NEW ORLEANS — It's no secret the pandemic has really hurt restaurants but this Father's Day, one local eatery was crowded and somehow they are handled more customers with a smaller staff.
Paul Dudley talked to the executive chef at Ralph's on the Park about what that is like.
"We have a full house today for father's day," said Knut Mjelde, Ralph's on the Park.
At Ralph's on the Park, it is a busy day. In fact, the restaurant is seeing more business than almost ever before and they are doing it with a smaller staff, too.
"How are you able to accommodate all these people with a smaller staff, what is that like?" said WWLTV Paul Dudley.
"We are able to accommodate them with hard work. Lots of effort goes into preparing and planning these menus..we spend a lot of time ironing out the details, training the staff and making sure we are super set up," said Knut Mjelde.
Knut Mjelde, the executive chef, said while his current staff is strong they are looking to hire. They are not the only ones.
"Ralph's on the Park is part of the Ralph Brennan restaurant group and every restaurant is a company. Brennan's, Red Fish Grill, everybody is hiring," said Knut Mjelde.
Mjelde said they still don't have the number of workers they would like but are making it work by getting creative with hiring and also promoting from within.
Still, with more people and fewer staff, I ask Mjelde if customers should be prepared to be more patient.
"We don't want to slow down our service and we don't want to compromise on quality. I think what we've sought to do in this restaurant is be more patient with ourselves… maybe the seared fish takes a little longer than 14 minutes now but that's ok because we are focused on quality over speed...and I don't think our guests have noticed a big dip," said Knut Mjelde, Ralph's on the Park.
Mjelde expects the restaurant to only get busier and hopes this Father's Day crowd is a sign the industry is beginning to make a comeback.
"I just see us ..as a city..all these restaurants in the city are getting stronger, better service, better cooks and i look forward to it," said Knut Melde, Ralph's on the Park.