How This NYC Restaurant Makes 20,000 Dumplings A Week

[Applause] our stuff is very affordable and it's a fan favorite prior to kobet our business was busy all the time we had upwards of you know two hour waits on the weekend but this year was nothing they could have predicted i actually haven't taken a salary uh in the past six months that's wilson the owner of namwa tea parlor the oldest dim sum restaurant in new york city's chinatown we're actually celebrating our 100 year anniversary this year we made a lot of sacrifices to get to where we are now in march when indoor dining came to a halt namwa lost 80 percent of its business but the staff got creative pivoting to make and deliver frozen dumplings today they're pumping out up to 20 000 dumplings a week as we go through this pandemic it becomes clearer that restaurants can't just survive on being a restaurant anymore you can't just serve food and then have all your eggs in one basket you kind of have to think of different revenue streams barbara and her team were the masterminds behind the frozen dumplings they took on the logistical challenge of freezing and packaging a dish that's normally served fresh so i kind of took a trip to the supermarket and just took pictures of all the packages and the labels we were like okay so it doesn't sound as daunting as we think it does so let's just kind of go for it the new venture kept the commissary kitchen humming we just started simply with maybe one or two variations so our pork soup dumplings our chicken and cabbage dumplings and we tried those out and kind of tested the water first chefs feed the dumpling dough and filling into the machine the machine wraps the filling in the dumpling wrappers and out plops a perfectly formed dumpling the machine can make up to 50 of them a minute it's the same exact product that we use in the store the machine is able to get like really really close to our handmade product but there are some dumplings that even the machine can't handle the chumai and the pleated dumplings so those have to be done by hand but whether they're handmade or machine assisted the dumplings then head to the freezer these are shrimp and snow pea leaf dumplings these are pork and shrimp sumai and all this will be gone in two days once an order comes in online chefs pull the dumplings out of the freezer and drop them into branded ziploc bags each bag starts at 19 customers all over the country can order through gold belly but for locals they can choose either pickup or delivery direct delivery really came from the fact that people weren't leaving their houses and we were like well let's just bring the product to them it's also a way to connect with our customers those customers continue to order despite rising food costs from supply chain issues we're faced with at least like 40 to 50 increase in some costs we shouldered most of that but we did have to pass a little bit onto the consumer about 10 to 15 percent and while the frozen dumplings did help turn things around they still weren't enough we're not making money it's survival mode after the frozen dumplings it just made sense to do meal kits the meal kits include all the ingredients and tools you'll need to make rice rolls or chicken and cabbage dumplings at home we're doing virtual cooking demos and cooking shows for various organizations the team also shifted both the original chinatown location and the newer location in nolita to take out customers order from a kiosk and pick up through the window the most popular dish is the pork soup dumplings but they're dishing out all of the dim sum for takeout from noodles to rice rolls these orders go out on apps from ubereats to seamless we've met customers where they are and since may the restaurants have also operated outdoor dining we're really lucky to be able to be on a block that is easy to close couple of umbrellas couple of tables and chairs and we're in business it's very weather determined like if it's too humid or it's too hot if it's rainy it kind of sucks but then there are days like this where it's actually nice to go out wilson says he doesn't think people will feel comfortable returning to indoor dining for years to come so these new revenue streams for namwa will be here to stay it's honestly been a roller coaster ride there's definitely good days and then there's bad days but as long as the good days outweigh the bad days i'm okay with that we are a beacon of light for the community we're the oldest restaurant in chinatown and if we aren't able to survive like who [Music] can

Channel: Business Insider

Views: 312,918

Keywords: Business Insider, Business News, amex, dumplings, chinese food, restaurant, nyc, pandemic, takeout, delivery

Id: ysFd4bKXBG4

Length: 4min 29sec (269 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 22 2020