{"id":1319879,"date":"2020-05-11T17:55:18","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T23:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=996295"},"modified":"2020-05-11T17:55:18","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T23:55:18","slug":"the-beat-goes-on-as-a-grocer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/the-beat-goes-on-as-a-grocer\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beat goes on \u2014 as a grocer"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/BeatGrocer-gpi-051220-4-1024x768.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/BeatGrocer-gpi-051220-4-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/BeatGrocer-gpi-051220-4-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/BeatGrocer-gpi-051220-4-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/BeatGrocer-gpi-051220-4-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/BeatGrocer-gpi-051220-4.jpg 2016w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><\/p><figcaption><strong>Lucy Perutz goes over the day&#8217;s orders at The Beat Grocer.<\/strong><br \/><em>Charlie Wertheim<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>It sounds like the place Jack Kerouac would buy milk and eggs.<\/p>\n<p>The Beat Grocer is a new enterprise from the owners of The Beat restaurant in Carbondale.<\/p>\n<p>Owners Lucy Perutz and Tobyn Britt now offer online ordering of roughly 200 organic products, with delivery in Carbondale for orders of at least $50.<\/p>\n<p>Due to coronavirus concerns, the husband and wife team closed their restaurant even before it was mandated.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row gspi-donation gspi-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cMy husband and I decided to close for dine-in service about a week before Polis required restaurants to do so. We take the health of our community very seriously and realized we didn\u2019t want to aid in the explosion of [coronavirus] transmission, plus the pleas from hospitals really shook us to our core,\u201d Perutz said.<\/p>\n<p>Takeout wasn\u2019t much more appealing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe quickly realized we couldn\u2019t adhere by the \u20186 feet apart\u2019 rule while working takeout service and felt we couldn\u2019t safely remain open at all. We then took a three-week break to step back, stay at home and think,\u201d Perutz said.<\/p>\n<p>The time off led to a business transformation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt seemed like grocery stores were packed, running out of food and a hotspot for potential transmission. Our food suppliers have different distribution chains from grocery stores, so many hard-to-find items were easy for us to access. Offering groceries seemed like a good way to keep the lights on, pay bills and provide a service to the community. My husband and I aren\u2019t the best at sitting idle, so this felt like a safe way to work,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>One advantage over other area grocers is a more diverse range of products, Perutz said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe offer some products that are difficult to get your hands on in one place. For instance, we sell alcohol, biodynamic\/organic wines, RFBC beer\/hard seltzer, vegetable starts, local soil\/compost, eggs, cheese, milk, organic snacks, bread, etc. We may not have as big of a selection as other stores, but I think we have a wider variety of items,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>A synergistic aspect of the grocery is how it supports local farmers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe work with an amazing company called Farm Runners who supply us weekly with produce, milk, eggs, cheese, beans and soil from various farms in the North Fork Valley. We also have been directly working with local farms Two Roots Farm, Erin\u2019s Acres and Wild Mountain Seeds. We plan to support as many local farmers as we can in the upcoming months,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>A benefit to the farmers beyond having their produce sold is exposure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[The grocery delivery service is] another way for people to learn that there are vegetable farms in the valley,\u201d said Two Roots Farm owner Harper Kaufman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe online marketing really catches consumers\u2019 eyes right now. Even in just the past few days I\u2019ve seen an uptick on visits to Facebook and Instagram,\u201d said Erin Cuseo, owner of Erin\u2019s Acres.<\/p>\n<p>Perutz recognizes they are not fulfilling every shopper\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have adhered to our day one vegetarian ethos and do not sell meat or meat products. We do not offer many baby items, bathing products, household maintenance items, or extensive variations of single items,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s too early to tell if the grocery will be profitable, Perutz said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn theory, we should be making more money this way, but we\u2019ve basically started an entirely new business from scratch \u2014 after only being open for a year as a restaurant \u2014 and any new business has to make it through an initial investment. It\u2019s going to take a little time to see the returns from this, and that\u2019s why we\u2019re sticking with it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Giving it a go also means not reopening as a restaurant in the near future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will not be reopening as a restaurant until things go back to normal, however long that might be; we will not survive if we do. In our 35-seat restaurant, the new guidelines of operating at half capacity just aren\u2019t going to cut it for us. We\u2019re a new restaurant and super vulnerable to economic disruptions. I would be lying if I said it wasn\u2019t a scary situation to be in,\u201d Perutz said.<\/p>\n<p>But selling prepared meals is an option they\u2019re considering.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur restaurant customers have reached out requesting prepped foods or meal kits, so we\u2019re hoping to find a way to bring another team member back on to prep at night when we\u2019re not present,\u201d Perutz said.<\/p>\n<p>Finding work for a restaurant employee would be icing on the cake.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe wish we could bring our whole staff back. We are a pretty close group of people, and it\u2019s been really hard for us not to be able to support them more,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe really look forward to them opening back up [as a restaurant], but for now this is a really great way for people to support a local business,\u201d said Cuseo.<\/p>\n<p>Orders can be made at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thebeatgrocer.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/www.thebeatgrocer.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"mailto:cwertheim@postindependent.com\">cwertheim@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/the-beat-goes-on-as-a-grocer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lucy Perutz goes over the day&#8217;s orders at The Beat Grocer.Charlie Wertheim It sounds like the place Jack Kerouac would buy milk and eggs. The Beat Grocer is a new enterprise from the owners of The Beat restaurant in Carbondale. Owners Lucy Perutz and Tobyn Britt now offer online ordering of roughly 200 organic products, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1319879","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-07 12:01:37","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1319879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319879\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1319879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1319879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1319879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}