GREENSBORO, N.C. – Just a few weeks before restaurants in North Carolina were shut down, MACHETE in downtown Greensboro opened its doors.

 

What You Need To Know

  • Blevins says social media has helped push customers to certain foods

  • Sales are down 70 to 80 percent

  • Social media helps foster community interactione

 

“There’s an old saying, 'there’s never a great time to open up a restaurant.' I think we found the absolutely worst time to open up a restaurant, three weeks right before everything hit," owner Talmadge Blevins says.

MACHETE began as a supper club, so Blevins has always relied on social media and word of mouth. He says that's continued during their take-out order phase.

“It’s been tough right now to maintain the levels that we have at the restaurant. You know business has been down about 70 or 80 percent, but I don’t think we would have the take-out business that we do have without our social media presence right now,” Blevins says.

He says the pictures and videos of food and employees seem to have a bigger impact than pictures of menus and radio ads.

They're able to see firsthand how what they decide to post on a certain day draws sales.

“We just did a birthday cake ice cream, and I put that up on social media on, I think, yesterday, and we had a very limited run. We only had about 30, but we’re already sold out for our orders this week because so many people put in preorders,” Blevins says.

This is not just about sales. Posting on Facebook and Instagram is also fostering their relationship with the community through comments, which is what Blevins said was one of their main goals as a restaurant.