-Running a restaurant,
there's so many things
you need to consider
and be concerned about and first
and foremost
you need it to be,
you know,
a profitable enterprise
to get income
to the team members
and pay the rent
and keep it rolling.
All the assumptions
are out the window now.
-When the lock down happened,
you know,
we had to furlough
so many of our staff.
We weren't just opening
a restaurant just for us.
We knew that there was a bigger
team now that needed income
and needed to get back
to some sort of normalcy.
-I worry about
the small businesses
that are struggling to stay open
and to hold on and to continue
and be able to survive
in this pandemic moving forward.
-Tiger is a brand new East Asian
restaurant at the border of Soho
in Chinatown in New York City.
We just opened in the middle
of September,
so smack bang in the center of
the COVID mess here in New York.
Jeff and I started working
together about a decade ago.
We went to business together
for the first time in 2015
to develop a --
a venue restaurant in Chinatown
called Chinese Tuxedo.
But probably 2018
we had a concept
for Southeast Asian restaurant,
the Tyger.
This we wanted it to really take
its cues from the marriage
of kind of
a New York City diner dynamism.
Everything from the hawker
markets of East Asia
and the like.
We took possession of this space
on the 1st of November 2019,
so about four months
before the shut down.
Prior to the shut down we had
a pretty clear identity
in our mind
and in the nature
of the restaurant
that we wanted the Tyger to be.
-We put our heart
and soul into it.
We -- we dreamed about it
every day what the venue
going to looks like.
We almost more than halfway
with construction,
we go into the details
and everything then suddenly
COVID shut down the --
our construction.
-The entire project had to be
re-conceived.
-Where does this one go?
-We always knew that we were
going to open the venue.
Department the project
was not on the table.
It wasn't an option
available to us.
A couple of reasons.
One, as small business operators
we couldn't really afford to
but also we were so committed
and invested in this project
and then it became a bit of
a race against time.
-The...[ speaks indistinctly ]
has all different kinds
of regulation come up.
Nobody sure what's going on,
whether or not the outdoor
going to be open,
indoor going to be open.
We had no idea so, we --
-And they were changing
in real time.
-Yeah, that's right.
-We would be running on one set
of assumptions,
one set of advice and you know,
it would turn on a dime.
Indoor dining presently,
there isn't really
a sustainable road map
running just indoor dining
based on the 25% capacity
limitation.
We've no advice relating
to an extension on that
and so we knew Chinese Tuxedo
was just an indefinite closure.
Our two primary concerns are one
that we keep
the businesses afloat.
Nobody's expecting to make
any money this year or next.
We just want to keep our venues
and ensure our team
members are safe.
-If it wasn't for the pandemic,
we would have employed
over 150 people
or maybe even closer
to 200 people
between the two venues.
That's 200 people's livelihoods.
-There is no playbook for this.
This is a new business
so we haven't been eligible
for any of the supports
at the federal level,
so they're basically saying,
you're shit out of luck,
you're on your own and all
those decisions we had to make,
there was the very simple
question of, would anybody come?
-My name's Paul Donnelly.
I'm the Executive Chef
of the Tyger and Chinese Tuxedo.
I'm going to make an non-pan
fried chicken.
So it's kind of like our
interpretation of fried chicken,
you know, putting a little bit
of an Asian flare on it.
I'm a huge fan of fried chicken,
who's not?
Would you say so Daniel,
the fried chicken
like over takes
the whole kitchen doesn't it?
-Oh by far, number one seller.
-Sometimes we get to the stage
on a Friday or a Saturday night
and Daniel will be on the pass
and the team will be over here
and be like, they'll be saying
Chef, how many --
how many fried chickens
and it's like one, seven, 13.
Guys, we've got 19
fried chickens on order.
But we ended up having
this fantastic product,
super juicy,
marinated in buttermilk,
lots of herbs and spices
and we serve it
with the most beautiful light
and refreshing and lime
and white pepper dressing
which is kind of inspired by
Cambodian style fried chicken.
Opening a restaurant
in any climate
whether there's a,
you know, medical pandemic
or there's always going
to be a challenge.
But, you know, we knew what
we had to do
and we knew that there was
a bigger team
now that needed income
and also from our suppliers,
like, without a restaurant,
you know,
what's the butcher going to do
and then what's the farmer
going to do, you know?
And you could talk about it
throughout
the whole of a business
and it still
is a challenging time.
You know, it's the positive
attitudes from the team
every day, front of house,
back of house
keep each other going.
