Robin Wong oral history interview reflecting on Covid-19 pandemic

So today is July 10. And we have invited back Mr. Robin Wong to do the Asian American interview for the special COVID collection.

Thank you so much for being here today. My name is Ashley Tsang and I want to start off by asking— in what ways has the Coronavirus epidemic impacted your life and

Blood Bros Barbecue? For our business for Blood Brothers, we've taken a little bit of a hit. We're not cooking as much, because we don't anticipate as much traffic.

We've also changed about half of our menu. Even now with the patio and dining room being open at 50%, people aren't really eating in. You would think people are

anxious to sit down and eat. Really, almost everyone's still taking it to go. So our menu has changed to make everything transportable.

And that takes a lot more work than just throwing something on a plate and sending it out. It costs more for packaging. It takes more time to package everything.

But we've been pretty successful at–at the transition or, you know, the pivot as most people will say. We're doing a lot better than some of our friends in the restaurant industry. So, you know, we're making not quite as much

money as we were before. But for that, it takes twice as much work so we're just all exhausted. So it takes like extra work, extra time and extra money to

kind of, okay. And then the beef pricing went up. So we're cooking less beef. And we also had to raise the price up

on beef. So, you know, we had come up with other stuff, I'm sorry. It's just, you know, financially we're doing okay. But it's so much stress and, you know, not knowing what's going to happen the

next week you know, with the cases spiking and local government, state government national government being so wishy washy and flaky. You know, we're afraid that next week it'll go straight, you know, to-go only

again, or, or even a complete shutdown, you know, and that's a lot of stress because you just don't, but not knowing is what's really hard. Hard to deal with and hard to plan for.

So you feel like this situation is like very unpredictable, like in terms of like food pricing, and like whether it's going to be open or not. Yeah, are there any other ingredients besides beef that also fluctuate in prices?

Man, everything. And then not only that, like, so your vendors that are supplying like produce they're not—half the restaurants are closed, so they're not ordering as much produce. So some of the times the produce that you're getting is already going bad.

So you have to send it back. And this whole thing is disrupted, so many things that you don't really think about, just because it really affects everything.

So you just, you know, we're just trying to roll with it. Everybody's just trying to do what they can and it's tough. It's really tough. So then what are some of the most surprising things that you think your restaurant has

been impacted like in terms of a pandemic? We've had to really communicate through social media, everything that we're doing all the time. Before it was kind of like, this is what we're doing on these days of the

week. And it was kind of set, but now we feel like we have to put out something daily. Just to encourage people to come out. So like I said, everything is just so much more work.

Just doing everything that we can to communicate to our customers, what's going on, what we're offering. We're doing a bunch of new stuff, so we constantly have to put that out there.

Yeah, so I mean, that's all it is. I noticed some of some of the other restaurants that aren't doing so well, and it's because they're not doing everything they can, and that's sad because I see

some of these restaurants they're closing or they have, you know, they're shutting down, they can't afford to stay open. And I look at what they're doing and I'm like, “You could be doing more to stay open.” It's

hard for some of these people that have been doing things a certain way for so long to change, or to adjust. They just don't understand how to and and, you know, some of these old places, they have a

reputation, so they don't really know how to use social media to their best advantage. And maybe a PR firm could help them with that, but then they don't have the money to pay up a PR firm at this time. So it's, it's really tough.

It's really tough for everyone. Yeah, just really complicated. Do you feel like you've done like, a lot more your work and like social, even social experiences, done over tools like FaceTime, and maybe like, like

Zoom now? Yeah, Zoom thing’s funny. Like I said, I don't use it, and I don't use FaceTime. This is only the third interview I've ever done this way.

Yeah, 'cause it's kind of I don't know, it's uncomfortable for me, but I know that this is like, the way things are going. But yeah, it's kind of weird to be talking through your computer, I guess.

And I don't I don't even use my phone that way. But, but yeah, I mean, this is going to be the new norm for a long time. And I probably should get used to it.

