Pittsburgh-based Eat'n Park offers groceries during coronavirus pandemic

Eat’n Park is the place not only for smiles, but now milk, bread, ketchup and even toilet paper.

The Pittsburgh-based restaurant chain launched a temporary grocery program Wednesday in all its restaurants to provide access to everyday staples including Turner’s milk, Cellone’s bread by the loaf, Heinz ketchup, toilet paper and Eat’n Park single-serve coffee pods.

Kevin O’Connell, chief marketing officer for Eat’n Park, said the covid-19 pandemic can be traumatic for people having to go to the store multiple times.

“So we tried to come up with a few items that might help limit the number of trips to the store,” O’Connell said. “We decided on everyday products. We aren’t going to replace the grocery store, but customers can come to Eat’n Park and get a meal as well as some essential groceries, as well as our housemade ranch dressing, a quart of our homemade soups and our coffee.”

The full list of available items for purchase can be found on the chain’s website.

“We’ve added a few key items to our takeout menu to help carry people over to their next grocery run,” O’Connell said.

The restaurant chain also announced that pints of its ranch dressing and Turner’s cottage cheese as well as quarts of homemade soups would sell for $5. They also are offering chicken tenders in orders of 10, 20, 30 or 40 pieces.

They’ve made all takeout ordering pay in advance.

Items can be purchased online or by phone and acquired through pickup windows or grab-and-go lobby shelves.

“That way, we can hand you the food in the drive-thru or you can walk in and grab your order and go,” O’Connell said. “It’s simple and contactless.”

He said they could add more items or make adjustments to the choices based on supply and demand.

Established in 1949, Eat’n Park restaurants employ more than 8,000 people in more than 60 locations. O’Connell said they have had to furlough a lot of the staff but have covered their health care premiums, waived co-pays for telemedicine appointments and supplied them with two meals a week. They plan to rehire everyone once the dining rooms reopen, he said.

The restaurant chain lost 85% of sales overnight, when the state announced restaurants could be takeout only, O’Connell said.

“People still need to eat, and our takeout sales have been growing,” he said. “We have become an e-commerce company. The world changed drastically the week of March 14-15, and we’ve been adjusting to what’s been happening. We continue to learn what customers want and need.”

The famous Smiley cookies are still available.

“Eat’n Park is still the place for smiles,” O’Connell said. “And anything we can do now to give our customers something to smile about we are going to do.”