Victoria Meals Truck Proprietor Sees a 90 % Drop in Gross sales and Seeks New Enterprise Alternatives – Victoria Information
Andrew Paumier is struggling to keep his food truck profitable in the midst of a pandemic.
He and his wife usually serve their fried risotto balls to a number of customers on a busy street corner or prepare their supplies for an upcoming festival, but instead they are strictly limited to take-away or delivery apps.
So far, he has lost 90 percent of sales compared to the previous year.
“We lost $ 4,000 in event bookings in the first two days of the provincial lockdown,” said Paumier, co-owner of Indecent Risotto. “If we come out with 10 percent sales compared to the previous year at the end of the year, I would be very happy.”
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Despite longing for the days leading up to COVID-19, he said the deal is awaiting a green light from the provincial government – and in the meantime, he’s helping run a forum about it.
The BC Restaurant and Foods Association will be hosting Indecent Risotto and nearly 25 food companies in the Greater Victoria area in a Zoom meeting to discuss their ideas on how to reopen safely when time permits.
“The big part is the trust of the customers,” said Paumier. “It will be our biggest stumbling block if we don’t get it right and show the public that our operations will be safe in the future.”
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When the couple’s food truck was hit by COVID-19 regulations in March, Paumier and his wife immediately ceased daily operations and self-isolated for two weeks to ensure they didn’t contract the virus.
Recently, Paumier sent a letter to most CRD parishes on behalf of Indecent Risotto asking for their statutes to be relaxed to allow their food truck to operate in public areas, especially in areas with high visibility “like the Juan de Fuca Rec Center Parking “. Quantity.”
Even though the whole success of food trucks depends on the abundance of the crowds, appropriate social distancing measures can be taken, Paumier said.
The forum, held on Monday, will allow smaller businesses to voice their concerns, which can be vastly different from large restaurant groups, noted Paumier. Most small businesses operate with a small profit margin, sometimes between three and five percent. If they don’t have enough buffer, small mom and pop shops fall through the cracks.
As for the food truck, Paumier said he was glad he didn’t have to deal with fixed overheads during the pandemic – but that can’t be said of most brick and mortar stores.
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