#4 Adapting to COVID-19: Brick’N’Cheese

Baptiste Petit, co-founder of Brick’N’Cheese, started his business at the beginning of the COVID-19 health crisis. He tells us his perspective on the start of his operations and the measures taken to promote the restaurant. 

What services/products does your company offer? Who are the customers of your company? 

We sell fast food only through North American delivery platforms. Our customers are only the people using these apps.

How are you feeling as an entrepreneur during the COVID-19 crisis?

You can only expect a slowdown if you compare it to a business launching in “normal times” but given that this is our first experience and in Canada, we have no idea how different it could have been without COVID-19. As expected, people are more reluctant to order online as the financial crisis is surely having an impact on their budget for the delivery services.

Did you have to adapt your business model?

We were always supposed to open solely through a delivery system, so the business model was already prepared well in advance. However, we had to redesign our communications and marketing to adapt to the situation (distribution of flyers was compromised and street marketing was difficult), so we opted for 100% digital.

Have any business opportunities risen because of COVID-19?

At the moment, we have not had any opportunities as we are trying to “survive” this crisis by giving the maximum quality to our customers in order to promise a bright future for the business.

What steps has your company taken in response to COVID-19 to continue offering its services/products?

We have communicated a lot on social media concerning our food preparation process (reinforced protections), contactless deliveries, and mask and glove-wearing by our staff and delivery people. 

What are the impacts (positive or negative) of the crisis on your business? 

We do not yet have the necessary hindsight to know what the real impacts are, but we know that the crisis will reduce the number of customers on delivery platforms given these platforms have a cost and that these are not basic needs but rather culinary pleasures. However, given that we are delivery only and that delivery is very welcomed at the moment, this more or less helps us out.

Did you hire staff or postpone this due to the crisis?

We did not hire staff during this crisis for various reasons. We opted to start ourselves in order to ensure the quality of the service and the product.

Do you have a post-covid plan?

We don’t, given that everything can change from moment to moment. We remain on our guard and adapt our business to future events.

Do you foresee a temporary or permanent shutdown of your business if the situation doesn’t improve?

Not for now, as long as the province allows us to operate and we can offer our services to people.