February 23, 2021
Chef Maxcel Hardy cooks up Caribbean fusion dishes at Coop, one of the original food stalls at Detroit Shipping Co.
Last March, Detroit-area restaurants went dark. Quite literally, any local eatery that couldn’t quickly muster up takeout and delivery services, turned out the lights and closed its doors while the powers that be determined best practices for operating a hospitality business during a global health crisis. Such was the case for Detroit Shipping Co., the Cass Corridor food hall and beer garden erected out of shipping containers. On March 16, 2020, the company announced a full closure, suspending all six vendors from operating their restaurants until late May.
Annoyingly techie but excruciatingly precise, “pivoting” is now a loaded term in the restaurant world. The pandemic has demanded adaptation; since March 2020, restaurants and bars across the country have navigated through the COVID-19 pandemic by transforming into online groceries, outdoor dining destinations, meal-kit providers, and more. These pivots require time, resources, creativity, innovation, and, of course, money and their success can mean a restaurant’s survival. In this series, Eater asks operators to open their books and explain how pivoting has (and hasn’t) worked, by the numbers. First up: Detroit Shipping Company.
March is usually a whirlwind time for Detroit restaurants. Diners come out of the hibernation that Midwest winters demand and revel in a slew of holidays and sporting events, including St. Patrick’s Day, Detroit Tigers Opening Day, March Madness, and the Marche du Nain Rouge, an annual parade and celebration held in Cass Corridor. For Detroit Shi