather have a very long brunch during the day, every day, rather than an entire evening dining out. In the May 24th, 2023, issue of the Wall Street Journal agrees as well. In the article titled, “Brunch is Now an Event 7 Days a Week,” contributor Mike Jordan writes that young adults today would rather eat at 11am with a bloody Mary rather than 8am breakfast.

Mike Z shared a prediction that the future of dining will be moving to fine dining and fast casual. And that the family restaurants, the middle of the road places will be less and less.

Just then, one of the three amigos mentioned, “Did you know there are 9 restaurants for sale right now in neighboring Hermosa Beach?”

There was an awkward pause as the three of them looked down for a moment as if remembering a friend who had died. It was a tender, somber moment that spoke to the state of the world, a reality review of the past three years that clearly gave note that owning a restaurant, in today’s world, is not what it used to be.

When one of them said, “The positive margins we once had are just gone, as it is harder and harder to make money owning a restaurant.”

I looked up at the three of them and asked the one question you may be asking right now as you read this, “Then why do it…? If this is so hard, and the money is not there and other restaurants are closing, why continue? Why not quit and pack it in?”

An odd silence once again crept across the table and then, like a kettle of water ready to hiss at boiling, all 3 men spoke at once. Their passionate, love filled emotion had hit a massive crescendo! And overflowed loudly with the words:

“It’s hospitality!”

“I was born to serve!”

“We love what we do!”

“We love serving!”

“We love serving people!”

Yes! It’s clear why these three amigos are the top producing restauranteurs in the Los Angeles South Bay. And even facing these tough past few years, these men were far from giving up any time soon!

Mike Z practically jumped out of our booth speaking for all, “I have to do this! I love serving people. I could be at a party and when I see dishes or papers around, I will literally start bussing and cleaning up. It’s just what I have to do!”

David added, “I’m 3rd generation and just opened a 4th location in Hermosa. Every time things begin to get good again, something hits us. Like this past January through March were the worst wet months we’ve ever seen in Southern California! Plus, why is it only raining on Fridays and Saturdays! We need sunny weekend to draw a crowd to dine here at the beach! April was our first good month. So right now, we are using this time to just improve our product and our service.”

LAUGHTER THROUGH CHAOS?

David Slay said, “When outdoor dining ended, and Covid grew to be a distant memory, many of our staff forgot how to work inside.” David remembers his entire staff searching for the salt & pepper shakers. Since they couldn’t be on the tables during Covid, someone had tucked them away so well, that staff couldn’t remember where they put them!

Mike Zislis remembers telling his staff that he wanted to bring back 6-line items from the old menu. That was all fine and good with his team, the only problem…? Many of his chef’s didn’t remember how to prepare them.

One of the three also shared that their General Manager, hired during Covid, had never run a restaurant “inside” at all, and wasn’t sure how to make the transition.

Ordering bulk supplies like wine glasses or steak knives is still a challenge if not next to impossible. As the labor, needed to make the wine glasses or fulfill the orders has not yet been fully reinstated.

And that annoying, laminated square QR “menu” code that lay in the center of tables or floated around for guests to have to scan on their phone and see dining options? Apparently, guests hated the new, weird tedious work required to choose their meal as much as the staff, who needed to call for “close” help for others to show them how to operate their own phone. Especially when guests were over 80 and didn’t even own a cell phone.

Thankfully, everyone is glad to see handheld menus back to their position too as a wonderful piece of their dining experience.

When I brought up; “How do we feel about dogs inside restaurants?” The three spoke in unison, “We love dogs.” “We support the canine moment!” Dogs are people’s children, and while some dogs are large enough to be confused with a cow, others, in baby strollers and bags still get carried into restaurants like children looking for a meal of their own. And they do order meals of their own. A human mom or dad does, but today, when people are lonelier than ever and the suicide rate is still climbing, bringing your “furry family” to dine with you is a massive source of safety and comfort. Just like food.

All three men insisted that I relay to our readers that at all of their 13 restaurants in Manhattan Beach welcome dogs stating: “We love dogs. We love kids.”

As the three men sharing these different stories, I’m wondered if you had told them back in 2017 that this would have been their life over the next 5 years, no one would have ever believed it.

Yet, today, they are ready and prepared to take on any challenge.

HOPE IN THE FUTURE OF RESTAURANTS?

David Slay was the one to bring up a strange and beautiful positive result that many of us in town may not know, “While rising labor and costs have caused our own prices to rise, we are so so grateful that our regular customers still support us and never even complain. If we were anywhere else in the USA, that may not happen, but here, in Manhattan Beach, we have the greatest customers and are so blessed.”

All three men shared stories that during the Covid shut down, there were many small miracles. Customers would literally stop by with money, checks, or just a hug in offer to help. One person dropped off a $10,000 check! “People were not looking for anything, not even a meal, or notoriety, they were just looking to help us because we were forced to close, and no one knew how we would ever open again.”

Mike Simms said, “We have the most loyal customers in our town. Smart, educated and just so so grateful.”

Even the employees were taken care of, like the first day back after Covid shutdown, a waitresses received a $1,000 tip. This waitress, beyond thrilled to be back at work to make a living for her family, was so overjoyed with this unbelievable act of kindness, she burst into tears.

During our meeting, we spoke about the future of what will last in dining. And it seems all three men agree that Fine Dining, fast casual and take out is here to stay. The future casualty will be the family dining experience that has been so popular for years.

The three also shared stories of watching long term employees grow up. These employees started working with them as kids and now have their own kids. “These kids of our employees went to college and now have their own careers. It’s a massive success story when you can be in this business for so long to see the generational impact.”

As we sat together for this interview at an ocean view circle booth at Mike Z’s Strand House, you could see several people walk by with mouths open, citing, “The Table of Royalty.” Another passerby gasped and commented, “Look at the A-table!”

Yes. It was odd to see these three amigos, also direct competitors, all seated together at one table. Yet the positives of Covid remain clear: Life is all about connections and enjoying our time here on this beautiful planet. And if we are so lucky to get to experience our life here at the beautiful location called Manhattan Beach, let’s do it together so we can all succeed.

As the planning company that was once hired to review Manhattan Beach to create a better layout for the city discovered: 77% of all business that happens downtown Manhattan Beach is from visitors. Kill the visitors, you kill your downtown. And the three amigos working as a team are not about to let that happen. In fact, quite the opposite, because they believe when you put your heads together and work for your customers to give them what they want, success will come.