The coronavirus won’t stop Frisko Freeze from filling Tacoma’s belly

“We’re staying alive.”

That’s not exactly the sentiment you want to hear from a 70-year-old institution, but alas — the coronavirus does not prefer established restaurants over newcomers, or vice versa.

Frisko Freeze didn’t have a dining room to close, but the shutdown of bars and restaurants has affected its business nonetheless.

The throngs of late-night barhoppers have ceased. Where large orders of multiple doubles and singles usually fill the grill inside the iconic restaurant on Division Street in Tacoma on Friday and Saturday nights, the cooks have headed home by 11 p.m. Sometimes they’re out by 9 p.m.

“We’re not getting that bar rush,” said Ian Beritich, the general manager and heir to the Frisko Freeze throne. He started as a prep cook 19 years ago, working his way from the grill to the fryer to cashier to manager.

He’s never experienced this kind of question mark.

“The hardest part is how to approach something we’ve never approached,” he told The News Tribune last week. “It’s so hard to gauge everything. We just have to adjust with the times.”

Assistant manager Chris Matuska was thankful to continue working.

“I know a lot of us are scared to not have a job,” he told The News Tribune last week. “We didn’t know if we were going to or not. But we take it day by day and make sure all of our employees are still here and healthy.”

The staff continues to serve a decent flow of customers for lunch and dinner, but everyone is working fewer hours. They always cook for plenty of nearby hospital workers, but, said Beritich, “You notice it more now.”

The loss of event traffic from the Tacoma Dome or McMenamin’s, from the nearby Tacoma Little Theater or downtown venues, from hotels that recommend Frisko Freeze as a must-visit: people just are not out and about.

Springtime usually eases the crew into the “very busy time” of summer, but the cherry blossoms and chirping birds tease us all.

“The weather always affects us,” said Beritich, but the repercussions seem harsher now. A recent day of rain and hail and sun and hail was “one of the slowest days we’ve had in a really long time.”

People still want their Frisko Freeze, though pickup is your only option. Beritich said he has considered signing with Uber Eats but has “always been kind of hesitant” to deal with any third-party delivery because they have a tendency to post menus without the restaurant’s permission, sowing confusion for customers — and irking owners.

At lunchtime last Thursday, a chilly and cloudy spring day, eight cars lined up in the parking lot, the last one just barely squeezing into line. One car pulled into a parking spot to walk up to the window instead of idling.

A mother and her two daughters visited to celebrate a birthday. A farmer from Eatonville treated his friend to a burger after running an errand in Tacoma. One young woman was recently introduced to Frisko by a friend and, pandemic or not, now she’s “obsessed.”

The average order takes 10 minutes to complete, said Beritich, and can reach a half-hour.

On the busiest days — namely the anniversary parties held every five years — that wait time jumps to an hour or more. During the last one, singles were a buck, doubles $2 and sodas $0.25.

“That grill was just pumping,” said Beritich of the 2015 event.

He already planned most of the festivities for this year’s 70th anniversary party in July, hoping to block off the parking lot again to make room for tables and chairs, a band, and Frisko Freeze art and swag.

What happens in July will have to wait until July.

“We’re still trying to work through all of this like everyone else is,” said Matuska, “because everybody’s gotta eat.”

Beritich agreed: “The motto — and everyone’s motto: one day at a time. We’ve slowed down, but we’re staying alive.”