"Iron Chef"Kevin Rathbun of Atlanta; Restaurant Life After The Lockdown
As of March 17th, 2020 there were over 700,000 restaurants in the United States. Today all of them are either closed for business for the duration, closed completely and not to re-open or working at 1/8 the volume they were 4 weeks ago. Each restaurant or restaurant group has their story of how they approached the mandated shutdown, what it meant to their way of doing business, how they handled staff or in the lexicon of the restaurant, their family. There were some hard decisions to face. And as we go through this special time there’s even more on the plate of restaurateurs. What will our business be like when the all clear sounds?
These are just some of the issues I discussed recently with Kevin Rathbun. Kevin lives in Atlanta with his wife Melissa, who he often refers to as the Queen. He opened his namesake Rathbun’s American Cuisine in 2004 which was quickly followed right next door by Krog Bar in 2005. Then in 2007, Kevin Rathbun Steak opened followed by KR Steakbar in 2012. Each restaurant cementing Kevin’s position as a leading restaurateur in Atlanta. His humble reply to the accolades says it all, “I try to make them feel as if it’s a family from the staff to the customers. Cooking from the heart is always the answer”.
I quickly realized his feelings about his guests and staff as family was and is the driving theme behind nearly every decision he’s made on steering his company through the pandemic.