TJ’s Southern Gourmet trying to ‘change our model’ after pandemic pivots: Owner

TJ’s Southern Gourmet Owner Tia Jackson joins Yahoo Finance Live to share how her restaurant is grappling with inflation and how the restaurant industry has recovered since the pandemic.

Video transcript

SEANA SMITH: The pandemic has had a devastating impact on the restaurant industry. The National Restaurant Association estimates about 90,000 restaurants nationwide have either closed permanently or long term because of the pandemic.

Joining us now with an inside look at how the industry is faring today, we want to bring in restaurant owner Tia Jackson. She's behind TJ's Southern Gourmet, which is now located outside of New York City in New Jersey.

Tia, it's great to have you. Your family's restaurant I know has been around since just around 1990. You recently moved from New York City to New Jersey just before the pandemic. How is your restaurant faring today?

TIA JACKSON: Thank you so much for having us and spotlighting the industry.

Today, honestly, we're one day at a time. The restaurant industry is, you know, a tough business just to begin with. And for us, when we started here in Englewood, New Jersey, lucky us, we started just before the pandemic. The response has been favorable with the community, but with the pandemic, rising costs, rising labor costs, it has been extremely difficult.

- And those costs you say have doubled the cost of doing business, of course, because of inflation. Where are you seeing those costs rise the highest, and how many of them are you able to pass on to the customer?

TIA JACKSON: Yeah, that's a great question. It's been difficult because we tried to hold, you know, without passing the cost to our customers because they too are very price sensitive, and a business like ours is very community oriented.

And so we're seeing a lot of it in, you know, what you're seeing in the grocery stores and eggs, which are triple the cost. What cost me $20 is now costing me $100, and, you know, it's very difficult. It's become difficult to not pass those costs or at least share the costs with our customers who, for the most part, understand.

SEANA SMITH: And, Tia, you made some changes to your restaurant, to your business. What have you done in order to navigate this very uncertain and challenging time?

TIA JACKSON: Yeah, so we had to pivot upon pivot, as a lot of us have done during the pandemic, and so now we are trying to just change our model a little bit. People are returning back to work, and there's companies out there who are looking to bring our restaurant to their corporate offices.

And so we partnered with some of these companies to focus more on corporate catering and literally focusing on that a majority of our days and then allowing us to gather, as we love to do here at TJ's, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and hoping that will give us a nice balance in time-- over time to get through this hump.

- The word pivot has been often used by businesses across the country over the last couple of years. What has been the biggest thing you've learned, the biggest lesson you've learned through that that could help other business owners, Tia?

TIA JACKSON: Know your numbers. Have balance. And, you know, you've got to-- for business owners-- you know, I'm a SCORE mentor, and one of the things that I think has helped me is knowing why I started this in the first place is connecting with our customers and reminding myself every day that it's bigger than even the food that we serve. It's about connecting with our clients and serving great food.

SEANA SMITH: And, Tia, we've been talking to a number of business owners this afternoon. One common theme, one thing we keep hearing about is the challenge that it's been to hire the workers that you need. Are you experiencing this, and I guess what are you doing in order to get some of those workers through your doors?

TIA JACKSON: Well, it's very difficult. That's the other issue. On any given day, it's part of our success, right? So my mom and I, we've been doing this so long. So literally we know how to cook. We know how to serve, and we could also be your dishwasher for the day because it has been difficult hiring. It costs more to hire people, and then a lot of them are not even returning back to work for various reasons. And so what we've had to do was almost try on any given day to be all things to all people, which leaves me, as a single mom, exhausted and not able to be fully strategic in my business because I'm at capacity. So I'm just hoping that this is over soon, but we're doing our best to try to have the balance that we need to get through it.

- Well, we better tell everybody what they can eat when they come out and see you. What's the best thing on the menu?

TIA JACKSON: I think the most popular people love is our fish and grits, our chicken and waffles. Everybody loves biscuits and sausage gravy. And that's what's so amazing about TJ's. It's authentic, it's delicious, and you feel good while you're eating in here.

- I was going to go for the barbecue ribs, but you swayed me a little bit there.

TIA JACKSON: Yeah.

- We'll come see you.

TIA JACKSON: Everybody has their thing, right? So you've got to try that too. I'm sorry.

- We'll come see you, Tia. We appreciate you being with us. Thanks so much.