Kemp Mill’s Holy Chow! will remain open and plans to “gradually shift away” from its signature Chinese fare, the restaurant owner announced Sept. 20.
This update follows a Sept. 17 Facebook post announcing that the kosher eatery might have permanently closed on Sept. 20 without “immediate” community support. Owner Ami Schreiber urged community members to purchase $100 gift cards to keep the business afloat without overwhelming its kitchen.
“This past Thursday, I asked this community to help save Holy Chow,” Schreiber wrote in a Sept. 20 Facebook post. “In under 24 hours, 300 of you bought gift cards, totaling just over $30,000.
“What we’ve raised so far is a strong start toward getting us through this transition, and it’s given us real momentum to keep pushing forward,” he wrote.
Holy Chow! opened as usual on Tuesday morning after a long weekend in observance of Yom Kippur. But in October, the nearly 10-year-old restaurant has a new plan for its menu.
“We’re going to start gradually shifting away from Chinese as our main focus,” the Facebook post read.
Holy Chow! will still offer fan favorites such as egg rolls, dumplings, wings and “a handful of other mainstays” the team will decide upon soon. The Chinese dishes will also transition to a catering model, where orders are placed in advance.
“We plan on using this same catering model this Christmas, and this transition period gives us the time to fine-tune it properly,” Schreiber wrote.
“In place of the rest of the Chinese menu, we’re building out a new American grill concept, burgers, hot dogs, schnitzel, wings, fries, that kind of thing,” he added. “Simpler to run, more consistent, and it gives us a real shot at sticking around for a long, long time.”
The restaurant will operate as usual until the end of September. Beginning in October, Holy Chow! plans to begin shifting its Chinese kitchen into a batch system. The restaurant will schedule specific cooking days, when staff will prepare a full day’s worth of gift card and Chinese orders.
“If you let us know your order and your preferred day, we’ll build the schedule around that and get back to you with a pickup time,” Schreiber wrote.
Though he announced the plan to the public just days ago, these changes have been in the works “for a while,” according to the Facebook post.
“Anyone who has spoken to me over the last few months knows that I was serious about this and we had already purchased all of the packaging and other items to make it happen,” Schreiber explained. “We even catered a bar mitzvah a little over a month ago with schnitzel being the main course and the results were overwhelmingly positive.”
The owner claimed that the “Chinese part” of the restaurant was no longer sustainable, perhaps due to changing demographics.
“We knew that the Chinese takeout model just wasn’t going to be profitable long term and we didn’t want to end up in the same situation we are [in] now six months later,” Schreiber wrote.
In a Sept. 17 message to the community, Schreiber said orders have fallen about 30% over the past two to three years, while catering business has declined and food, labor and other operating costs continue to rise.
He said he was faced with a difficult decision: shut down the business immediately or buy some time to keep it running.
“Since we had been planning to introduce a new menu for burgers, schnitzel, wings, etc. and we needed to immediately cut costs — without dropping a bomb on the community — I threw a Hail Mary in the hopes that we could get a huge influx of cash that would allow us to regroup and figure out a path moving forward,” Schreiber wrote.
Some members of the community wished Schreiber and Holy Chow! the best of luck, adding that they’re glad to see the restaurant branching out in its menu offerings.
“Good news! Glad the DMV won’t lose a kosher restaurant,” one commenter wrote.
Others said they felt like the business had been dishonest in its approach.
“That leaves me wondering: was the money needed to prevent the restaurant from permanently closing, or was it needed to help fund/runway a transition that was already being planned?” Silver Spring resident Oneg Levy Feuer asked in the comments. “If this concept was already in development, I wish that had been explained in the original appeal.”
Levy Feuer also raised a question regarding the gift cards, which patrons bought with the intent of buying Chinese food — dishes that will soon only be available on select days.
“Now it seems like they were making changes to the food. They just weren’t telling anyone about it before asking the community to rally around them and fundraise,” Levy Feuer told Washington Jewish Week. “Just disappointing all around.”
Schreiber wants the community to know that he did not intend to “bait and switch” his clientele, as some have suggested.
“It was not a scare tactic,” he told Washington Jewish Week on Sept. 24. “We were going to close the next day.”
He said with negative funds in his bank account, the restaurant was going to close without immediate support. But Schreiber was unsure how many gift cards customers would purchase.
“The fact is that I did not know what the outcome was going to be,” he said.
“Due to the efforts of this incredible community, Holy Chow will NOT be closing,” Schreiber wrote in a Sept. 24 Facebook post. “At a minimum, we will continue offering our full Chinese menu for Shabbat, Chag, catering, and of course for Christmas. I promise to do right by our customers, Holy Chow, and our team.”
zbell@midatlanticmedia.com
