Out Of The Fire

How is Richmond’s restaurant industry adapting to the longterm ramifications of the pandemic? It really depends on who you ask.

“I don’t think it’s going to be the same, quite frankly.”

Micheal Sparks answered my call en route to his beach house. A culinary giant, Sparks is the CEO of the Underground Kitchen, a Richmond-based organization dedicated to allowing minority chefs to showcase their talents in a national setting. The Underground Kitchen, or UGK, is renowned for their themed experiential dinners, earning the “underground” portion of its name from the secrecy that surrounds the locations of their events until just before they occur.

On February 26, 2020, UGK held one of those dinners in Boston, MA. Unfortunately, around the same time, what would grow into a three-year pandemic was gaining momentum. After eight years of building, UGK was one of many event-based businesses that now faced a sea of cancellations.

The COVID-19 pandemic uprooted everyone’s life when it built up to full force in early 2020. One of the industries hardest hit by the need for lockdowns and social distancing has been the culinary industry. Businesses reliant on in-person patrons were suddenly faced with a significantly reduced customer base. From small businesses to nationally recognized organizations like UGK, they all felt the effects.

It wasn’t just businesses that were affected by the lack of consumers; chefs and other workers in the culinary industry were facing layoffs and extended bouts of unemployment as those seeking work quickly outnumbered the positions available.

While the Underground Kitchen was forced to stop booking events, they did not stop preparing meals. Sparks used his decade of culinary experience, wealth of contacts in an industry hurting for work, and easy access to supplies to pull off an extraordinary pivot in a short amount of time. In March of 2020, UGK Community First was born.