CLARENCE CENTER, N.Y. — The COVID-19 pandemic has left people scrambling to find some everyday items like hand sanitizer and cleaning supplies. For Toasted restaurant in Clarence, the item in short supply is a key ingredient.
“I think it was a Saturday my husband was running all over Buffalo looking for avocados,” says Adria Campana, owner of Toasted. “There were no avocados.”
The “Smashed Avocado” toast has been the most popular item on the menu since Toasted opened in early March, just one week before New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the "New York State on PAUSE" executive order, closing nonessential business and forcing companies to cut their workforce to stop the spread of coronavirus.
“We've been waiting for so long, so for the pandemic to hit a week after opening, it was the worst timing ever,” Campana told Most Buffalo.
Together with family, friends, and manager and barista Ani Henley, they were forced to change their entire business plan on the spot.
“We didn't have boxes; we didn't have to-go bags,” she said. “We really didn't know what to do. There was no time to work out any kinks. We had to just work out the kinks in that moment.”
The avocados arrive weekly in a shipment from the nation’s largest food distributor, Sysco, which like many other companies has also been forced to furlough and lay off some employees. As a result, their deliveries to Toasted have been cut in half.
To complicate matters further, Breadhive, the company that supplies the bread for Toasted's entire menu decided to close temporarily during the pandemic. Before closing its doors, the owners of Breadhive made 400 loaves to help Toasted get by for at least one month.
“We definitely don't have a Plan B if we run out of bread, but we'll cross that hurdle when we have to,” Campana says.
Toasted is the restaurant companion to Campana’s healthy living blog, Buffalo Beauty Foodie, which she started in college while revamping her entire way of living.
“I believe food is like medicine,” Campana says. Now, gourmet toast has become a passion for her that extends far beyond mashed avocados.
“I want to take toast to the next level,” she says.
There’s something for just about everyone on the menu at this gourmet toasterie: “Toasty Coconut,” “Blueberry Goat Cheese,” and “Peanut Butter Crunch.” You can even get a flight of toast. But for Campana, the highlight is the kid’s menu.
“I used to be a full-time nanny,” she explains. “I would make toast {for the kids} for breakfast, but I would make animals out of fruit. They would be so excited in the morning to eat it.”
Now those toast animals make up an adorable kids’ menu in a brand-new restaurant Campana hopes will not only survive this pandemic but become a brunch destination for families all over Western New York.
“Our customers have been so forgiving as we figure this all out,” Campana says. “With help from family and the support of the community, I feel confident that we will be ready to be back in full swing when this is over.”
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