But you know, I focus on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. I don't do a lot of other ones. Okay, and you feel like that's kind of increased because of the pandemic, not only,

just for work, but like in terms of your like your social life as well? Yeah, I'm constantly online with our own stuff, but not only that, I'm looking at the Independent Restaurant Coalition, finding out things because I'm new

to this. We've only been open a year and a half. And I'm new to the restaurant industry. I've been in the bar industry a long time, but I've been following other chefs and trying to learn as much as I can, how to stay relevant

and you know, keep making money and also, maybe how to help coach other people that are having a hard time. So there's a couple people that I'm constantly asking questions to and I'm just trying to learn

everything I can and what's going on in the government. They're still pushing for help. We got the PPP, they did do some– some other things. But they're trying to do a lot more.

Like I said, we're lucky enough that we're okay. But I have friends that are that are dying; their businesses are just slowly dying. And if I know something that they don't know, and I

can say like, "Hey, have you checked this out?" or "Hey, did you know that we can do this now?" Then I, you know, I try to try to help them. So like, like for instance when there was a shutdown, obviously,

we couldn't—we could only sell packaged beer and liquor so you had to sell like a kit like if you were going to sell a margarita, you couldn't make a margarita and put it in a bottle and sell it.

You had to actually sell it piece by piece, like the mixer and a bottle of tequila. Like a small bottle of tequila. And now they've changed it over the last, I

think two weeks. They've changed it that where we now actually can premix a drink, package it, and sell it. And some people don't know that because they didn't really announce it. So like we–we have draft

beer, we couldn't sell a draft beer to someone, now we can. So that all those little things help with you know, bringing in revenue obviously. And that's, it's good that the state is allowing us to do that.

So, do you feel like that's gonna maybe like, continue in the future like you feel like the future the Houston community would return back to normal, do you think those changes would like continue to stay in place? The governor has said that he liked the—he wants

to allow the alcohol-to-go thing to continue. It's a scary thought to me because there are so many drunk drivers and accidents in Texas. So that was the whole reason why they didn't do it before.

Now they're saying, like, you can buy it, but you need to keep it like in the back seat or in your trunk. So, but, you know, this is Texas, and it's walking a very dangerous

line, I think. But I'm all for it. Until they stop it, you know? 'Cause that's good for us. Yeah. So can you also share some of your most memorable

experiences from the pandemic? Probably, my most memorable thing, and it's not a positive thing. It's actually really sad. In our

shopping center, we're about four doors down, or four spaces down from Bernie's Burger Bus. And Justin Turner, the owner of Bernie's has been a friend for a long, long time. And he was actually, I don't want to

say a big reason, but it was a reason for us to come and share the same shopping center with him. Him kind of being a new concept, especially in like an older neighborhood, like the city of Bellaire.

Um, it was good to kind of have some fresh blood, some new blood, you know, new companies, new concepts. And so we thought, "Oh, this would be great because Bellaire is kind

of changing. It's kind of modernizing, and here, you got Bernie's, and they've been doing very well." And then you know, we're just a few doors

down so it's like, new kids on the block. And, and he just recently had to shut down about a month ago because it's—just different reasons but um, yeah, that that was that was hard, you know, hard to see.

Yeah, it was it like mostly pandemic related just like? Yeah, so he had—the one next to us is the original brick and mortar. And then he had opened three more over the last four years.

And when this happened, he shut all of them down and was just working out of the one next to us. And I think just just having all that obligation to those other three, he wasn't able

to cover all of his expenses. And so he just decided to just shut down for good you know, but that's, that's what's going on, I guess right now.

And, um, so how have you engaged your responses to the outbreak, whether at home or at work like a social media and like planning opening? Yeah,

we've been lucky throughout this whole process. No one's gotten sick. We stayed open the whole time. But, you know, the restaurant industry is

pretty stressful. And like, everybody here we like to go out and hang out with our friends and have a drink. And since this whole thing started, none of us have really done that. Because there's

too much to lose. I mean, especially like, one of my employees, takes care of her mother, whose health is a little fragile. I have three kids at home. So I'm not trying to get them sick.

