Like many businesses, Burnt Orange Restaurant Group has survived the pandemic by striking a balance between re-opening safely and getting customers in the door. Sienna Mercato, the group’s flagship 3-tiered, American-Italian concept, is thriving. We talked with Victoriya McKay, General Manager at Burnt Orange Restaurant Group, about her role in the new normal, and how creative partnerships have helped keep things running smoothly.
Tell me about your role as GM. What does your day-to-day look like?
Well, things have obviously changed due to the pandemic. At the moment we're at 50% capacity and we're operating three days right now, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. So that's affected my role. And like most places, we have a bare-bones staff and we're all wearing multiple hats. On Fridays for instance, I may open the restaurant, get the finances settled from the previous day, check in with the staff, act as a daytime bartender, host, or server-assistant, and then of course manage the operations - and those tasks just depend on what needs to be done. I might work on personnel issues, update the POS system and menus and cocktails, update DoorDash, meet with beer vendors... the list goes on!
Open three days a week but putting in a ton of hours?
[Laughs] I've always been bad with work-life balance, but before the pandemic, I was getting better at it. Now, and I think this is true for a lot of people, the line has disappeared. I may put in 10 or 11 hours in the building, but then I'll work from home via remote access. I can't help myself, I feel better knowing what's going on. I'm very hands-on, and I guess that comes from working on cars with my dad when I was younger and doings things like building sets for our high school musical. But honestly, I just need to let go a little bit - I know that our staff is well-trained, very capable, and great at their jobs!
Letting go a bit sounds like a good idea! Before we move on, can you explain what restaurants are part of the Burnt Orange Restaurant Group?
Right now we're operating four different American-Italian concepts - Sienna Mercato downtown (942 Penn Avenue) which includes Emporio: A Meatball Joint offering fast-casual dining, Mezzo, which is more upscale dining, and Il Tetto, which is our rooftop beer garden. We offer lighter fare there, and it has a retractable glass roof and great views of the city. And of course, we also have the Emporio Meatball Truck. We do operate a commissary kitchen at the Sienna Mercato building. And I should mention that Mezzo isn't open right now but will be re-opening sometime in 2021.
Because of the different concepts, what different types of customer traffic do you see?
It definitely differs between restaurants. Emporio is fast-casual, meaning customers typically stop-in, eat their meal, and leave. At Mezzo, it's more of an "experience." Groups will sit and have a 3-4 course meal and maybe a couple of bottles of wine. It's much more indulgent - it's an occassion. At Il Tetto, we typically see a mid-late 20's crowd that will be there after work or for special occassions. They like to get dressed up and take a lot of photos and selfies! The music will be louder and it's more of a party atmosphere. Although right now, it's reservation-only in 90-minute blocks, but you can book reservations back-to-back. Because of the COVID restrictions, you need to be seated and you'll have a server, so there's not as much movement as there used to be. Not quite as rowdy! [laughs].
What's the most popular menu item at Emporio?
It's the Beef Provolone Meatball with Marinara. That's the best seller. After that it's usually the "Ball of the Month." This month we're featuring a "Philly Cheesesteak" meatball! Our sliders are also very popular - a little meatball on a bun. Everybody loves them - they're very cute!
Do you ever get any odd customer requests?
Sure, from time to time. We were once asked to unbolt tables from the floor to accomodate a bride that wanted a particular table set-up. But when it comes to food requests, about 2 or 3 times a week someone asks us to toss their pasta in Crack sauce (buffalo/ranch mix). I think that's so strange because it's a cold sauce with hot pasta, but people ask for it all the time!
OK, to me that sounds good. But let's move on to marketing... what types of things are you doing online?
We rely heavily on social media. We're mostly on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. It's important to have a presence. We did lose that presence for a while, because we had a full-time marketing director pre-pandemic, but now we use an in-house team, and I'm included in that. Luckily, we were able to bring our previous marketing director back as a consultant. He has another full-time job but helps us a lot with design. There's a division of labor there - he'll create designs and I'll answer questions and respond to people online. That's worked well for us.
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It's also been important for us to stay consistent. For instance, we post our food truck schedule every Sunday. We found that if we post it randomly on other days, it's much less effective. We also use Mobile Nom so people can find our truck. That's worked out very well, too.
I saw that you have a ton of reviews on your Google My Business (GMB) and Yelp pages.
Is that something you focus on?
Actually, no, it's not like we go out looking for reviews. We do keep an eye on it, but we're a chef-driven concept and we let the reviews take care of themselves. Especially when it comes to food reviews. If you tell a chef a food isn't good, he thinks your mouth is broken! So any negative reviews are taken in stride. Everyone has bad days. Now if someone leaves a review that's doesn't have anything to do with the business, or if it's something egregious, or if someone has a question, we'll defintiely respond.
Do you do any offline promotions? Print, radio, billboards - anything else?
We don't do too much with print ads but we have done a little bit of radio through a trade with a beer vendor. We have some outstanding partnerships and vendor relationships! We were the Official Meatball of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and that was great because we were able to run some fun promotions like "if the Penguins score 5 or more goals, you get a free meatball!" We have a location in PPG Paints Arena, so of course we'd get a lot of post-game traffic from that.
We've also worked on some great promotions with our beer vendors. Vendors are one of the biggest resources and I feel like they're also one of the most under-utilized resources. Of course, it's good to be in a position where you can negotiate in-kind trades. We're big enough to do that, but there are opportunities for anyone, if you talk to your vendors and get creative. For instance, one of our wholesale reps talked to Stella Artois for us. We worked out a deal to feature Stella on tap and run some specials, and they in turn provided some new uniforms for the staff (featuring the Stella logo).
You had mentioned Mobile Nom earlier. Do you have any other resources that you can recommend?
Yes! I'm partnering with ChowNow, an online ordering platform, and it's truly been a pleasure to work with them. We're excited to get it launched! It's been extremely fast, so I'd recommend them to any restaurant owners that are looking to increase takeout and online ordering traffic. They have a flat rate (no commissions) and provide support, equipment, plus the software is intuitive. They also have ordering links - people can order right from a Google search, social media, your site - they've just been great.
I'd also recommend the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership to any small business in Pittsburgh. They were very supportive with their "Spread the Love, Pittsburgh" campaign in February, and they've given us a lot of help with trying to create programs, so definitely check them out.
Victoriya: Fun Facts
Most meatballs you've eaten in a single day?
About 5 Dragon Balls - those are our 3.25 oz meatballs that taste like fried dumplings. They're amazing. You can't help yourself.
Favorite movie?
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
What would you name your boat if you had one?
I don't know, but if I had a van, it'd be Vandolf the White.
Any pets?
One cat, Genevieve but she goes by Fluff. She has feline vestibular disease, which is sad but it does make her looko really, really cute because she's a lilttle crooked - her head is tilted sideways and she always looks a little curious and inquisitive.
What’s the most useless talent you have?
I learned to "project" my voice in 7thgrade and now I project my voice but it's not always useful!
Would you rather have all traffic lights you approach be green or never have to stand in line again?
For sure, traffic lights. I find standing in line kinda peaceful.
Would you rather only be able to use a fork (but no spoon) or only be able to only use a spoon (but no fork)?
So, look. The correct answer is spoon. We all know that. But my personal preference would be to give up the spoon and go with a fork!
Get In Touch with Your Inner Meatball:
Website: Emporio: A Meatball Joint
Website: Sienna Mercato