Murphy Uncorks Bad News for New Year’s Eve Partying
N.J.’s indoor bar, restaurant curfew unlikely to change. Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday he doesn’t expect to lift New Jersey’s curfew on indoor bars and restaurants meant to try and slow the spread of the coronavirus in time for New Year’s Eve. Indoor food and alcohol sales are prohibited indoors after 10 p.m. in the state, and counties and municipalities have the option to shutter nonessential businesses as early as 8 p.m. daily. The rules, which Murphy put into effect last month, mean this New Year’s celebrations won’t be held inside neighborhood bar or restaurant.
Indoor Dining in NJ in No Danger of Closing
N.J.’s indoor bar, restaurant curfew unlikely to change. Gov. Phil Murphy has no plans to shutter indoor dining in New Jersey, he said at Monday’s press conference. This announcement comes after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo closed indoor dining in New York City, in an order that took effect Monday. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has also banned indoor dining in Pennsylvania through the holidays. Murphy said he has great respect for Cuomo and Wolf, but “that doesn’t mean we move in lockstep.” There is no data to support that indoor dining has significantly contributed to the spread of COVID-19, Murphy said. People who take off their masks inside a restaurant to eat do take on an increased risk of getting or spreading the virus, he said. But he added, “Do we see substantial indoor spread related to [dining indoors]? And the answer is, we don’t.”
Dozens of Pennsylvania Restaurants and Gyms Remain Open
As health secretary begs businesses: ‘work with us.’ Two days after a new slate of business closure orders went into effect, dozens of Pennsylvania restaurants and gyms remain open to indoor service, either openly or covertly defying the governor’s measures aimed at containing the surge of COVID-19 hospitalizations. Diners, fitness studios, and bars from Pittsburgh to Bucks County have told employees and customers they are ignoring Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration’s most recent order, which took effect Saturday and banned indoor operations among restaurants, gyms, casinos, and theaters through Jan. 4. While there’s no official count of businesses flouting the rules, dozens of restaurants and gyms have posted on social media that they’re open indoors, some because they oppose the governor’s mitigation efforts that control business operations, others because they say they refuse to lay off employees amid the holiday season.
Congressional Leaders Add Stimulus Checks to $900 Billion Relief Package
As they near deal. Congressional leaders are near an agreement to add a new round of stimulus checks to a roughly $900 billion relief package as they rush to complete a deal before the end of the week, according to three people familiar with the talks granted anonymity to share internal deliberations. A bipartisan proposal released earlier this week by a group of moderate lawmakers excluded another round of $1,200 stimulus checks. But as congressional leaders tried to resolve differences in recent days, they decided to try and include a round of direct payments in the emerging legislation. They are rushing to complete a deal because they must pass a new spending bill Friday night at midnight in order to avoid a government shutdown.
Restaurant Industry Pushes for Priority
On having its workers vaccinated. The National Restaurant Association is pressing federal and state officials to remember that employees are regarded as essential workers and should be high on the list of recipients. Restaurant-industry advocates are pressing federal and state officials to classify foodservice employees as one of the groups that should get early access to the COVID-19 vaccine, arguing that the individuals have been designated as essential workers and expected to risk their personal safety to provide Americans with meals. “We’ve certainly asked for that, with a lot of the work we’ve done in Washington and certainly within the states,” Tom Bene, CEO of the National Restaurant Association, said during the Restaurant Recovery Summit, a virtual event where industry executives share their strategies and tactics for weathering the pandemic. “We continue to suggest that, as an important industry, those workers should be part of the food-supply-chain workforce that gets vaccinated early.”
Just When Restaurants Thought 2020 Couldn’t Get Any Worse
Now, indoor dining has been taken away again. Most New York City restaurants, if they followed the rules and adapted to the pandemic, have been able to serve seated customers for a total of about nine months this year. The blanket shutdown is a little bit of a betrayal.” Mr. Cuomo undermined his case for a citywide shutdown when he acknowledged that restaurants and bars accounted for less than 2 percent of new Covid cases, while saying that “74 percent of new cases are coming from household gatherings and living room spread.” For diners, those of us who don’t work in restaurants but merely appreciate them and, as money permits, try to keep them in business, all this means that winter may be even more grim than the lockdown this spring.
