From Columbus Business First, Women of Influence is an interview series showcasing some of the most powerful women in the Central Ohio business community. Hosted by Eleanor Kennedy, Assistant Managing Editor.
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episode 47: Crisis Management: Comune on weathering the storm and what it needs to see to reopen
Comune will reopen for business, but that was never a sure thing.
Co-owner Joe Galati said he met with his accountant in November. The accountant asked him what Galati believed his chances of going bankrupt were.
Galati said 20%.
The accountant said 90%
“That hit the hardest,” Galati said. “There’s a very good chance this is all going away. … That lights a fire. That’s not going to happen. What are we going to do?”
The situation is better today.
Galati explains why he is more optimistic now than he was a few months ago in this episode of Crisis Management, Columbus Business First’s podcast about doing business amid the coronavirus pandemic.
He took a more conservative approach to business in the past year than many peers in the industry. He always expected this to be a long event, not just a few weeks.
Though the entire restaurant industry was challenged, Comune was among the establishments facing added difficulties. It was never built to have a thriving carryout business and the dine-in space was too small to reopen in any meaningful way. It’s still closed today.
But there were bright spots. The Parable Coffee pop-up has done well. There was some success with planned dinner events.
A return to some of the restaurant’s earliest dishes like crispy rice and its walnut-mushroom Bolognese is helping drive sales now.
“You can only hunker down so much,” he said. “At some point a business has to make its numbers.”