The fine dining restaurant will continue to offer its Woodshed South menu until COVID-19 pandemic fears subside and diners are ready for a three course meal and bottle of wine in restaurants.
The chef and crew over at Workshop Eatery sure has a lot of moxy. They’ve managed to pave the way for many restaurateurs to hang onto more of their sales dollars during the several weeks of the COVID-19 lockdown. They completely changed the way they operate all of their restaurants in response to the pandemic and now they’re opening a brand new restaurant, even as their customer base remains uncertain. 2020 has been a hard year for many people and businesses but somehow Workshop Eatery owner/chef Paul Shufelt and team continue to lead the way.
Viral Video
Shortly after the COVID-19 lockdown began, Shufelt posted a video to social media encouraging consumers to order directly from restaurants for delivery or pick-up. He pointed out that third-party delivery services like Skip The Dishes, Uber Eats, and DoorDash take around 30% of the bill customers pay. With delivery and takeout accounting for 100% of restaurant sales during the lockdown, Shufelt felt a third of sales was unsustainable to be forced to pay for delivery services. The video went viral. Shufelt said the owners of other restaurants have told him their sales doubled after the video was posted. “It kind of snowballed,” he said in an interview with Modern Luxuria Magazine. “I guess it did impact not just us but others in the community.”
When lockdown hit, the owners knew that they’d have to rethink the entire concept in order to keep the business afloat so they temporarily rebranded it as Woodshed South…
“Woodshed South” Dining room and patio are now open!
Workshop Eatery is a fine-dining restaurant where guests can order three or four course meals and bottles of wine or snifters of scotch. When lockdown hit, the owners knew that they’d have to rethink the entire concept in order to keep the business afloat so they temporarily rebranded it as Woodshed South, a spin-off of their Woodshed Burgers location on Edmonton’s 124th Street. The plan is to continue selling burgers out of the south-side location until the dust settles. On Monday June 1st, Workshop Eatery will re-open its doors for dining room and patio service using the Woodshed South menu.
New Ventures
Workshop Eatery and Woodshed Burgers are part of the expanding Robert Spencer Hospitality Group. Most recently it opened two restaurants called The Greenhouse in two City of Edmonton golf courses which are currently open and operating. Next up the group has another new restaurant in the works but details won’t be released until contracts are signed and that could be as early as the first week of June 2020. Shufelt laughed when asked if people think he’s insane to open a new restaurant during a global pandemic, “The short answer is yes,” he admitted. “But if I can open a new restaurant during COVID, I can pretty much do anything!”
Places To Be
See this month's local flavours, products, and services.
