New ways to work: G&J transitions to curbside service

G&J Land and Marine has added a subsidiary for its company to meet the needs of the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company has rolled out G&J Curbside, a pickup delivery service to serve the community who is trying to buy groceries while staying safe.
G&J Vice President Erik Lind said the day after Gov. John Bel Edwards issued his stay-at-home mandate in late March, the company’s phones began to ring from community members asking about the company’s products and services.
G&J, whose primary focus has been as a grocer for the offshore oil industry since it was founded in 1964, wanted to help the community while continuing to service its offshore needs, Lind said.
As more customers began calling, Lind said it began to tie up phone lines that typically were meant for the offshore industry, so the company adjusted.
Initially, the company developed a spreadsheet that was sent to the public to use as a guide, and they could submit orders online. However, because many people use Apple electronic devices, Lind said it wasn’t compatible with their devices, so the spreadsheets were essentially useless.
So Lind turned to a friend, David Barousse, who owns a local web design company, to develop a website.
“He started working feverishly,” Lind said. “He did it in two and a half weeks. We launched the website last Thursday.”
Wednesday, the company held a St. Mary Parish Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting to celebrate the new subsidiary.
The subsidiary’s website, https://gjcurbside.com/, allows customers to take care of all of their shopping needs. Orders can be sent to order@gjcurbside.com.
While all of this work was being done to serve the community, it soon took on a new role for the company.
“In the process of doing this, sometime in the end of April, the oil prices collapsed to negative, and our traditional market suffered tremendously,” Lind said. “In that same week, we lost a lot of volume due to production platforms shutting down, so now the curbside is not only to serve our community, to continue to help our community, but now it’s becoming (a means) to help save jobs here at G&J until our market recovers.”
The curbside pickup service is available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and on weekends from 8 a.m. until 9:30 a.m.
“There’s three slots, 15 minutes per slot available,” Lind said.
If orders are placed during business hours, Lind said customer reps will respond immediately and arrange a pickup time. If orders are sent after hours, customers should be notified the next day at 8 a.m. with details for pickup. Pickups can be done on the same day orders are taken or on the following day.
Lind said it’s a good feeling to help the community during this time.
“It feels good to definitely help the community at this time, especially when the community came to us,” Lind said. “It kind of got us (by surprise), because it wasn’t even on our mind that this was going to happen 55 days ago. Not at all, and now the initiative to expand it and make it more user friendly and have a little more products for the community is fun for us. It’s keeping some people busy here that otherwise wouldn’t be busy, so it’s helping to save jobs now, and that’s awesome, too. So it’s a win-win.”
As for how long the service will continue once things return to normal, Lind said he would let the community determine that.
“We’ll keep it going as long as they keep ordering,” he said. “If it stops, it stops, and we’ll shut it down. It’s up to the community.”