So we all come to work and go home, and that with all this stress and, you know, anxiety and just exhaustion, you need those, you need those times to just go out and kind of release. And that's been really

frustrating not being able to do that. So then now that you have like the stay-at-home order, or any other activities that you've been doing more than before? I spend a lot more time with my kids, which is good, you know, because most of the time

during the school year, by the time I get home, they're getting ready for bed. But since they're, they pretty much have no bedtime now, I get to spend a lot more time with them. And that's, that's something that's been really

good. But even then, they're getting anxious, you know, like they miss their friends. They need some social outlet. So that's been kind of tough on them as well.

Chao Center For Asian Studies, Rice University So it's like balancing like social things and like safety. Yeah, my daughter, she chats with her friends all the time on her phone. So she's okay.

My son, he has some friends that he'll Zoom with because they used it for school. So he's kind of familiar with it. And, of course, he does things like play Fortnite.

So he's, you know, he still gets to talk to his friends. So that helps. Sure. Um, has the outbreak of the pandemic kind of change your perspective about the future and like the future of Houston?

That's the thing that some friends and I talk about all the time and we just, we know things are going to change. Restaurants are going to change. Everything is going to change, the way we live, our life is going to change but we just don't know how.

So that's the thing is just trying to stay ahead. Do you think this pandemic has revealed about the structural inequalities of our society? That's a tough one. Um, I don't know if it's, I don't know if it's, if—the timing of it all is crazy, right?

Like George Floyd could have happened at any time. But it happened during this time and especially where everybody has access to recording devices.

I think the fact that people aren't at work, so they have all day to watch the news and to watch social media. And it's almost like information overload and there's

so much skewing and distortion of the facts which just makes… you don't know what to believe sometimes. And you know, I'm a minority, you're a minority,

all these are things that I've been aware of since I was a child. It's not new to me. The good thing is that, I guess it is, people are paying

attention now and they want to be better. I mean, I tell my wife, every little bit helps. I mean, obviously, some people, it's gonna

take them from being prejudiced to even more prejudiced because it's so out there now. But it's kind of like separating. You know, and that's the bad thing that we talk about all the time is the politics.

The politicians now are really trying to divide the people, but you really see it now, you know, there are people that were kind of borderline and now they understand.

They didn't, you know, they saw it as a really a black and white thing and not as a 400-year-thing. Like "Oh, I was never a slave owner. So how does that affect me?" And

then they don't understand that systemic racism is what we're really talking about. We're not just talking about black and white. And systemic racism is applied to all people of color, not just black

people, you know, um, so, yeah, the, the awareness is great. But yeah, it's I think it's definitely putting a divide in people. But that's kind of, I guess, that kind of needs to happen.

Then, like how do you think we could come out of this pandemic and this like really difficult social situation stronger as a community, Asian American community or just Houston community? Chao Center For Asian Studies, Rice University

I think we're blessed in Houston. You know, you look at the troubles or what's going on in other cities where there isn't as much diversity, and it's a lot more hostile. There's a lot more

problems. And Houston, we, you know, we're a diverse city. And people have always embraced that and love that about Houston. So it's really hard for me as a native

Houstonian, as I was born here, to to understand what it's like to live, like in Cleveland, or, you know, somewhere in the Midwest, where you don't have that diversity to,

to grow up, like learning about other cultures, you know, and we're really lucky here in Houston. I think what you'll see in Houston hopefully, and I always say this, is to try to just be a good example in Houston so that other cities can see, hey, it works, you know, and that's,

that's really all I think about. I don't know how much things are going to change in Houston because I think we got it pretty good here. Like we had, we had the main rally for George Floyd in his home city, and no violence.

Not one single issue. And who can say that, you know, this is probably the place where it was more likely to have violence because he was a native Houstonian.

