Schneps Media Insights:
‘How many more
How a Local CEO
people have to die?’
Pivoted In Pandemic
By Brian Keith
Sunset Parkers renew call for safer
George Tenedios,
streets after death of local nurse COURIER L 20 IFE, OCT. 16-22, 2020
Dozens of people participated in an Oct. 6 vigil for Clara Kang, a nurse who was killed in
a crash with a motorcycle while she biked home from an overnight shift at NYU Langone
Hospital-Brooklyn on Oct. 3. Photo by Paul Frangipane
BY BEN VERDE
Sunset Park community leaders
are once again calling for safer streets
after a nurse was killed while biking
on a deadly stretch of Third Avenue
on Oct. 3.
Clara Kang, 31, was biking home
from working the overnight shift at
Sunset Park’s NYU Langone Hospital
Brooklyn when she collided with
a motorcyclist on Third Avenue and
56th Street at 7:40 am.
Dozens of locals and safe streets
activists gathered on Tuesday evening
at Martin Luther Playground
to commemorate Kang and blast the
dangerous conditions on Third Avenue
— one of Brooklyn’s most deadly
roadways.
“The last time we did this exercise,
I had a question, and that question
was, ‘How many more people have to
die on Third Avenue?'” said Community
Board 7 Chairman César Zúñiga
at the vigil. “I have the same question
here today.”
A series of deaths on Third Avenue
under the Gowanus Expressway
spurred the Department of Transportation
to fast-track the installation of
Sunset Park’s Fourth Avenue protected
bike lane. Offi cials have also lowered
the speed limit on the strip from 30
miles per hour to 25, yet the road remains
one of Brooklyn’s most dangerous.
Two cyclists and two pedestrians
died on Third Avenue in 2019.
Local leaders say they are tired of
waiting for improvements.
“We’re done with the planning,
we’re done with the studies, we need
action,” said Sunset Park Councilman
Carlos Menchaca. “The city
agencies really need to focus on Third
Avenue.”
At the Oct. 6 vigil, mourners lit
candles, held paper signs bearing the
names of those killed on the avenue,
and marched from Martin Luther
King Playground to the site of Kang’s
death.
Friends remembered Kang, an immigrant
from South Korea, as a heroic
fi ghter in the war against COVID-19.
Kang began working at NYU Langone,
formerly known at Lutheran Hospital,
as a nurse practitioner in the midst of
the fi rst wave of COVID-19, and has
worked night shifts throughout the
pandemic, her colleagues said.
“She took all the night shifts and
she was able to always bring energy
and light to the team,” said Dr. Marwa
Moussa, the director of nurse practitioner
services at NYU Langone.
“This is a really big loss. She’ll always
be remembered at NYU for being the
most hard-working, and I feel like this
community has lost a lot by having
her gone.”
Kang is the 19th cyclist killed on
New York City streets in 2020, despite
the COVID-19 lockdown in the
spring.
CEO and co-founder
of fresh&co, doesn’t
sleep well. The insomnia
started in March, when
the pandemic forced
him to shutter all 19 of
his fast-casual, locally
sourced fresh-food
restaurants.
“The thought of
losing the brand entirely
continuously runs through my head,” said Tenedios, who tried to stay open
but hemorrhaged to less than one percent of sales in a matter of days. With
his team of 950 employees reduced to a skeletal crew of five, it took him
60 days before reopening, slowly.
“I keep imagining what the landscape will look like if all independent
operators can’t afford to re-open in the next six months and stay alive,”
he said.
Yet Tenedios has found some jewels in the gloom that have quelled his
anxiety, at least a bit.
THE FACELIFT
“One major opportunity we’ve found is to streamline the menu,” he said.
“We were forced to dive into our purchasing and sales data and determine
what the popular items were, and what were not so popular – and reduced
our menu by 15 percent, which will be permanent.”
Tenedios’ methodology translates to most businesses: Identify your labor
intensive items, low volume items, and high cost items, take one or all of
three of these categories and pull your product mix, or purchasing data
and compile a list. “These are the items that you should be removing ASAP,
even if it’s just a five percent reduction,” he said.
His company’s marketing underwent a facelift too. “There are no guerilla
tactics anymore with marketing,” he said, “no one wants to touch anything
– now it’s all digital.”
So Tenedios stopped producing print flyers and promos and has poured
resources into his email list – he’s cleaned and segmented it by zip code
so he can send location-specific announcements. He’s also upgraded the
restaurants’ smartphone app. By drilling down into data and identifying
multiple customer tiers, he’s increased the loyalty rewards program, while
also implementing point of sale technology that’ll make it easier for app
users to get their meals more efficiently.
LESSONS LEARNED
With hindsight, Tenedios says he would have done things differently, or
course. “In May when we began reopening our locations, I probably should
have opened fewer stores,” he said. “We could have focused more on a
few strategic locations around Manhattan, and honed in on the existing
population of the city.”
He’s had to permanently shutter five locations, and expects that another
four will fail. He’s still only at 10 percent of pre-COVID sales, with about 25
percent of team members back on payroll.
But he’s banking on New York’s resilience. “We’ve gone through it all
before, 9/11, the recession – everything goes into shambles for a time
and then we bounce back,” he said. “Once the political season and the flu
season is over, New York City will be back.”
He’s still anxious, of course, if only because he can’t stomach the idea of
the city devoid of a fast casual, fresh food option. “NYC’s fast casual scene
filled with only the big commercial and fast food chains?,” he asked with
comic effect, “it makes me sick!”
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