Adapting: Versatile Monroeville caterer changes business model in face of coronavirus restrictions

Editor’s note: Adapting is a regular series spotlighting the ways the global coronavirus pandemic is changing the everyday lives of people in Western Pennsylvania.

Javid Shojaie has owned and operated Jaden’s Catering in Monroeville for 26 years. Before catering became part of its name, the business was a restaurant.

The change to catering for events around the region came about a year after Sept. 11, 2001, when he experienced how the terrorist attack slowed the typically steady flow of traffic on Route 22, where his restaurant sat.

“There were people living in fear and the unknown, so this brings memories back,” he said.

Shojaie, 59, an Iranian who now lives in Penn Township, remembers that time as a sort of “nightmare” — for many reasons.

Covid-19 has been a different kind of nightmare for Shojaie. Now, because of the pandemic’s halting effect on the economy, the business is shifting again.

March 7 was the catering company’s last event. Since then, Jaden’s four banquet halls have fallen silent, its 14 vehicles largely immobile and its 12 employees jobless.

“In March, I had no one working at all. There was no business coming in,” Shojaie said.

He said catering brings in 90% of his business. And he expects the pandemic’s negative effects to continue — even with a gradual reopening of the state’s economy currently scheduled for May 8.

“I have cancellations until the end of June,” Shojaie said. “People don’t feel comfortable with having events right now. … We’re in trouble. But it is what it is. We’re all trying different things.”

Jaden’s “different thing” during the pandemic is shifting entirely from catering to curbside pick-up, delivery and takeout menu items for families and small groups. The shift, which transpired in a matter of three days in mid-March, has kept his livelihood afloat. He’s even been able to call in part-time help when putting takeout orders together gets busy.

Jaden’s Catering’s new menu includes meals for two people starting at $25. Meals for up to eight people start at $95. Delivery is available for an extra charge. Shojaie has included a detailed description of the meals available on the business’ website.

Shoejaie’s catering business is part of an events industry that contributes $1.5 trillion to the global gross domestic product. The industry employs about 3.2 million people in North America and results in about $381 billion of direct spending annually, according to the Events Industry Council, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that tracks changes in the industry.

It is difficult to know exactly how covid-19 will affect the events and catering industry in the future, but a Meeting Professionals International online survey taken from its member organizations March 12-20 showed 59% of participants said the pandemic will impact them “a great deal” for the next 12 months. Nearly a quarter of them said it will affect their business a great deal for the next two years. Very few said the pandemic will have no effect.

Shoejaie’s new business model is only about a month old, so it does not bring in the revenue needed to pay his full-time employees, his mortgages, insurance on the delivery vehicles and utilities. And it’s too soon to know if he will stick with it when the economy goes “back to normal.”

“There are good days and bad days,” he said.

On good days, he prepares individual lunch boxes for larger companies, nursing homes and hospitals. Sometimes on those days, he brings in another employee or two for help. On the bad days, he waits for the next prospect alone at the catering business.

By and large, though, Shojaie is encouraged. His customers have been giving heftier and more frequent tips. Gratuities have increased anywhere from 5 to 10%, he said.

Part of the takeout business involves preparing meals for families of four to six. So, for example, a family with a bill of $53 would leave $60 to $80 to even $100, Shojaie said.

“I’ve had people that left $80 for a $25 (meal). And they left a note, ‘Give to staff,’” he said.

His customers’ generosity has blown him away.

“They get it. Our business is suffering. My employees are suffering. … So it made me feel very good knowing there are people like that out there,” he said.

Shojaie hasn’t just been on the receiving end of kindness during this time. On Easter, he and volunteers delivered handmade cookies to 18 emergency rooms in hospitals throughout Westmoreland and Allegheny counties. He said the gesture was a thank you to those working on the front lines through the pandemic.

He said the occasion was a sort of reunion. Most of the volunteers helping that weekend were laid-off employees.

“A little sweet treat,” Shojaie said. “It was nice, and it was well-received.”