Innovating Technology Into the First Meal of the Day

While having a robust to-go strategy is imperative for almost all
restaurants now, many full-service locations weren’t prioritizing
until the pandemic. The Main Course host Barbara
Castiglia chatted with Paul Macaluso, President and CEO
of Another Broken Egg Café, about their transition. The
concept is elevated brunch, which serves high-end dishes and has
a full bar for handcrafted drinks.


Macaluso has been in the restaurant business for more than 30
years, working in various settings, including years with Yum
Brands. He joined Another Broken Egg Café only months before the
pandemic.


Business was good, and growth was exploding with franchises, but
disruption was ahead. They didn’t have a safety net around
off-premises. “When I came in, I asked what do we do for takeout
and delivery. The answer was not much, as they thought the food
doesn’t travel well, so it was only 2-3% of the business,”
Macaluso recalled.


Thus, when shutdowns began in March 2020, the company closed all
locations except a few in Florida to try new to-go structures.
They already had good packaging in place, but there was more work
to do. They began to build an online ordering platform,
partnering with third-party delivery and working on how the food
would travel. “Our chefs and operations teams were working on the
right organization or product, making sure it traveled well, and
doing test deliveries to make adjustments,” Macaluso explained.


Their ingenuity and dedication to the details paid off. “By
September, we were reopening cafes for dine-in and getting back
to the same in-store numbers, but also seeing to-go remain strong
at 15%, which was double digit positive compared to 2019.”