Local restaurant chain to add groceries to its menu during shutdown

Fusian restaurants in the Dayton, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Toledo areas on Thursday will start delivering groceries along with its own menu items. The delivery is available on online orders only — Fusian is not accepting in-person orders in its restaurants.

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Restaurant supply warehouses in the Miami Valley and elsewhere in Ohio are filled with perishable inventory ordered in anticipation of robust bar and restaurant business tied to NCAA basketball and St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in restaurants and bars — but all were canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak, Stephan Harman, an Oakwood native and co-founder of Fusian, said today, March 18.

Because most of these restaurant-supply warehouses do not stock grocery stores, the inventory could go to waste, Harman said. Meanwhile, grocery stores have been inundated with shoppers who are sweeping the shelves clean of some items so quickly that some grocery companies have had to shorten store hours.

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Fusian’s solution: deliver groceries along with its own sushi rolls and bowls and other menu items.

Vegetables such as avocados, cucumbers, red onions, bell peppers, scallions, pineapple, white rice and more will be available for same-day delivery from all three Dayton-area Fusian restaurants and the chain’s seven other locations statewide, Harman said. Delivery will be made by Fusian’s fleet of delivery drivers and by third-party delivery drivers, he said. The delivery fee will be $1.

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“We’re leveraging our own online ordering platform,” Harman said. “This is a unique opportunity to get produce and food supplies into people’s homes.

Fusian diligently follows CDC guidelines and local health department sanitation codes, Harman said. “This produce has far fewer hands touching it than what you buy in grocery stores,” the Fusian co-founder said.

There is a possibility Fusian will add groceries such as eggs and dairy items to the delivery menu, Harman said.

For more information, go to Fusian.com.