Brookline Kosher Caterer Pivots To Takeout Amid Coronavirus

BROOKLINE, MA — A Kosher caterer in Brookline has pivoted into the restaurant business in an effort to keep the lights on amid the coronavirus pandemic — and be there for the community that they've served for the past three decades.

If you were to drive down Harvard Street some 30 years ago, you would see Café Shalom just a few feet from where Catering By Andrew sits now. Andrew Wiener's dad Marvin owned the cafe, which was one of the first Kosher restaurants in Brookline. Andrew, a Johnson and Wales grad, started his own business as a catering branch of that restaurant serving Kosher food to parties of 25 people. It grew to serve events as large as 2,000 and for the likes of many of Boston's high-end hotels like the Four Seasons and the Mandarin Oriental it serves Kosher food at the Boston Public Library and several tech companies in addition to local families celebrating and mourning.

Like many other business owners, the owner of Catering By Andrew in JFK Crossing doesn't know when his business will be back to normal, he doesn't know how much of a hit he will end up taking, and he doesn't know what his business will look like when weddings, graduations, birthday and religious events will eventually return in full force.

"Let's not sugar coat it anymore, in general there is no business anymore," said Wiener.

The catering company, one of the largest Kosher caterers in New England has lost nearly all of that catering business since March.

"You're talking $3 million to $4 million just disappeared. And unfortunately, it's not going to come back," said Wiener, who added he also had to lay off about 55 employees, some of which had been with the company for decades.

When coronavirus hit, Wiener and his team ramped up their Passover menu, something they'd always offered, but was never the main focus. And they worked with Combined Jewish Philanthropies to help get Passover meals to people who were shut in.

Then, late last month the started to ramp up their Shabbot dinner delivery menu and offer lunch and dinner takeout more regularly. You can now order off a menu that includes everything from catering quality salads, burgers and onion rings, to signature schnitzel and brisket or seared tuna.

Throughout all of this, they've prided their strong connection to the Jewish community in Brookline and Newton.

"When everything with the COVID started happening, we felt very strongly about keeping our staff working and supporting the community that we love so much," said General Manager Josef Messer who joined the team in 2013. "We thought, 'OK, people are at home let's get really good quality food into their bellies," he said. "We knew we were gonna be open and be there for the community."

The business posts a new menu each week and takes orders online and delivers food through GrubHub Tuesday through Thursday. It's been a success, both Messer and Wiener said.

That part of the business, now contactless, has grown as much as five times, since the onset of the health crisis.

"We may not be loading the trucks full of dishes, but we're certainly loading the trucks to get the food out there," said Messer.

Still, it's about a 15th percent of the business they once did, Wiener said. They're also selling goods like yeast, fish and other grocery items. And customers have been telling them they're grateful. But, said Wiener, he still has property tax and other bills to worry about.

"One of the reasons why we started the nightly takeout business is that we want people to know that we're doing everything we can to keep the pulse going," he said. "We knew that we're not going to break even, but it keeps the pulse going."

Right now, much of his time is spent strategizing about how to survive the normally slow months until next year. As restaurants eventually open it won't really affect large caterers like them, he said.

Although it's unclear when the business will return to catering on the regular, they have their eyes set on late summer weddings though they'll likely be much smaller. They're already getting calls from customers who are downsizing weddings from hundreds of guests to handfuls.

"Everybody agrees you can't have 300 people in a room," said Wiener.

Both Wiener and Messer echo what many businesses say: The future is uncertain as they await updated guidelines and navigate how to adapt.

"Whatever the new normal is, we just hope people feel that Catering By Andrews continues to be part of that story," said Messer.

And although these are scary times, said Wiener, he's seen a lot of good: From help from the town and police department to vendors and the Kosher Supervision they work with going out of their way to accommodate them.

"It's been rather tough and stressful," he said. "But I can't complain because there are people out there every day working on the front line risking their lives and that really puts things into perspective. At the end of the day we're healthy, and we'll do everything to come back and help serve the community."

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Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).Have a press release you'd like posted on the Patch? Here's how to post a press release, opinion piece.