Street Food Survival: Fighting Covid-19 in Chef Yeast Nakul's Style

The Khao Moo Phra Ram 5 restaurant is an interesting example. With the adaptation and coping with the current situation, Chef Yeast-Nakul Kawinrat's restaurant still has more than 14 members, working hard to cook every day. Even though they have to add a delivery channel, which is a new experience for the restaurant, it also gave Chef Yeast a solution to bring delicious food to customers, such as using a vacuum-packing method that allows the grilled pork neck to have a longer shelf life, making it convenient to eat at home and making it safer. Chef Yeast-Nakul Kawinrat, the owner of the restaurant, is a talented new-generation chef. He is well-known among urban food lovers from being the Head Chef and creating menus in a hip restaurant in Thonburi before following his dream by opening a restaurant with easy-to-eat menus that everyone can access, with meticulous attention to every step of the process. Chef Yeast's restaurant 'Kho Moo Phra Ram 5' is doing well. When the COVID-19 situation occurred, everything changed.

Restaurant adaptation amid COVID-19 “I started changing the restaurant since the announcement that dining in was prohibited before the curfew because food had to be ordered for take-out only. So we packed it in bags so that customers could choose, which made it more convenient and faster. In addition, when the sky started to get dark around 6-7 p.m., there were fewer customers.

We have also adjusted the opening and closing times to be earlier. Normally, it is 11:00 - 21:30, closed on Fridays. We have moved it to 09:00 - 20:00, open on Fridays as well. The team can take turns taking a day off, but I myself don’t take a day off because these days, I keep getting phone calls and Line messages.”

Because it is an open kitchen, safety must be ensured. “There is a certain level of hygiene. We consider it a roadside restaurant. When there is COVID-19, customers will be concerned about this issue. So we have to do more by having our staff wear gloves and face masks. The virus is new to everyone in the restaurant. I have to find information and pass it on. What are the risks? How to wash your hands? I went to find a clip of washing hands for my staff to watch.” “The night before the announcement prohibiting dining in, I called a new team meeting about organizing the restaurant and cleaning it.

The staff must wear masks and gloves at all times. There are work zones. Normally, the kitchen staff is responsible for scooping rice and chopping pork, while the people outside the kitchen decorate the plates. Currently, the people outside the kitchen are only responsible for closing boxes because they have to receive money from customers. If possible, they will scan the QR Code and when they hand over the food, train them to try to place it on the table.”

(Self-service) delivery and discovery of new solutions “Normally, our restaurant doesn’t focus on delivery. The sales from our food delivery app aren’t that high to begin with. But when this incident happened, take-away was our only option, so we thought we’d have to do more because the restaurant is quite far from the city, which means the delivery fee is very expensive. So we thought,

All the staff at the shop ride motorcycles, so we should deliver the food ourselves. If the order is 500 baht or more, delivery is free within 5 kilometers. But the actual order was almost 10 kilometers.” “When we started delivering by ourselves, we started to encounter problems, such as if we stacked a lot of boxes together, the boxes would lose their shape. When we opened the boxes, the food looked unappetizing, so we started changing the packaging. At that time, there was news that there might be a curfew, so I thought that customers might not be able to go out and buy anything, so I thought about making frozen food and using a vacuum-wrapped method, which might be more convenient .”

Vacuum is an additional service that provides more choices for consumers and extends the shelf life of food. “Normally, the restaurant uses vacuum to preserve food because the vacuum-packing method prevents bacteria from growing, so the storage period is extended. For example, the pork at the restaurant is marinated for 36-40 hours, which is a long time. If left exposed to air, the ingredients will not be stored for long. So, we thought of adapting it for customers by cooking the pork until it is cooked to cut out the problem of bacteria, and then packing it in a vacuum bag, which is a thick food-grade bag that can be heated in a microwave and can withstand 100 degrees Celsius. Just tear open the bag and it is ready to eat. If you put it in the freezer, it can stay for months.” “Our restaurant does not charge for the vacuum service. Normally, when we buy food to take home, the restaurant uses eco-boxes and charges an additional 5 baht. However, during the COVID-19 situation, customers do not have many choices and everyone is forced to buy food to take home only. Therefore, we do not charge for the box. As for the vacuum bag, it is a small amount at 2 baht per bag. We help support them.

For shops that are thinking of using a vacuum cleaner for this situation, I recommend that you consider whether it is worth buying because one machine costs tens of thousands. If there is really a lockdown or if you plan to continue using it in the future, cooking frozen food can extend the storage period and save storage space. It will be a worthwhile investment.”

Free rice for those affected with sincere hearts and sincere management “When COVID-19 happened, it was natural for everyone to worry about themselves first. We were afraid that our shop would not survive and that our employees would not get paid. We had to do everything we could to survive, find ways to sell, and manage costs. One day, a friend asked me to help make lunch boxes. He was going to deliver them to the Bamrasnaradura Institute and Siriraj Hospital, which are responsible for COVID-19. Hearing that made me want to help too.” “After hanging up, I thought about how I had been thinking about myself in the past and was afraid that I would not survive. But there were people who were not surviving. Before that, I had a meeting with entrepreneurs in this area. Some of them could not survive. Some had to reduce their salaries by 30% or leave without pay. If I cooked food and gave it to the employees in this area, it would help a little. At least they would not have to pay for food. On the first day, only one person came to get it because if you do not travel to work in this area, not many people would pass by. So no one saw it. So I posted on Facebook and more people came to get it, in the tens. Then a page shared it and many people came to get it.” “After that, I wanted to help the hospital more. Some of us contacted them ourselves and some people came to donate. But I did not dare to accept money because it would be like a donation. I would not have time to explain the details. A customer suggested an idea to give 3,000 baht to buy lunch boxes and give them away. We were comfortable doing it and the customer knew the number of boxes as well.”

Key factors that will keep single-dish restaurants and roadside restaurants from surviving “Every shop has to adjust because it’s something new. No one has ever experienced this before. For made-to-order restaurants, roadside restaurants, it might be easy to adjust, but for steak, buffet, barbecue, or shabu restaurants, some shops have to change their style. From shabu, they have to sell made-to-order food because it’s the only way to survive. The goal is to survive this situation. We have to extend our team’s life. We can sell whatever we can. We have to do whatever channels we can. There’s no fixed method for everyone on what to do. For example, when I saw that the shop had to close, I opened online sales with my acquaintances. Tomorrow, I’ll make 30 bags of braised pork. Who wants some? I’ll deliver them. If we struggle, there must be a way to sell. Don’t give up yet. You can’t give up. This is not the time to give up.”

If the situation returns to normal, what would the chef like to do? “I am taking a break. I am very tired right now because I don’t have any days off. Normally, the shop closes every Friday so that all the staff can have a day off at the same time. Right now, I let the staff take turns taking a day off. But I myself am not taking a day off because I have been getting phone calls and Line messages all the time. If COVID-19 really ends, I think my shop will be quiet for a while because people will probably want to go and eat food like grilled pork or buffet. I myself still want to eat. So I think after a week or two, it might be time for me to take a break.”