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06/07/2020 12:00 AMLa Cuisine Café and Catering, a shoreline family business of 38 years, is closing due to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 statewide shutdown. The last day for the Branford business, located at 750 East Main St., will be Friday, June 12. On June 1, owners Brendan Bloom and his wife, Christina Holmes, shared news of their difficult decision, saying it was made with "heavy hearts."
Speaking with Zip06/The Sound on June 4, Bloom said the state's cancellation of large group events and gatherings and March 16 closing of restaurant dining rooms put La Cuisine on the receiving end of a devastating one-two punch, on the heels of one of the most successful years the company has ever experienced.
"We had never, ever considered this prior to the pandemic. If, four months ago, you had asked me if this was the conversation we would have been having, I would have said you're out of your mind," said Bloom.
Due to the pandemic's shut-downs, "...we were in a very unique position, as a very busy off-premise catering company but also a restaurant. And those two industries, separately, were very substantially impacted by the pandemic. When you own a business that covers both those industries, you feel the effects in both segments of the business. That's challenging, for sure."
Bloom grew up with La Cuisine as his family's business. The company was started by his parents, Ben and Patricia Bloom, in their shoreline home in 1982 before moving into a Whitfield Street shop in Guilford, then to its present location in Branford in 2007. Bloom bought business from his parents in 2015 and was joined soon after that by Holmes as his business partner.
Bloom said the couple's priority is to close their with business integrity and with the best possible outcomes in mind for clients and employees, despite the difficult news.
"Part of our decision was to make an exit from this business as gracefully and as upfront as possible, and to make absolutely 100 percent certain that our clients are left in the best possible position," he said. "We've spoken with all of our clients and returned all their deposits in full. We've worked with them on any potential transitions that they would like to do. And a lot of clients are really uncertain about what they're still wanting to do themselves."
For their part, once the decision to close was made, "I think we just needed to make sure we were as upfront and as forward-focused and as good to our clients as we could be," said Bloom. "The industry has a nasty history of packing up in the middle of the night and leaving with no warning; and the legacy of this brand did not deserve that. For my integrity and my parents, I would never leave that type of reputation in the community. And this was a way to really take ownership of the future of what we needed to do, and not be boxed into a corner by continuing challenges and regulatory environment, continuing uncertainty about the virus and what's going to happen."
Across both businesses, the couple employed about 25 part-time and full-time employees, with another 50 seasonal employees hired to execute catering events all over the state.
Bloom said he hopes announcing the closing now will help "soften the landing" for those employees, due to additional programs in place on the local, state and federal level. That includes an additional $600 weekly payment CT unemployed are receiving through Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, which was created March 25 and will be provided through July 25, 2020.
"There certainly was that aspect [considered] to make sure the landing was not going to be so hard; and also some of the social service networks that are in place right now are certainly helping to soften the landing, whatever they choose," said Bloom, adding, "...honestly, the people that we're most hopeful for is our employees. We're trying to work with other people to determine if we can help place them anywhere. Some are taking some time to determine what their next steps are. The downstream impact of this we did not take lightly."
While La Cuisine Café retooled and opened for curbside pick-up about two months ago, Bloom said they did not make the decision to attempt to provide outdoor dining when the state reopened that area of restaurant services in May.
"We made tons of efforts to reopen for curbside, and we just didn't want to take the additional risk for outdoor dining," said Bloom. "The nature of the building is that it would have to be set up in a parking lot; and that was an experience we didn't want to cultivate. We wanted people to pick up our food to enjoy at home or outside on their deck, so that it was a better experience with the food."
He said a lot of people are asking why they decided to close now, at a time when the state is finally loosening some restrictions which could help both of the businesses to start offering more services.
"There had been such substantial adjustments in revenue and forecasts for the future, both on the restaurant and the catering side, that's where the long-term challenges of operating this business really start to show itself," said Bloom. "Being the first at anything is always the hardest. My wife and I are both first children in our families [and] we've made difficult decisions in our lives. A lot of people don't understand them in the moment, but after the fact, they really turn out to be the best decisions."
As for what's next for the couple, "...we are 100 percent going to be okay, because we're always going to land on our feet," said Bloom. "This was a decision that did not come about quickly and was one that we really put through the paces. But ultimately, with a 5- and 8-year-old that we have at home, so much of our decision making was based on their future; and making sure they had two parents who were going to be present and focused on everything they need right now."
Since announcing their decision to close, Bloom said the support he and his wife are receiving from clients and the community has been gratifying.
"I would say that the outpouring of support from the community has been one of the most uplifting, gratifying, soul-soothing pieces of this entire situation," said Bloom. "Honestly, I've just been in tears over the last four or five days; and they've been tears of gratitude for what people have said about our business; our parents, our employees, our food, our service. I think sometimes it's easy to take a brand for granted when it's been here for a long time, and I think its hard sometimes as a business owner to understand the relationship you have in the community. Hearing and seeing so many people who have come out to support us in this difficult moment, it's kind of gone back and reaffirmed for me that this decision we're making, [while] it's not good in the sense that we're not going to be here as a business, it's reaffirmed for me that we are supported and embraced by a really big community of people. And that realization, to me, has been extraordinarily comforting. It's amazing in this dark, dark world that we're in right now, all you have is your family and your community; and people have shown us that support. We're really grateful for that."