SALT LAKE CITY — When Steve Borg walked into Schmidt’s Pastry Cottage, the worry and fear his employees felt was palpable. One of them even asked if he should look for another job.
“Everyone was kind of gloomy,” he said. “I said, ‘Don’t worry about it; we’re going to bake bread.
“They looked at me like I was crazy. I thought, ‘If we’re going to go (out of business), we’re going to go out giving something back to our customers.’”
For more then four decades, Schmidt’s Pastry Cottage has helped Utahns mark the milestones of their lives with just the right pastry. But concern about the spread of the new coronavirus shut down everything from schools to sports leagues, and it’s forced business owners to be creative to try and survive.
Schmidt’s isn’t the only company getting creative about how they serve customers. A local yoga studio is redefining community and delivering classes through technology, a distillery has shifted from making spirits to brewing hand sanitizer and many restaurants are experimenting with giveaways and donations to keep employees working.
“We lost so much income,” he said of all of the canceled weddings, receptions and commercial contracts. “We don’t want to lay off our employees. ... We didn’t know what to do. I was thinking, ‘What can I do to keep my employees working?’ They’re family to me. They’ve been with me years and years, and they all need the money, they need the work.”
He asked his family, including his son Brett Borg, to come up with some ideas. But nothing anyone else suggested had the same appeal as what Steve Borg suggested.
“I said, ‘What if we gave bread away to all our customers while we can?’” he recalled. “We could give bread away until they shut us down or until we can’t do it any longer.”
Borg said the idea had two purposes — keep his employees working and thank the community that helped him turn an “ugly blue building” into one of the state’s most beloved bakeries.
“They looked at me like I was crazy,” Steve Borg said. “I said, ‘Let’s just see where this goes.’”
It’s not the first time Borg worried that something that seemed like a bad idea might devour his life. When he bought that defunct bakery in North Salt Lake, he was so broke, he couldn’t afford a new sign. Schmidt’s was the name on the building, so his new bakery would be called Schmidt’s.
“I made $29 the first day,” he said. “My wife was crying, and my parents thought I was crazy. It’s been a lot of hard work.”
So when he tells his employees, “Don’t worry about what tomorrow will bring. Let’s just do what we can today,” he speaks as a man who has faced a terrifying unknown more than once.
And after Brett Borg put out a plea on social media to support the bakery despite the cancellations and closures ordered by the state to try and keep the new coronavirus from spreading, Steve Borg said he was overwhelmed with support.
His gratitude for their decision to show up for him and the employees he loves fueled the idea to give away bread. He’d watched the news and saw the long lines and empty grocery store shelves.
“I said, ‘Let’s give them two loaves of bread’,” he said. “We put a little note saying, ‘You enjoy the first one, and give the second to a friend, neighbor or someone else.’”
The decision to give each person two free loaves comes from understanding how it feels to be of service, and especially at this moment when fear and frustration seem to be ever-present, Borg wanted people to know the deep joy that comes from giving.
“When he told me his plan, it kind of threw me to the floor,” Brett Borg said. “I know how much money it’s going to cost him. It was shocking to me that he suggested giving the bread away.”
But his soft-spoken father’s rationale wasn’t just persuasive, it was a reminder that his father is no ordinary businessman.
“He said, ‘Everyone always feels better when they do something for other people’,” said Brett Borg. “This gives them a chance to do something for someone else. So he gives them two loaves of bread, just so they’re able to help someone and have that feeling of helping.”
In the first two days, the response has been overwhelming. No loaf has gone unclaimed, and people have responded with donations, purchases and words of gratitude. Brett Borg said donations have come from all around the country, including Florida, Texas and New York. Several of their suppliers have given discounts or donated ingredients.
“So far, I’ve kept all of my employees,” he said. “If that changes, we’ll deal with it when it comes. I’ll do whatever I can to keep them employed.”
He and his employees will keep baking for as long as the community will support them. Like everyone, he’s worried about how long he’ll be able to sustain his business, but for the moment, he’s just enjoying a little magic amid the chaos.
“The people out there are just tremendous,” Borg said. “All you hear is about the people fighting over toilet paper, but the ones that have come in are just amazing. I just wish I didn’t have to bake back there, I’d spend more time talking to them.”
Lucy Dillon took great care in ensuring 21st Yoga Studio was a refuge for people long before COVID-19 stole so many favorite activities and moments from Utahns. When it became clear that they had to cancel group classes, Dillon’s concern became two-fold — caring for the yoga community and keeping the teachers and staff employed.
“I’m very concerned about the 32 employees, very concerned about their livelihood,” she said. “I decided to keep the doors of the studio open to personal practice and private meditation. People can still come in and practice by themselves, and it’s open and warm and smelling good. ... They can have a place to go.”
Then this week, they decided to live stream classes twice a day — noon and 6 p.m. She said a lot of yoga studios offer “online everything,” but they believe some what makes their studio special is the community they’ve created. Still, if they could put classes online, maybe people would support the teachers and the studio.
“Because our business has suffered such a dramatic hit in the last three weeks, we put up a donation button,” she said. “People are paying like $8 to $15 on the honor system, which is awesome. That way, whoever can pay, does. ... It’s perfect.”
The studio is selling passes and gift certificates, and some teachers are offering one-on-one classes.
“My employees and the teachers are the biggest asset of the business,” Dillon said. “Anything we can do to continue to provide for them is good.”
Michael Kaleel, owner of Wriggles Wraps, created a new menu that offered dishes, like cheese and chicken enchiladas, that could be shared with neighbors or frozen to help families plan for future restrictions.
“I had a person call me from outside the restaurant asking if he could come inside,” Kaleel said at his Murray restaurant. “I’m getting a lot of business from family and friends. But if I have to rely on regular day traffic, it’s tough. I actually closed my business early (Wednesday) because it wasn’t worth staying open.”
Kaleel was making a good living from catering, but all of those jobs have canceled, so now he’s thinking of ways he and his customers could shift to serve those on the front line of the COVID-19 fight. If customers will support him, he plans to donate meals to first responders, especially health care workers. He can be reached at 801-262-7655.
The Park Cafe gave away breakfast burritos and sandwiches on Friday and Saturday as they attempted to “test out a drive-thru” system, and try to drum up support for their staff.
And Ogden’s Own, a distillery that produces products like Five Wives Vodka, got permission to make hand sanitizer.
They announced on their Facebook page that people could bring their own containers to their store at 3075 Grant Ave. and buy it by the ounce. It will also be available at Grounds for Coffee locations in Ogden, Sunset, Morgan and Slaterville. Customers are asked to call for hours and inventory.
It’s not just local companies that are trying to adapt to this new reality. Yaymaker is making it’s Paint Night events available online. The fee is smaller, and aspiring artists provide their own materials, but the access fee allows artists to continue to make money despite not being able to hold events.
The upside is that these painting lessons, normally available in clubs and pubs for those 21-and older, are now available to school-age children, whose parents may be looking for art class options.