Have you been to The Log Jam lately? And by “been” we mean - have you grabbed dinner to go? We took a ride up to Lake George, picked up a delicious meal (it smelled so good in the car on the way home!), and chatted with General Manager Tony Grecco to find out how they’re doing, how they’ve evolved to take on the pandemic, and how the challenges have made them stronger - hear it all from him (and check out that amazing meal!) below!
On Pause
The challenges since this all started have been numerous...
To name a few: the logistics of how to go from dine in to pick up and delivery, staffing & training, what kind of menu to do, what our hours should be, how to let people know that we are still open, getting the correct supplies for packing food, how much food to prep and order, pricing, and deciding if this was all worth staying open for. We also wondered how to make contributions to the community while at the same time trying to keep ourselves afloat.
Chicken Piccata
On Evolving
We started out doing our normal lunch and dinner menu and realized the menu and hours were not feasible. We then went to one combined menu. After the first week we went from opening at 11:30 to opening at 3:00 or 4:00 each day. Last week we changed again and started opening at 1:00pm each day using one menu all day.
We now do specials each day, which are items that are not on the regular menu. We also do family style which feeds 4 people at a reduced price.
While we started out only doing beer, we have since developed a "Quarantine Cocktail" list which has proved to be very popular. Sometimes we will include a drink with the special of the day.
As we have slowly started to bring back our staff, we’ve realized that we have to train people to the new ways, whether it be the mechanics of the operation or using masks and gloves.
One of our most popular items has always been Prime Rib. At first we didn’t have that on the take out menu, because of the time it takes to cook and us wanting to minimize the waste. By talking to customers who called we realized people were interested in it. We now have Prime Rib on the menu every night...while it lasts.
We’ve also signed up for DoorDash and GrubHub to give us more exposure.
On the bright side
We have lots of people that order every week, and it’s been wonderful talking to them while taking orders over the phone - hearing their ideas on what they like or don't like, and thanking them for their support.
We’ve come from doing 10-20 people a day to doing over 100 on weekends. Many people doubted if we would be able to pull it off. It's kind of like we accepted the challenge and ran with it. We feel it is a great accomplishment to where we are right now.
There is a core group of staff that has stayed with us and worked very hard. We ran on a very thin staff, especially in the kitchen. We have since started hiring back staff and everyone has been on board. Seeing everyone's dedication is very rewarding, though not surprising.
Fresh Sea Scallops
On the Future
It’s been important to learn from the hard times. A few lessons:
Social Media, Social Media, Social Media - it’s more important than I ever thought.
Also important: thinking outside the box, learning to adapt, and making decisions on the fly.
We may do some different things with our menu when we reopen that we might not have otherwise done.
We’ll be keeping things like DoorDash, GrubHub, Uber Eats etc. and continuing to tap into the take out market.
Most importantly, never take things for granted.
Tony Grecco, The Log Jam General Manager
The Log Jam
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This story was made possible by the Beef Jerky Experience, located in The Outlets of Lake George East.
“It has been truly extraordinary to see how the community has come together to support local small businesses during this unprecedented time. As a specialty grocery store, we have kept our doors open so that the community can stock up on high protein, long shelf life products for their pantries. We have increased our sanitation measures in-store and offer curbside pick-up of our products. We also ship, and if you spend $100 or more the shipping is on us. You can order online at www.lakegeorgejerky.com. Thank you for the support you have shown us during this time!”
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