‘Wanted to be that little voice of hope’: Steakhouse helps after Omaha Steaks announcement
By KETV Staff
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ASHLAND, Neb. (KETV) — Even with a full plate at his own restaurant, TJ Olson said Round the Bend Steakhouse is willing to step up after Omaha Steaks ended food service distribution earlier this week.
“We can cut, package and get them out. Kind of a short-term solution to get them through a busy holiday weekend that they were expecting to have product and now they don’t,” Olson said.
This is not a permanent answer, but he hopes to bridge the gap.
“If we can be that short-term answer for a couple of weeks to get help you out until you find a new supplier, that’s what we want to do,” Olson said.
Olson said Round the Bend can provide steaks, ribeyes and other products, all prepared by their in-house butchers.
“We grind all of our scraps from our steaks to turn into our burgers, so we have a lot of ground beef on hand as well,” Olson said.
His help doesn’t stop at butchering — Olson also has advice for finding a new supplier.
“Don’t jump around from this one to this one to this one. Find one you can build a relationship with,” Olson said.
He’ll give you recommendations for getting lower prices.
“Get together with four other restaurants and buy 100 cases of meat,” Olson said. “You can get that price down, and you can ask your suppliers to do that.”
He’s even offering to connect owners with sales representatives. He said he’s doing it because if the restaurant industry can get through the COVID-19 pandemic, then it can get through anything.
“We wanted to be that little voice of hope, like, ‘Hey, we can get through this weekend. It’s Valentine’s weekend,'” Olson said. “If we could do that, that’s what we wanted to do.”
If owners are worried about finding quality meat, Olson said that they shouldn’t be.
“There’s enough high-quality places that can come in and step right in where Omaha Steaks were for these folks with just as good, if not better, quality,” Olson said.
He said the restaurants are all in this together.
“We’re here for you no matter what industry you’re in,” Olson said. “Whether you’re a Korean barbecue or barbecue place or a steakhouse just like us, we’re going to help.”
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