In an exclusive interview for HN, Hodema consulting services talks with Rana Khoury, general manager of Crumz in Amman.

How would you describe the concept of Crumz?

Crumz is a bistro bakery café. The bakery specializes in the production of high-quality, innovative bread and pastries. As for the bistro café, the extensive menu includes a variety of gourmet dishes, desserts and beverages served all day. The atmosphere is friendly and casual.

What are the success factors of Crumz?

One of the success factors is the owners’ passion, know-how and hands-on involvement in the operations. But also, our keenness to offer high and consistent quality products, always aiming to outperform the expectation of our customers. 

What are the precautions and measures that will be undertaken post COVID-19?

We have already implemented procedures and protocols set by the Jordanian Ministry of Health and the Jordanian Food and Drug Administration to guarantee the health and safety of our staff and customers. Some of the measures include disinfecting the premises prior to resuming our activities, testing our staff for the Coronavirus and providing them with protective wear, food-handling procedures in terms of food receiving and preparation, as well as the sanitation of our delivery vehicles.

Rana Khoury

Are you expecting a change in client behavior following this worldwide pandemic?

Our customers have become more cautious about hygiene standards and food safety. We are now open only for retail and delivery services, and we are implementing the highest standards to ensure the safe preparation and handling of our products. Also, we do expect a drop in our dine-in sales once we resume operations, as people will be reluctant to dine at restaurants. 

How are you facing the challenges from the outbreak of COVID-19 in terms of rental, taxes, etc.?

We are trying to increase our sales through product development. For instance, we provide our customers with the option to purchase our famous pizzas, manakeesh, croissants and baguettes as frozen products that they can bake at home during lockdown. In terms of human resources, our main goal is to support our staff during these difficult times; therefore, we did not cut down on their paychecks.

Our strategy for the time being is to decrease our running and operational costs; hence we are negotiating prices of raw materials with our suppliers and the rental fees with our landlords. With the current revenue, the business will not be sustainable due to the high operational and running costs. And to support our cash fluidity, we were forced to finance our operational costs for the current three months through a soft loan that was offered by the central bank of Jordan with a very low interest rate of two percent and a grace period of six months, hoping by that time the pandemic would have come to an end and life would be back to normal. Last but not least, the government waived the due sales taxes and social security payments for the past three months, which needs to be paid within the coming two months.

What are your plans for Crumz?

Our plans were to expand and franchise inside and beyond Jordan. However, at the moment, we do not have a clear vision due to the current uncertainties, the development of COVID-19 and the impact on the hospitality industry in general, and the restaurant industry in particular.