Supreme Court Sides with NJ Religious Leaders
Over COVID restrictions. The Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with two New Jersey religious leaders who accused Gov. Phil Murphy of violating their religious freedoms during the pandemic. Rev. Kevin Robinson, of St. Anthony of Padua church, and Rabbi Yisrael Knopfler argued Murphy’s executive orders limiting religious services and allowing large crowd gatherings in indoor and outdoor public places were unconstitutional. Two lower courts had ruled in Murphy’s favor, but on Tuesday, the leaders deemed the Supreme Court’s move a victory for religious institutions. “We are getting a very clear message from the United States Supreme Court that government cannot set up any rules that apply to places of worship, or worship activities, but not to other, comparable secular activities,” their attorney Christopher Ferrara told The Bergen Record. “This is the very crux of religious discrimination and a blatant abuse of the United States Constitution and its amendments.”
Court Considering When Theaters May Reopen in N.Y.
Alongside Churches Both religion and theatre implicate the exercise of First Amendment rights, and the prioritization of religious events over secular artistic events that enjoy First Amendment free speech protection raises potentially thorny questions. Eight individually-owned “small venue theaters” {which have a median capacity of 144 seats} located in Manhattan seek preliminary and permanent injunctive relief preventing the defendants—Governor Cuomo, the New York Attorney General, and Mayor de Blasio—from enforcing Executive Order (“EO”) 202.3, which compelled New York’s theaters, among other enterprises, to cease operations indefinitely to hall the transmission of Covid-19. The plaintiffs argue that their equal protection rights are being violated because these artistic venues must remain closed, while EO 202.45 now permits “restaurants, catering halls, gyms, casinos, and shopping malls” to open subject to limited capacity and other social distancing requirements.
Many Restaurants are in the Brink of Closing
Here’s how to help them stay afloat. Thousands of restaurants have closed since March, but there are things we can do now to help struggling bars and eateries survive the pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic has been incredibly damaging for the restaurant industry in the United States: The National Restaurant Association estimates that at least 17% of the country’s food service establishments have already shuttered, with 10,000 restaurants having closed their doors in just the past three months. Experts in the industry estimate that restaurants will continue to suffer throughout the next few months, even as vaccinations begin across the country. It really takes a conscious effort to put restaurants at the top of our minds and realize how much they need us to ensure they’ll be here many months from now.
3 Lessons for Restaurants
Looking to the future. While the pandemic has been devastating for restaurants, it has also shined a spotlight on the ingenuity and resilience of the restaurant community. Think about new revenue streams. Restaurants have gotten creative in order to survive the last several months, from adding meal kits and selling groceries to charging for virtual cooking classes. As a result, some restaurants have found success with new offerings that rival their pre-pandemic revenue. Find new ways to connect with your customers. Adding new offerings, particularly building out a digital presence, has allowed businesses to have even more touchpoints with customers — while still being contactless. Invest in technology for the future — not just for the pandemic. Even when it’s safe for customers to go back to dining at restaurants, there are new expectations and opportunities that have accelerated as a result of the pandemic.
Former Bartenders Damien Diaz and Othon Nolasco are Feeding 1,300 Families
Of undocumented restaurant workers left jobless by the pandemic. Damian Diaz and Othón Nolasco launched No Us Without You, a nonprofit feeding 1,300 families of undocumented restaurant workers in Los Angeles, after the pandemic upended the restaurant industry. While many undocumented workers have taxes taken out of their paychecks, they are not eligible for unemployment benefits — leaving them even more vulnerable. Diaz and Nolasco distribute 130,000 pounds of food a week, even donating turkeys, Christmas trees, and new toys to make the holidays special for the families. “There’s something that we’re trying to uphold besides just food security, and that’s the family’s dignity and their pride,” Nolasco said.
Did You Know?
Restaurant sales fell for the second consecutive month. Restaurant sales plunged 4% in November, and a majority of operators expect business conditions to worsen during the winter months. Restaurant sales fell sharply for the second consecutive month in November, as business conditions for the industry continue to deteriorate. Eating and drinking places* registered sales of $53.2 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis in November, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Census Bureau. That was down $2.2 billion (or 4%) from October’s volume of $55.4 Billion and represented the industry’s lowest monthly sales total since July. This means the restaurant sales recovery has not only stalled, but that the industry has likely fallen into a double-dip recession. Eating and drinking place sales remain more than $12 billion – or 19% – below their pre-coronavirus levels in January and February.
Employee Tip
Congressional leaders add stimulus checks to $900 billion relief package as they near deal Congressional leaders are near an agreement to add a new round of stimulus checks to a roughly $900 billion relief package as they rush to complete a deal before the end of the week, according to three people familiar with the talks granted anonymity to share internal deliberations. A bipartisan proposal released earlier this week by a group of moderate lawmakers excluded another round of $1,200 stimulus checks. But as congressional leaders tried to resolve differences in recent days, they decided to try and include a round of direct payments in the emerging legislation. They are rushing to complete a deal because they must pass a new spending bill Friday night at midnight in order to avoid a government shutdown.
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