So, yeah, I mean, I think it's a great example of what can be achieved, you know, a city of this size. And the people love each other, you

know. So then what have you learned about yourself during this pandemic? That as much as I think that I do, I can do more. You know, and that's, that's like not just do more for my company but like, I want to do more for the community

for you know, especially for my friends in the restaurant industry. And I'm, I'm just trying to find the time and to try to try to reach out to people. I'm going to probably start reaching out to people to find out to get

some ideas to brainstorm how we can do more to help each other. Because unless we all get together. A lot, a lot of them will go under, and I don't

think we can look to national government. I don't even know how much we can look to state government. We can only look to each other which is hard, you know, because we're all hurting. So yeah, that's really

it. You know, just try to try to learn and see what's working in other cities with other chefs and other restaurants and try to take notes. Because there's– there are some people doing some really, really good things. And and there are some companies that are that are

donating a lot. Chef Ed Lee, has been getting donations from a lot of companies and he's doing a bunch of really cool stuff and I want to talk to him and

find out how we can do some stuff here in Houston. He did sponsor a huge event here and fed thousands of people through Riel Restaurant with donations through his company and through Maker's Mark gave

him a bunch of money. Some other people donated. But yeah, I mean that was months ago and this is still going on like everybody still needs help so we just got to figure out who to contact and who's got money.

You know. For sure, I heard that you guys did like a Mukbang to help recently? That was my brother. My brother has been doing a lot of stuff with the Chinatown scene. I don't have time for that.

I'm here at the restaurant all the time or I'm with my family. But he has more time to commit to that and along with about three or four of our friends have really gotten together to support

Chinatown and this is even before the quarantine because Chinatown was a ghost town. Once the rumors Chao Center For Asian Studies, Rice University spread and I guess the fear started getting into people.

We have a lot of friends in the restaurant industry in Chinatown and so they got together and just really tried to tell people like, “Things are safe. Come out, get some food.” And I think

it's helped, but Chinatown ,especially, is still hurting really bad. So then like how do you feel about hearing like some of the assumptions about the Asian community like being more prone to the virus and things like that? That's, that's just propaganda.

You know, and– and people are people. People that already have like a preset way of thinking, are going to think whatever they

think no matter what you try to say to them or what science says. Everybody thinks there's a conspiracy, but then you know when you have people in power pointing fingers at Asians and

it's bad because I don't want to say the wrong thing. There's a lot of propaganda out there, um, not just from the government but from um I guess other other

societies within the United States that want to skew things, disrupt society. Um, and I you know, I think– I think maybe what, maybe– maybe 75% of people blow it off like it's ignorance but there's that

25% that, that are very vocal, and that want to continue to spew hate. And you just, I don't know, I don't know if there's anything you can do about that. And have you or anyone you know, like

ever experienced that kind of like an attack? No, not at all. Um I don't know anyone that's been a victim of racial violence.

Now, I do know some people that there was some verbal abuse. That's probably going on more now. But that always kind of

that's always been going on. But I think what's worse now is that because of the economy and because of the way things are, crime is really bad. So you see people in Chinatown

or just other businesses getting broken into or people getting robbed in the parking lots. And I think that's just because of what's going on right now. People are desperate.

I think I think after this, there's going to be so many people on the streets and I don't know what they're going to do about that. Because people can't pay their rents, they're getting evicted. I mean, like I said earlier, like, this situation affects

everything. Um, there's just no way to know what it's gonna be like, five months from now. For sure. Um, so then what do you think international politics will look like after the end of this epidemic?

Do you think you'll be more peaceful or tense and to what extent? I guess that probably just depends on the election. You know, I want to be optimistic. But I really, I

think that that is still like really completely up in the air as well. For sure. Have you gone into any like serious or more fun debates during the pandemic and related to the virus? I-I don't like to get into politics and I

don't like conflict. So I said, I always just try to look at solutions and try to find solutions. I don't I don't try to argue my point or try to make a point.

That's just that's not me. Chao Center For Asian Studies, Rice University Um, what, who or where do you miss the most? I have about three or four guys that I like to hang out with

and have a drink. And like, I just don't get to see them. It's not really a particular place. It's just the company. I miss the company, you know. And every once in a while, we'll get together here at the restaurant and have a

couple drinks, but that really, it really helps. I miss being been able to take my family out to eat, because that was a big thing for us. It's just because we don't get to do it very often is to go out and have a nice dinner.

But like now, we're ordering to-go and eating at home, which is good. But you know, you kind of miss going out and sitting in a restaurant, having someone serve you and just being able to relax.

