Porterhouse to Go: Steakhouses Are Making Big Changes to Survive
How hard is it to run a steakhouse in the middle of a pandemic? Peter Luger, the Brooklyn institution, is offering delivery for the first time in its 133-year history.
Peter Luger is also shipping raw steaks to customers across the country to offset lost sales—though within its delivery range in Brooklyn and Queens, $18 hamburgers have proved more popular than steaks that cost about $55 to $65 per person. To make life easier for consumers ordering for delivery, it’s also accepting credit cards for the first time. And yet all the new trials amount only to a stopgap.
“Indoor dining is clearly the only way to maintain the restaurant business,” said David Berson, general manager of the fourth-generation family business.
Mr. Berson declined to provide total sales, but said Peter Luger’s 60-year-old Long Island location, which has offered indoor dining since July, is selling more than half of its pre-Covid-19 volume. The Brooklyn restaurant is at about 30%.
