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Pandemic Potatoes Nudo House’s Chris Ladley reveals the secret to COVID-19 stress relief: Tater tots Written by
CHERYL BAEHR
C
hris Ladley gauges the evolution of his stress regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the restaurant industry in terms of tater tot consumption. “When it started getting really bad, Qui [Tran] asked me if we had anything crappy to eat in the walk-in,”Ladley recalls. “I told him we had tater tots, so I fried some up. t first, had a small bowl. Eventually, it turned into a medium-sized one and the next thing we knew, we were eating them out of a large mixing bowl. The two of us ate an entire case of them in four days.” For Ladley and his Nudo House (multiple locations including 6105 A Delmar Boulevard, 314370-6970) team, the buildup and current reality of the COVID-19 pandemic provided reason to be stressed. Since mid-March, the restaurant industry has been turned on its head as people stay home to curb the virus’ devastation. Like all of his hospitality colleagues, Ladley faces an uncertain future as business suffers because of takeout and delivery-only service, and it’s unclear when — or if — it will resume to pre-COVID levels. However, Ladley feels lucky. Because fast-casual Nudo House already did a significant amount of to-go business, the transition to takeout and delivery-only has been smoother than it has for restaurants that have had to reinvent themselves. He’s been steadily employed, he’s been busy when he’s at work and the restaurant has been able to fast-track some plans for prepared foods that have helped it earn additional income during this
Chris Ladley of Nudo House. | TRENTON ALMGREN-DAVIS business disruption. “Qui and I have been grinders forever, so we said, Let s figure out how to rub two pennies together,’” Ladley says. “We’ve been doing a weekly catering for Washington University, have been able to get some branded things in Schnucks and have turned the restaurant into a grocery store. It hasn’t really been a pivot but more that we realized the things we wanted to do in the future we could do now. It was terrifying and nauseating at first, but we realized that the only way we are going to get through is to put our heads down and figure it out. Ladley admits it hasn’t been easy, though. There are days when the phones don’t ring and the Postmates terminal is silent. Because he knows how much money the
restaurant has to take in any given day, the uncertainty is brutal. He draws strength from his camaraderie with industry peers. From supporting each other’s businesses to helping each other navigate the current meat shortage, Ladley has seen the best in people even while they experience some of the worst times of their professional lives. He feels that support from the public as well and has been heartened that people have shown how much the city’s restaurant scene means to them. Both give him hope that the industry will come back. “There has been so much cooperation between restaurants and staff and friends and the community,” Ladley says. “If we keep up with that, the scene is not going to fi le, and we are not go-
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ing to let the chains take over. If there is one thing St. Louisans are, it’s scrappy. That’s what I love about this city. We incubated our own scene, because no one gave a crap about us. That’s what made us, and that’s what is going to keep us from drowning.” Ladley took a break from Nudo House’s kitchen to share how he is personally coping during COVID-19 and what gives him hope, even as things seem dark. As a hospitality professional, what do people need to know about what you are going through? I guess the daily anxiety is uncertainty. Margins are already super thin in this business; now dining room revenue is gone, and costs are going up because we are hav-
MAY 13-19, 2020
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