From left: Chef Chris Williams of Lucille's, Abbey Donnell of Work & Mother, and Tracy Vaught of H-Town Restaurant Group.

As more Houstonians get vaccinated and consumers become increasingly comfortable shopping and dining, area businesses are beginning to contemplate what the “new normal” will look like post-pandemic. It's an especially crucial prospect for small businesses who play a major role in our region's economy. 

In recognition of Small Business Month in May, the Partnership revisited small business owners and entrepreneurs featured in Small Biz Insider to learn how they've recovered or adapted in the last year and what their business looks like in a post-pandemic Houston. Here's what they said. 

Tracy Vaught, president of H-Town Restaurant Group, which oversees restaurants such as Hugo's, Xochi and Backstreet Café

"While we very much can feel that we are still living and working within a pandemic, a lot of improvements and movement towards 'normal' have occurred."

We have had to adapt and pivot to keep open and make things work as best as possible with current limitations in staffing and remaining at more or less 75% capacity our of an abundance of caution. Like so many restaurants, we have increased our curbside business with individual and family meals to-go as well as cocktail kits, which can be ordered by phone or via online ordering; we have done virtual dinners; we are keeping additional space between tables; staff is required to wear masks and we are asking customers to wear their masks when moving about the dining room. As more and more people are being vaccinated, we are seeing so many familiar faces back in the dining rooms and that makes us happy.  

"Recovery is going to take time because of labor shortages."

Moving forward, we will continue to keep a close eye on COVID numbers in Houston and make decisions based on what we feel is best for the overall safety of all who enter our businesses.

Revisit our Small Biz Insider podcast interview with Tracy

Chris Williams, Chef and Owner of Lucille's

"In the beginning of the pandemic, our main focus was making sure our team was whole."

We made a commitment to everyone to keep as many people employed as possible, and we were able to keep nearly 80% of our staff throughout the pandemic by initially dropping menu prices by over 40% and streamlining our offerings to keep cost down. As business picked up, we also made it a priority to sow back into our community through our non-profit, Lucille’s 1913, which has distributed more than 200,000 meals to Houstonians in need since the start of the pandemic, as well as our 1913 Bar Pop-Up program, which gave bartenders an outlet to create and sell cocktails while bars were temporarily shuttered due to COVID-19 restrictions. That program put more than $40,000 directly into the pockets of Houston’s bar community. Through it all, we’ve had our team pushing these initiatives. So the greatest part of our recovery has been being able to experience this new season with our original team. 

"The biggest challenge so far continues to be securing the labor to handle the renewed traffic."

It’s clear that Houstonians and Americans alike are dying to get back into restaurants, so the increase in traffic has been significant. For us, we’ve been able to combat a lot of that confusion because we were fortunate enough to keep the bulk of our original team. Of course, post-pandemic business still looks a bit like it did during the pandemic, as we have made the decision to maintain a COVID-considerate approach to doing business — mask requirements, table distancing, and sanitization systems are still in place. 

Revisit our Small Biz Insider podcast interview with Chef Chris

Abbey Donnell, founder and CEO of Work & Mother

"We adapted our business model to make our offerings more attractive to landlords" 

In turn, the landlords are adapting to the changing needs of tenants, and also to offer more virtual support services for HR departments and for working moms. Prior to the pandemic, companies enrolled directly with Work & Mother in order for moms to be able to access our Suites and services; however, now we primarily work with building owners and landlords to make the Work & Mother Suites an amenity that gives all tenants of the building automatic use privileges. What this does is make it easier for employers in the building to be able to bring moms back to the office safely and reduces the risk of germ spread within their own office Suite.

"We're looking forward to more in-person time."

One of the beautiful things about our Lactation Suites is that they foster natural encounters with other working moms who are going through the same experiences. It really creates this built-in support network that has been lacking this past year, as many moms felt isolated and extremely overstretched. Particularly in a post-pandemic world, when work schedules may be more flexible such that moms may only be coming into the office a couple times a week, our model in which one full service Lactation facility serves an entire building makes even more sense logistically and economically for employers than ever before. 

We've also been expanding our tech platform and plan to continue adding to our virtual services to make it easier for companies to support working parents, and for working parents to be able to easily find trusted experts and guides. 

Revisit our Small Biz Insider interview with Abbey

See the Partnership's latest figures on small business in Houston. Learn more about the Partnership’s Small Biz Matters business resource group and get information about how your organization can become a member today. Visit the Partnership's COVID-19 Resource page for updates, guidance for employers and more information.