- See something that you've created that you worked with with your team, and your staff, and to see the other end of it for people that want to keep that machine running too, you feel very blessed, and it's amazing.

(peaceful music) - I'm Matthew Mytro, Chef and Partner of Flour Restaurant and Flour Pasta Company.

So the initial thought process was, well if we do to-go, it's just not gonna be enough revenue to stay open.

Then it was like, this isn't gonna change over night, like this isn't gonna be a band of us being closed two weeks.

I knew in my mind, I was thinking at least eight weeks.

The first heartbreak is we had to lay-off 90% of our employees.

You know this is like a second family.

It's a hard thought process to wrap your mind around.

So the biggest thing was like, okay well how do we keep this brand alive?

If we're not open, the brand's not alive anymore, there's no positive cashflow.

So we're like, let's just take it day to day.

Flour Pasta is still actively in business.

So retail has kind of kept us alive at the moment.

Our numbers are definitely way down.

We're probably doing the same amount of business in terms of food revenue.

I mean, we're busy.

As soon as this happened, reached out to my closest chef and restaurant owner friends.

Everyone kind of just conversed about what they were planning on doing.

Some were planning on staying open, others were planning on closing.

We're all helping each other out.

I've been sharing people's menus, you know, their takeout menus.

The way I look at it is, is we have to band together.

And this isn't a competitive thing, this is a united thing.

We have to help support each other, or it'll be harder to get through this.

I try to stay positive, try to stay focused.

We have to start mentally preparing for what things will look like.

'Cause obviously things aren't gonna go back to normal right away.

'Cause of the uncertainty, we have to figure it out.

I mean, and have a plan, at least.

This is what we do, we cook, we cook for people to make them, to bring them some comfort.

The support is, I gotta tell you, without tearing up, the support has been unbelievable.

You know in this business, it's just a grind.

It's a day to day process.

As soon as we opened, you know, we shared the menus, we got tons of people on social media that were sharing it.

We got tons of responses.

People coming in here and just leaving unbelievable tips.

Like I said, you gotta keep the brand alive.

And we're trying.

And the community's showing the same support.

And so, we're gonna make it through this.