Yeah, in a different setting and people watching and all the good stuff, you know. But, we'll get back to that soon hopefully. Would you consider COVID-19 a step back for your progress made throughout the years and the

perspectives of Asian Americans? No, no, I don't think so. I don't think so. If there are positive lessons learned out of this pandemic, what are the most important ones?

Man, I don't know if there's anything I mean... that's a tough one. I don't know. I guess the positive of this is that for people that

are scared of change or or you know have a lot of anxiety for change, but they “can” change. They “can” adapt and things will be okay. Because you know a lot of people do not like

change. They are set in their ways. But I think through this, you know, this thing forces everybody to think differently and forces everybody to act differently. I think that if you can get by

throughout this and you didn't think you had the strength before, I think you've probably found out that you “can” do it. You found the strength somewhere to get through this.

So then from like the changes that you made in the pandemic, you feel like that kind of impacted your future direction of the business and anyway? Yes, because we've had to introduce a lot of new menu items that are really working out well. And it

also forces us the way we– the way we use our utilize our kitchen, like we weren't really putting out much stuff from the kitchen. In a barbecue restaurant, everything comes out of the smoke room, really.

Now probably 50% of our food comes out of the kitchen. So um, we've had to learn how to be a lot more efficient in the kitchen, and rely more on our employees to kind of step up and learn how to do some new

things and still, you know, and put out quality food. So, yeah, so moving forward, we won't stop that, you know, we'll keep doing that. So once things get back to normal, that's a whole other aspect of the business

that we weren't really doing before. Chao Center For Asian Studies, Rice University Also, like, the new menu items have created this, like increase in work in the kitchen. Okay. Yeah, 'cause like we were just really making like sandwiches and stuff back there.

Like, well, just a few sandwiches. Now we're making sandwiches, tacos, all kinds of stuff. Yeah, so during service, most of the time, we would just be prepping for the next day, but now we're actually cooking

nonstop. So um, yeah. We had to, yeah. So like, that's pretty much all for my questions. Is there anything else you'd like to share?

No, just that I'm anxious for this to be over. I said it's if there was like an endpoint then I think everybody would just feel better, you know, like because it's not that

we can't do this. It's just the not knowing. The uncertainty is just like a big weight. And you know, we're not seeing anything get better

then we look at the numbers every day and they say it's getting worse. It's getting worse, it's getting worse. But yeah, if the uncertainty was to go away, I don't you know, the the working hard and all that I

can deal with. That's just that's just part of the job. And it's not just for us, it's for everybody, for everybody's like, conscience and peace of mind. It's like the not knowing about this, and then not knowing

with the election coming up. It's just like a lot of it's a burden for everybody to carry. So, you know, the election is coming up soon and then hopefully this will be close to

ending, and, we don't even look at like places like New York and LA, or San Francisco. I think that they're still pretty much shut down. We're kind of functioning, you know, I guess 50% functioning here.

So we don't see it on a level that so many other places are seeing it. And that's that's scary too. Are you kind of nervous for like how your kids are going to go back to school day

during this? Um, I, my wife is super worried. But I keep telling her, it's only July, they still have a month try to figure things out. I don't think we're going to send them back to school yet.

It's too dangerous for them to bring something home to us and then I get it back to business. I can't do that. And as as of now, there's no

good options for school. But like I said, I think I think they still have a month and I'm gonna give them the benefit of trying to find out some better solutions. Because I think they'll be working on it until the

last day. They're talking about I guess doing half–half at home and half on campus, and even that’s scary. But hopefully, I think they still got a month to figure it out.

And I hope they come up with some some decent solutions. Also, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. Yeah, I'm sorry.

I couldn't do it sooner. It's just been really nuts. I gotta send you the you guys the pictures too. Yes, please. Chao Center For Asian Studies, Rice University The mask picture. It's just you know, the whole picture thing and video thing

is awkward for me, but I'll send it. I really appreciate it and I know you just downloaded the Zoom for this. I'm gonna keep it because I'm sure I'll need to use it again. Okay? Thank you.