We can't take our foot
off the gas.
There are other places out there
that are closing down
and we don't want that to be us.
-I see all the kitchen team say,
they're wearing a mask,
even doing the cookings
and everything.
It's so tough for them,
you know,
'cause in the kitchen
you cooking so hot,
you still are wearing a mask.
-I'll just kick off here
start with a couple of notes.
And remember, our dining room
includes the crosswalk,
[ speaks indistinctly ],
the corner right the way around,
[ speaks indistinctly ]
Everything looks
fantastic tonight.
Let's just be really thoughtful
of our personal
and venue presentation.
We had one huge advantage
you typically don't have opening
a new venue which was almost
our entire opening team
we'd worked with
at Chinese Tuxedo.
-They understand the culture,
they understand
our service style
making the hard decisions
and to stay open
and to open the restaurant,
especially a new restaurant
in a pandemic.
Some of it was also
for them as well.
There's something you can do
to continue to have a job
so that, you know,
they can keep on living
and have this positive
environment to go to at work.
It means everything.
-I actually look forward
to coming into work, genuinely.
Like, the team are really close.
I don't think it's definitely
harder to give as good
a service now than before
because sometimes it looks
a little bit like
you're lacking,
pouring the water for people.
Now we just pop the water
down on the table
and people pour it themselves.
I know a lot of guests
that come back here,
all our regulars
and it's really hard not to go
and I'm very friendly
and going in for a big hug
and, you know, all those things
that you used to do.
I think it's been a really tough
kind of transition.
It's freeze -- it's going to be
freezing tonight.
We wrap up warm and we keep --
we keep it lighthearted
and you know,
every table that sits down,
it's kind of like, you know,
you make a joke out of it
and you -- you make it fun
because everyone's
in the same boat.
It's been such a hard year
and I think people have
just, like, needed
something to look forward to,
somewhere special to,
to go to to celebrate
whatever they're doing.
But we have a lot of people
that have come in
for like their late birthdays
that they never got to celebrate
and all in all, like,
people are really happy
and they're very thankful.
The most rewarding part
of this job
is honestly just like being
a part of a restaurant
that is open mid-pandemic.
-Here at Tyger, we have
a broad scope of influence
but the theme
that runs through it
is those big bright bold flavors
that are so prevalent
through Southeast Asia
and that we love to eat.
-Yeah.
-It's the -- the slow-cooked
short rib curry.
So it's a red curry,
lots of herbs
and spices in there.
The short rib in there is kind
of like the hero of the dish.
So we actually cook
that overnight.
COVID affected meat production
all over the country
for a period of time,
whether it be slaughter houses
weren't working
or just not being able to get
the quantities that we needed.
I mean, this is one of our most
popular dishes
and we're going through
a lot of this a week.
Things did stabilize but it was
a very challenging time
for everyone in the industry,
you know?
I got these, look, potato buns,
so they're kind of like that,
you know that pull apart style,
very soft, fluffy in the center.
Perfect for a curry.
-New York City dining
is so competitive.
There are so many
exceptional restaurants
which means when you're opening
a new venue
it's easy to get,
like, intimidated
or the detail that you feel
you need to execute.
In truth, in some ways
we weren't ready.
We got custom crockery
made in Australia.
When they sent the crockery out,
customs on the West Coast
was a basket case like
everything else in this country
and so our plates were stuck
in customs
for an extra 60 days.
So we opened without
our plate ware.
We shipped plates over from
Chinese Tuxedo
and how do we make
that experience special?
So it meant getting more
outdoor furniture
and making it nicely finished.
All the stuff costs money
as well.
-Right.
-And so, every decision
was a difficult judgment.
You might notice we don't have
all our art up on the walls yet,
'cause we spent the art budget
on the outdoor pods.
We didn't have the finishing
touches but it didn't matter.
At the end of the day, the food
and the service culture
is what people
wanted and coveted.
-So it's like my --
my dad told me,
'cause he -- he went through
the World War II.
We had a grocery store.
My dad and my grandfather
had to rebuild that,
destroyed by the World War II,
two times.
They rebuilt the life back
to normal again and again.
We're going to go through it
and then we're going to be
stronger in our business.
As stronger, everybody, we're
all be back to the normal life.
You have to keep positive
and also flexibility
that anything that you do.
-And a couple of times
we've just had to laugh.
There's a few things where you
just go, pfft, what next?
And if you don't laugh,
you'd cry.
-Yeah.
-And so, laugh.