How Cousins Subs Is Surviving The Coronavirus Shockwave

MENOMONEE FALLS, WI — You'd have to look pretty hard to find a business that hasn't been deeply affected by the coronavirus public health emergency in Wisconsin. A raft of public policy, including social gathering limitations, and later a "safer at home" order, have turned regular business patterns upside-down.

Employers shed workers at a record pace in March. The state saw more than 313,000 new people file for unemployment in March alone, a 1,600 percent increase over last year at this time. The total amount of unemployment benefits distributed pushed $69 million.

We spoke with officials at Menomonee Falls-based Cousins Subs to find out how the coronavirus-related shock waves have impacted their sub shops across the state.

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Company officials say they're weathering the storm in a variety of ways - and have managed to avoid layoffs. There are other pain points for sure: Pay cuts, store closures and sales figures that felt like they were at one point falling into the abyss were just a few.

Pay Cuts Part Of Survival Plan

Jason Westhoff, President of Cousins Subs said they cut compensation 25 percent across the board, with the Leadership Team taking a 40 percent cut, including 50 percent for himself and CEO Christine Specht-Palmert. "Our number one goal is to keep our stores open, have everyone keep their jobs and emerge from this with as many stores as possible," he said.

No Layoffs Or Furloughs

While many businesses have been laying off staff or putting them on short-term unpaid leave periods called furloughs, company officials at Cousins say they've been able to make due by making across-the-board pay cuts, allowing employees the ability to stay home and closing stores if they don't have enough staff.

"Initially, staffing dropped at a similar rate as sales as many of our younger employees’ parents had concerns and wanted them at home," Westhoff told Patch. "We don’t require anyone to work, actually having closed stores short-term to address staffing issues and have erred on the side of caution anytime an employee was not feeling well or didn’t want to come in."

Sales Hit Hard, Communication The Key

The state ordered dine-in bars and restaurants across Wisconsin to close their doors at 5 p.m. March 17 to help prevent the spread of the virus. Many restaurants switched to carryout, curbside or delivery options to keep their businesses open. They fielded skeleton crews brave enough to interact with people while risking infection.

Westhoff said the coronavirus-related social gathering orders began impacting sales starting on March 14.

At Cousins, Westhoff said sales numbers were down 30 percent in the first week, but as social distancing and "safer-at-home" orders were issued, those figures worsened.

"As that evolved, sales fell quickly. At the worst point, we were nearly 50 percent down," Westhoff said. "More recently, since the changes have slowed, sales have been much better but we are still down 25 percent overall as a system through nearly four weeks. To give perspective, if a restaurant is down 5 percent for a year, that can sound alarms."

Officials said stores with drive-thrus are faring much better than those without because it creates a natural social distance. Within a week of the start of the social-distancing orders, restaurants rolled out curbside and EZ Pick-up options that have helped.

Safer At Home Caused Confusion

Wisconsin's "safer at home" order was issued on March 25, and will last 30 days, unless officials extend the original order. At the onset, there were multiple reports of confusion over which businesses were deemed essential, and allowed to stay open.

"Given the confusion of what 'safer at home' meant and the initial exclusion of restaurants being clearly labeled as essential, many guests were not aware we remained open," Westhoff said. "Around 50 percent of our messaging has been around 'We’re Open' — even to the point that we had to post large banners at our stores. Once the guests return, they have been great. They understand we are not in this alone and neither are they."

"Something positive is going to come out of this," he said.

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