Tulkoff Food Products About UsNews & EventsNews2020July16

Pandemic’s Headache for Managers: Downs, Ups and … Now What?

For a Baltimore condiment maker with 100 workers, “it’s been a roller coaster” trying to plan for what comes next.

By Nelson D. Schwartz

Phil Tulkoff’s family has owned a Baltimore condiment company for more than 90 years, and he’s uneasy. Not because business at Tulkoff Food Products is bad — he lived through that this spring — but because it is suddenly good.

“I don’t know what to expect,” said Mr. Tulkoff, the company’s president, who employs about 100 workers. “I watch the news and think it has to go down again.”

After a slump in April and May prompted a shutdown of three of four production lines at his factory near the Port of Baltimore, demand roared back in June as restaurants and retailers hungered for products like minced garlic, horseradish and cocktail sauce, which are among Tulkoff Food’s most popular offerings.

Mr. Tulkoff is grateful for the rebound, but his apprehension is shared by thousands of other business owners: While sales have returned to healthy levels, the surge in coronavirus cases in many parts of the country threatens the comeback.

To read the full article, click here: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/16/business/economy/company-reopening-coronavirus.html?searchResultPosition=1