The globe is living a new normal right now with Coronavirus affecting our work, our play, our social lives, even where we meet for dinner each night.
No longer are the after-work happy hours, a quick bite to eat, or birthday dinner parties out (or in!). One day, we will have these luxuries and I’m hoping to enjoy them more than ever.
For now, we should be staying inside, spending time with your household loved ones, and supporting our local restaurants!

I had the pleasure of receiving some insight (see HERE below) from a local business owner, Chris Meroff, about what’s going on in the Austin service industry and in his world, along with trying their incredible pizza, wings, and mixology kit!

More Information about Chris and his Event Collective

Event Collective, a group of local service industry businesses, was started in 2019 with Kurant Catering (now Nourished by Kurant Catering). Soon after, they wanted to create a space for the community, which is when they opened Coffee + Crisp, a delicious coffee shop in the Domain. Next, was Hipstirs with on-location mixology courses off South Lamar, followed by a restaurant in the same building, Ghost Pizza (now Phantasma Kitchen) with Roman-style pizza, wings, sandwiches, and more. 

Nourished By Kurant

Coffee + Crisp

Hipstirs

Phantasma Kitchen

Nourished By Kurant

kurantevents.com/nourished

During this COVID-19 time, Nourished By Kurant is offering delivery meals and grocery packages.
Additionally, an offer for Mother’s Day, they have special brunch and dinner options so you can spoil your momma even if you can’t see her or celebrate her!

Coffee + Crisp

coffeeandcrisp.com 〰️ 3220 Amy Donovan Plaza #100, Austin

Offering both food & drinks (like Avocado Toast & Lattes) during Shelter-In-Place for pick-up and delivery orders (GrubHub & UberEats) and pick-up groceries! 

Hipstirs

hipstirs.myshopify.com 〰️ 3403 South Lamar Boulevard

Just because we can’t gather, doesn’t mean we can’t have fun!

Hipstirs normally have in-person mixology courses at their South Lamar location but with the changes in the community, they offer in-house courses. In order for this to work, they deliver their mixology boxes to your door and you jump on a LIVE with a local bartender at the end of the week so you get to learn how to make the cocktail!

I personally had the pleasure of receiving a box full of ingredients to make a Tequila Daquiri. Hipstirs includes instructions in the box but it’s so fun to follow a recipe made by a bartender, with the ability to ask questions if needed. 

This drink was DELICIOUS and they gave you enough ingredients for several cocktails to enjoy!

Phantasma Kitchen

phantasma.kitchen 〰️ 3403 South Lamar Boulevard

Operating out of the same building as Hipstirs, Phantasma Kitchen is offering delivery and pick-up. They’re offering incredibly delicious, awesomely priced, Roman-style pizzas out of their brick oven along with sandwiches, wings, and more. 

Here’s what I ordered when I was offered to try their menu:

• La Phantasma Pizza - San Marzano tomato, house-made mozzarella, prosciutto di parma, artichokes, mushrooms, & kalamata olives. [$13*]

• Bloody Mary Pizza - San Marzano Tomato, house-made mozzarella, & garden basil [$10*]

• Rosemary Garlic Parmesan Wings [Half Dozen $7/Dozen $13*]

• Bourbon Chocolate Chip Cookies [3 for $5*]

Their pizzas are incredible, high-quality toppings, especially at the price point. I am a huge chicken wings fan and since these spent some time in the pizza oven, they were crispy and the rosemary garlic parmesan wasn’t some mass batch sauce slathered on, it tasted & looked intentional.

Lastly, the cookies, oh my goodness… perfect chewiness to crunchiness ratio… along with some sea salt that gave it a burst of sweet & savory. 

I also love to see that they support local and have Austin offerings like Richard’s Rainwater & Infinite Monkey Theorem Wine!

Interview Re: Coronavirus & The Service Industry

I was also happy to get some insight from a local business owner because I was wanted to hear about the Coronavirus Service Industry impact straight from the source. 

Me: What were the biggest changes you had to make once the Shelter-In-Place order was established?
Owner: The challenges that we faced as a small business were ~ how do we protect our employees and clients while still keeping our doors open and serving our community well? We had to find creative ways for our clients to have the same experience within their homes, so we created our Hipstirs subscription boxes. Our subscription boxes allow the community to still have a fun time creating unique cocktail drinks while watching our weekly mixology tutorials on Facebook Live. We are also focusing on our pick-up and delivery services through our other businesses Phantasma Kitchen, Nourished catering and Coffee + Crisp. Another service that we have added to serve our community through the quarantine is our grocery service which is now available as an add-on with our Nourished drop-off meals. You can view more information about our drop-off meals and groceries by visiting our website ~ https://www.kurantevents.com/nourished/drop-off

Me: How much are you losing due to the current COVID-19/Shelter-In-Place?
Owner: Unfortunately, Hipstirs is a new small business that we opened the week prior to COVID-19 hitting our city, so revenue has been much lower than we had predicted. It's been a challenge learning how to navigate getting our name out there while people are fearful of ordering take-out & delivery.

Me: Is there anything you'd like to say about the industry that you think that people outside of the industry don't know regarding the impact?
Owner: The service industry individuals love to serve so it's amazing and inspiring to see the chefs and our teams pull together during this scary time and still get out there with a smile on their faces and continue to serve the people of Austin.

Me: What are your plans if this lasts another month or so?
Owner: We will continue to innovate new strategies on how to bring safe food and fun experiences to people’s homes through our delivery services and Hipstirs mixology subscription boxes.

Me: Is there anything that the public can do to help your business(es) other than purchasing food & bev?  
Owner: Yes! Sharing our pages on social media, commenting and writing reviews on Yelp will play a huge part in getting our name out there so that we can continue to serve our community and keep our doors open.

Me: Are you offering delivery from your employees?  
Owner: Yes!  Even though we do utilize delivery partners like GrubHub, we also take orders over the phone and online.  Whenever a large order comes in over the phone we pull in team members that need more hours to do our deliveries!   COVID-19 didn't just affect Phantasma for us, we also have a catering business and a coffee shop, and this pandemic affected our servers and baristas the most.  Luckily we have been able to pull them in to help with deliveries for our catering business and Phantasma.

And the moment you’ve been waiting for…

OUR GIVEAWAY!

In these struggling times, anything can help, especially a meal!
So, Phantasma Kitchen and I want to offer you: one pizza, an order of wings AND a bottle of wine -or- pack of beer! 

All you need to do is*:

1. LIKE this post below on IG

2. FOLLOW @phantasmakitchen & @atxfyi

3. TAG 3 friends

BONUS ENTRY: SHARE on your IG Story

This contest ends on April 28 2020 at 11:59pm CDT. I will pick a winner randomly on April 29 2020 and Phantasma Kitchen will be reaching out to you for your order! 

*You need to be living in Austin or the surrounding area in order to participate. 

Loved getting to know more about these awesome local businesses under the Event Collective umbrella!
Check them out and support local austin businesses!!

Cheers!

Event Collective

Coffee + Crisp
3220 Amy Donovan Plaza #100, Austin, TX 78758

Nourished By Kurant
12885 Research Blvd #109, Austin, TX 78750

Phantasma Kitchen
3403 S Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX

Hipstirs
3403 S Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX