How a 3rd-generation Philly-area business is surviving the coronavirus pandemic: ‘Whatever it takes’

The cancellations began pouring in to Williamson Caterers during the second week of March, soon after federal health officials recommended a ban on large gatherings to halt the spread of the coronavirus.

For a caterer, it was like a dagger to the heart.

“The phone was ringing off the hook,” said Rick Williamson, 55, the third-generation owner of the Willow Grove catering business. Two months of scheduled work disappeared overnight: wedding receptions, spring fund-raisers, corporate events — all nixed as the severity of the impending pandemic sunk in.

On March 12, Williamson laid off his full-time staff of four people, the first layoffs in more than five decades for the business, an offshoot of the family-owned Williamson Restaurants that once operated in the Philadelphia area and in Florida. He told 40 part-time servers there was no work, at least until May.

For the first time since he started working in the family business at age 13, Williamson himself was off the payroll.

But his workload only picked up. Like many small business owners, Williamson has worked overtime since the pandemic brought his business to a screeching halt. He was on the phone with lenders, trying to secure a Small Business Administration loan. He worked with insurance carriers and benefits administrators to see if they can give him a break. He tried to coax better terms from creditors, who are also in a tight bind.

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Williamson Caterers LLC is one of the country’s more than 28 million small businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic, some of which may never reopen again. Individually, each company is but a speck. Collectively, businesses with fewer than 500 employees account for 45% of the country’s GDP, and almost half of its employment, according to J.P. Morgan Chase.

In the year of the plague, Williamson acknowledges the extraordinary challenges he faces are nothing special for many small business owners.

And that’s exactly the point.

“At work I wig out about it,” he said. “You go home, turn on the news, and there’s no one who’s unaffected. I mean everybody’s impacted in a different way. Some people are out of work and don’t have food. There are people who are ill with this crazy virus that for some people is a sniffle and a cold, and for other people, they’re dead in 48 hours. That’s the reality check.”

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As the new reality has settled in, Williamson is searching for an elusive pathway out — and preparing for the worst. “When will things go back to normal?" he asked. “What is the new normal going to look like?”

Initially, he thought business would begin to recover in May, but that was way too optimistic. Customers with scheduled events in June are now canceling. Even when the government eventually lifts the lockdown, he expects it will take longer before confidence is restored and guests and servers will feel comfortable in close contact with each other. The best-case scenario, he says, is that business will begin to resume in July, though he’s hoping to pick up an impromptu graduation party before then.

“As much as everyone is asking questions, there are no answers,” he said. “No one can say with 100% certainty that they have the answer, other than ‘Ask me tomorrow and the answer might change.' ”

Williamson’s challenge is one of simple math and fixed costs. He has trimmed expenses by cutting payroll and canceling food orders and linen rentals. “The trucks aren’t going out, so we’re not spending money on gas and tolls,” he said. “But just the cost of being in business is a little over $120,000 a year, without paying a single soul.”

While Williamson’s home mortgage lender gave him a 90-day reprieve, the commercial lender was not so flexible. “They’re looking at commercial loans way differently than they’re looking at residential mortgages,” he said.

The utility bills keep coming for energy, water, phones, and internet. “We have freezers that are currently maintaining product and I need to make sure the building is secure,” he said. “I am in an older building and I am concerned that shutting down completely for several months will lead to more problems — leaks, breakage, pests.”

He is still paying for health insurance. He also pays about $2,500 a month in commercial insurance premiums, covering things like vehicles, worker’s compensation, an umbrella liability policy, and liquor liability (coverage for damage or injury caused by an intoxicated patron). While the insurance carriers won’t reduce premiums, they may give him a rebate after an annual audit that would compensate for the business slowdown. But that won’t come until the end of the year — no help to the immediate cash crunch.

“Those are the primary concerns,” he said. “A minor challenge is trying to collect on the receivables we have out. Companies and individuals are all in the same position and, understandably, keeping their cash.”

Williamson said he’s fortunate because many of the customers who canceled bookings rescheduled their events for a later date. He offered to repay deposits to customers who canceled and did not reschedule, but asked those customers for some time before he reimburses them. “They’ve been so good and so great about understanding that,” he said.

His four children, meanwhile, are eating well on the surplus banquet food stranded from canceled events. “We’re not getting pizza," he said. His wife, Beth, lost hours working as a school nurse when classes were canceled, but still works as a part-time home-care nurse.

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The sole member of the family who has come out a winner is their rescue dog, Greta, who gets walked four or five times a day by his children.

One part of the business that is still functioning is an ongoing obligation to supply meals every day to LIFE St. Mary, an elder-care program. Williamson and his chef, Dave Banecker, prepare the meals in the morning, an arrangement that will continue until the chef’s unemployment insurance starts, and “then it’ll just be me doing it," said Williamson.

Amid the gloom, the show must go on: Williamson is still taking calls from customers who want to book in 2021 — weddings get planned well in advance.

Coronavirus will be history by then, right?

“We’ve got to be positive and tell them that we’re going to be there,” he said. “Whatever it takes, Williamson Caterers will get through this.”