Easily the most famous Chinese restaurant in New England.
Posted on 04/04/2020 11:29:28 AM PDT by billorites
SAUGUS — With restaurants across the country forced to close their dining rooms due to the COVID-19 health crisis, Kowloon Restaurant in Saugus decided to make the best of the situation and offer to-go mixes of its most popular drinks.
Owner Bob Wong said his family’s restaurant, a community mainstay since 1950, began offering mai tai and scorpion bowl mixes last Friday after frequent requests from customers wanting to know if they could purchase alcoholic drinks with their to-go meals.
“We had so many customers coming in for takeout and they all wanted mai tais to go,” Wong said.
Although Governor Baker may soon approve a law allowing takeout sales of beer and wine for the duration of the pandemic, Massachusetts liquor laws currently prevent restaurants from selling any hard alcohol to-go, prompting Wong and his staff to come up with a creative work-around.
“Unfortunately, we can’t sell alcohol over the counter,” Wong said. “So we said ‘we’ll do the next best thing: offer the mix and tell people what alcohol to add with it.’ That’s how it got started.”
Packaged neatly in mason jars, the mixes are available at $11.95 for 32 ounces, and $6.96 for 16 ounces.
“We didn’t realize how many we were going to sell in the beginning,” Wong said, adding he initially went to one of Kowloon’s suppliers, TriMark, and purchased 120 mason jars expecting the supply to last at least a week.
“We put (the mixes) out late Friday night and sold maybe about two dozen and said, ‘oh, that’s pretty good,'” he said.
By Saturday, however, the restaurant had sold its entire inventory.
“We went so fast. It was already mid-afternoon and we’d sold out,” Wong said. “Naturally we couldn’t get any more from our supplier, so we ran around going to Walmarts and Targets in the area and bought up all their mason jars.”
After those mixes sold out, Wong and some remaining staff made a couple more batches, and he said the mixes continue to sell as customer reactions remain overwhelmingly supportive.
“It’s a fun thing, especially with today’s situation,” he said. “I think people are looking for (something) different.”
Wong said that although he understands the necessity of closing his restaurant, he still worries about the staff he’s been forced to lay off and keeps in regular contact with his employees.
“It’s tough,” he said. “My employees are itching to get back to work. I try to call a bunch of them each day just to keep in touch with them … I just hope everyone gets back to work soon.”
Easily the most famous Chinese restaurant in New England.
They are doing this in SC, too. Husband and I just got two growlers of a hefeweizen from Hans & Franz in Greenville
In Alabama the liquor stores are supposedly working everyone overtime. Theres going to be so many messed up people on dope and booze during this thing. Geeze...imagine the insanity of a tweaker thats on lockdown.
Their Scorpion Bowls are the bomb!
Since the states aren’t making as much off the fuel taxes, they hope to get some back off the booze and grass taxes.
Good on them. American business knows how to survive.
We live in the Peoples Republic of NYS. Hubs is afraid to order anything to go as he believes those working in restaurants and retail in general RESENT the fact that they are “essential” and can’t stay home playing vid games, thereby likely to spit in the food, etc.
Chinese food from The Karloon is fantastic. I now living in Florida and the Chinese food here is terrible.
I work at Ace Hardware and sales of mason jars have skyrocketed. One restaurant nearby is using them to deliver margaritas.
Decor reminds me of Trader Vic’s (SF Bay Area).
Howie Carr speaks well of the Kowlon Restaurant.
Howie and the Kowloon have an "arrangement."
About 20 years back, a Boston based restaurant chain called Weylu's built a mammoth Chinese restaurant in Saugus just down Route 1 from Kowloon's on a hill. It lasted maybe 5 years and they had to shut down. Just couldn't compete with Kowloons.
Kowloon is served to the VIP’s who visit the Howie Carr show. Great Food!
They ought to be catering functions at the White House.
Maybe when the Pope visits.
Howie Carr speaks of the Kowloon often...I wonder if there’s some kind of sponsorship thing going. I’m not a fan of Chinese food and I don’t drink...but if they can pull in paying customers more power to them.
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