VOA常速英语:A Restaurant Pivots

Im St. John Frizell.
我是St. John Frizell。
This is my restaurant Fort Defiance on Van Brunt street in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn.
这是我的餐馆Fort Defiance，位于布鲁克林红钩区Van Brunt街。
Fort Defiance opened in 2009 and we have served breakfast, lunch and dinner here for 11 years.
Fort Defiance于2009年开业，提供早餐、午餐和晚餐已经11年了。
In late March, I started to order vegetables for the store, really for myself.
三月底，我开始为店里订购蔬菜，真的是为我自己。
And I put a post on Facebook to see if any of my neighbors wanted me to get them some, too.
我在Facebook上发了个帖子，看看我的邻居是否也想让我给他们买一些。
And a lot of people responded because they were afraid to go into supermarkets at the time,
很多人都回应了，因为他们当时不敢去超市，
and online delivery was sort of a mess.
网上配送有点混乱。
So, a lot of people responded.
所以很多人都回应了。
I ordered groceries for all of us and it just kind of went from there.
我为我们每个人订了食品杂货，从那时起就开始了。
When the pandemic shut everything down,
当疫情迫使一切停摆时，
it was actually my daughter who found out that they had turned into a general store, basically.
实际上是我的女儿发现他们基本上变成了一家杂货店。
And so, I started coming over here and getting stuff for my two daughters who live in apartments, separate from us.
所以，我开始到这里来给我的两个女儿买东西，她们住在公寓里，和我们分开住。
Great salmon, eggs, you know, milk, great produce, really good avocados, lemons, limes.
美味的三文鱼、鸡蛋、牛奶、农产品、非常好的鳄梨、柠檬、酸橙。
Stuff that is running out at different moments all over the city.
这些东西会在不同的时间运到城市里来。
They seem to be able to keep a semi-steady supply of I mean, were all making do.
他们似乎能保持半稳定的供应……我是说，我们都在凑合。
There was a reason that we chose the name General Store.
我们选择杂货店这个名字是有原因的。
General stores were, you know, cornerstones of their communities all over America.
你知道，杂货店是整个美国社区的基石。
And Im hoping thats what, you know, Fort Defiance can become too.
我希望，你知道，Fort Defiance也能变成这样。
Everyones sort of doing things in a different way now,
现在每个人都在用不同的方式做事，
like our vendors, who sell us meat and fish, are used to sending us, you know, just 20-pound (9 kg) boxes of stuff,
就像卖给我们肉和鱼的小贩，习惯卖给我们每箱20磅（9公斤）的东西，
and now theyre breaking it all down and packaging it, labeling it.
现在他们把它分解包装，贴上标签。
I mean, everyone is learning how to be more consumer facing.
我的意思是，每个人都在学习如何更好地面对消费者。
You know, were all going through this together and you know,figuring it out and surviving together.
你知道，我们一起经历这些，找出问题，一起生存。
Im so happy that they are doing what theyre doing.
我很高兴他们在做他们正在做的事。
I mean, to be able to access like really nice produce, high quality fish, meats,
我的意思是，能够获得非常好的农产品、高质量的鱼、肉，
kind of do the market shopping that other neighborhoods have but we dont have in Red Hook,
就像其他社区有但红钩没有的市场购物一样，
I think it really fills a hole.
我认为它确实填补了一个空缺。
Early on, I sent out a survey to my customers, 40% of them replied to the survey.
早些时候，我给我的客户发了一份调查，40%的人回复了调查。
Were talking about hundreds of people, which is amazing.
我们说的是上百人，这太不可思议了。
And you know, in business survey terms, thats, its unbelievable.
你知道，用商业调查的术语来说，这真是难以置信。
And people wrote the nicest things in their surveys,
人们在调查中写下了最美好的东西，
and they were just, people are really rooting for us.
人们真的很支持我们。
I feel like that you know, not only are people shopping here and theyre happy to shop here,
我觉得人们不仅在这里购物而且他们很乐意在这里购物，
but theyre invested in our success now.
但他们助力了我们现在的成功。
I mean that feels great to have the, you know,the neighborhood on your side like that is really amazing feeling.
我的意思是，有这样的邻居在你身边感觉很好，真的是很奇妙的感觉。
It makes me feel like were on the right path, that were doing the right thing.
这让我觉得我们走在正确的道路上，
Every day I was getting emails, you know,thanking us for providing this service,
我每天都收到邮件，你知道的，感谢我们提供这项服务，
which seemed crazy to me because we were making money from selling these groceries,
我觉得这很疯狂，因为我们靠卖这些杂货赚钱，
but people were not only happy to pay us,
但人们不仅很乐意付钱给我们，
but they were just so thankful that we were doing it.
而且他们很感激我们这么做。
That gratitude really just kept us going and really helped to guide the path of this business.
这种感激之情让我们不断前进，也帮助我们指引了这个行业的发展道路。
Ive been coming to Fort Defiance for about five years.
我来Fort Defiance已经有五年了。
It was one of the places that when I first was considering moving to Red Hook,
这是我第一次考虑搬到红钩的地方之一，
I kind of wanted to get a vibe for the place and what would it be like to live down here.
我有点想为这个地方营造一种氛围，想知道住在这里会是什么样子。
And Fort Defiance, I think is sort of a definitely gave me the sense that there is a community,
我认为Fort Defiance绝对给了我一种社区的感觉，
that theres really good food,
那里的食物真的很好
and theres always someone amazing and interesting to get into some random, wonderful conversation with.
总有那么一些令人惊叹、有趣的人，可以和他们随意、愉快地交谈。
To be honest, Im really excited to get into the general store business.
老实说，我真的很兴奋能进入杂货店的业务。
I really like buying products to sell to my customers.
我真的很喜欢买产品卖给我的客户。
I love talking to them about it.
我喜欢和他们谈论这件事。
I love the quality of the goods that were getting here.
我喜欢我们在这里得到的货物的质量。
And honestly, theres not a business like this in the neighborhood no,
老实说，这附近没有这样的生意
and I think it could really find a permanent hold here and,
我认为它可以在这里找到一个永久的位置，
you know, be as much a part of the community as Fort Defiance was as a restaurant.
你知道，就像Fort Defiance是一家餐馆一样，它也是社区的一部分。
Water is free.
水是免费的。
Weve got milk, bones out here for dogs.
我们为狗狗准备了牛奶、骨头。
So, you know, come by and say hello.
所以，过来打个招呼吧。