Food Retailers Assess Sandy’s Wrath, Begin Rebuilding

Four weeks after Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast, the outgoing telephone message of Joe Leone’s market in Point Pleasant, NJ, was a testament to how hard the storm had hit the Jersey Shore. After listing his store’s limited hours, owner Joe Leone pledged to help anyone who needed emergency food, giving his work number and email. “We are praying for a swift recovery from Sandy. We are very concerned,” Leone said. “I am very willing to help in any way that we can. And our hearts and prayers go out to everyone. God bless the Jersey Shore.”

Joe Leone’s Market, located four blocks from the beach in Point Pleasant, was spared flooding and wind damage, though Sandy wiped out half of the shore town’s boardwalk, including a popular pier bar and many homes. The 50,000-square-foot market and catering business did lose power and needed to close for a week, as did a second location in nearby Sea Girt, NJ In all, the retailer lost $70,000 to $80,000 in food and an estimated $120,000 in sales.

Leone is one of hundreds of specialty food retailers scrambling with the impact of Hurricane Sandy, which has caused extensive damage, including power outages, flooding and travel disruptions, along the East Coast since hitting landfall on October 29. It is projected Sandy will have caused about $30 billion in damages in the United States.

Starting From Scratch

In Brooklyn, NY, the damage from Sandy was so extensive to the Fairway Market location on the Red Hook waterfront that the store will be closed for an expected six to eight weeks. The 50,000-square-foot specialty supermarket, located in a Civil War–era brick building, had 5 feet of flooding, says Howard Glickberg, Fairway's vice chairman of development and former chief executive. Workers had to throw out everything in the store, all food and fixtures and all of the drywall, filling 70 dumpsters. Additionally, the store’s refrigeration units and coffee roaster were ruined.

“We’re starting from scratch. The store is completely empty,” says Glickberg, whose grandfather founded the Fairway chain. “The refrigeration was ruined with the saltwater. It’s all unusable. But we’re New Yorkers. We’re optimistic.”

Fairway is hoping to get reimbursement for the storm damage costs through its business interruption insurance, he adds. Until reopening, the Red Hook Fairway’s 300 employees have been shifted to other Fairway locations in the city.

In Hoboken, NJ, Chung Park’s The Cheese Store, located 12 blocks from the waterfront, was flooded with 6 inches of water and lost power for 10 days. Park had to discard $30,000 in perishable inventory, including cheese, charcuterie, yogurt and ice cream. The flood waters, which were mixed with sewage, ruined the 700-square-foot store’s wood floors and walls, and Park is assessing if his four refrigeration units have been permanently corroded. Park estimates that he lost $20,000 in sales from being closed and has applied for a Small Business Administration loan to help finance his rebuilding. Before Sandy, he had been in the process of moving to a larger store within his building but plans are currently on hold.

In Roslyn, Long Island, NY, the owners of The Meat House had to throw out their entire inventory of top choice and prime steaks and meat and produce when the store lost power and was closed for two-and-a-half days. Sandy caused loss estimates of $48,000 in sales, but a week later Meat House lost power again due to a northeastern storm and had to trash its inventory a second time. “It’s a lot of money, but you can’t take the chance with food,” says Joseph Brakatselos, assistant general manager. “We reopened as fast as we could, texting our vendors when we would be ready.”

Giving Back

Faced with losing inventory, several specialty retailers took the opportunity to help their neighbors. Meat House workers were able to drive some of the meat and food to several churches that still had power in middle Long Island. In the days after the storm surge, Fairway Market donated 100,000 pounds of food, filling five tractor trailers, to neighborhood charities. On the Jersey Shore, by day three of preserving perishable food in a refrigerator using a generator, Leone and his partner, John Hilla, decided to bring their employees in to cook the food and begin feeding those helping with the storm. The market delivered food for about 5,500 meals to first responders who set up shop in a local recycling hub, fire stations and other buildings, Leone says. The retailer also has plans to set up a soup kitchen to help feed those still recovering from the storm who lack a place to cook.

“We have had a wonderful run here in Point Pleasant for 15 years, and this is our time to give back,” says Leone. “This storm has been devastating to so many people here