Iconic Columbia restaurant you might’ve missed is reopening for takeout this week
Motor Supply Co. Bistro, one of downtown Columbia’s signature restaurants, is reopening for takeout this week, offering a glint of optimism for a local hospitality industry that’s been crushed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and statewide shutdown of dine-in service for restaurants and bars.
While a number of local restaurants have stayed open doing limited takeout and delivery business for the past several weeks — and some have chosen to close under the financial strain — Motor Supply opted to close in mid-March, days before S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster ordered the closure of dining rooms across the state.
“I just felt (it was best) for the safety of our staff, because you could see it coming,” owner Eddie Wales said. “We’re not a takeout type of place (because of) our presentation, and our food needs to be eaten pretty much right away. It’s something I really didn’t think we would do.”
Before the closure, January and February had been among the most successful months the upscale restaurant had ever seen, Wales said. Restaurants across the city traditionally count on springtime months — with graduations, proms, major sports tournaments and Mother’s Day — for some of their best business of the year.
Seeing that the restaurant business likely will be drastically changed for months and maybe years to come, Wales began think of how he must adapt his business for now to stay alive.
“It’s a matter of survival, for a lot of us. We have to reinvent ourselves,” he said. “We’re set up to be a busy restaurant. If we’re a half-full restaurant ... we’re losing money. It doesn’t cut it. We’ve got to be creative.”
Wales and his team, including executive chef Wes Fulmer, spent the past month crafting a curbside takeout menu that will be available Wednesdays through Saturdays beginning this week.
It’s a smaller version of a typical Motor Supply menu and will feature a trio of starter-course items, including a flatbread dish the restaurant was unable to produce during its busier regular service; four entrees and four family-style meals, including familiar shrimp and grits and a vegetarian dish; a selection of house-favorite condiments such as tomato jam and pimento cheese spread; along with beer and wine and a signature cocktail mix.
“We want to make sure these things travel well. ... Some things just don’t look as good in a takeout box,” Wales said.
It will be a flexible menu that could change as the weeks go by, but not as frequently as the regular Motor Supply menu would be updated, Wales said.
The restaurant’s comeback might be a welcome breath of fresh air for Columbians who are mourning the loss of another iconic local eatery, Yesterdays, which recently announced it has permanently closed after 43 years of business in Five Points downtown.
Reopening for takeout is a first step in what will be a slow process of getting back to business, Wales said. Like many business owners, he’s preparing for his restaurant to look very different in the months to come.
Fewer dine-in customers and more takeout orders are the way of the future, Wales believes. His restaurant plans to roll out a new online ordering platform and a service that will allow customers to pay their bill from an app on their phone without ever touching their receipt or credit card.
“Customers are going to come back carefully,” Wales said. “No, we’re not open yet, and we will not (fully open) even if we’re allowed to. We will not open this restaurant for dine-in service until we feel it’s safe and comfortable to do so. ...
“We’re not going to jump the gun and open just because we can.”
This story was originally published April 27, 2020 at 3:53 PM.
