Georgia Restaurants Opened Their Doors
Here’s how It went. Spread out tables, limited seating, and lots of hand sanitizer and masks; restaurants across Georgia were allowed to reopen and offer dine-in service on Monday after Governor Brian Kemp controversially eased the state’s social distancing restrictions. There are many questions left unanswered, such as what to do with menus when a customer is done using them, or how to keep chefs safe in the tight confines of a kitchen.
Crowds Pack Colleyville, Texas Restaurants
After mayor reopens patios. One day after Colleyville mayor Richard Newton issued an order allowing restaurants to serve customers on their patios, diners packed the outdoor dining spaces at popular eateries across the Tarrant County suburb. Lines and full patios were seen at restaurants like Gloria’s Latin Cuisine, Rio Mambo Tex-Mex, and Benny’s Cafe, according to WFAA. Photos snapped from this weekend indicate that many patrons weren’t following social distancing guidelines or wearing face coverings, despite a provision in Newton’s order that required that those guidelines be enforced at restaurants that chose to reopen.
NYC’s Restaurant Reopening
Could include outdoor seating on closed streets. While discussions are still in the very early stages, street closures for social distancing could also mean more outdoor restaurant seating. Outdoor seating for restaurants on shuttered streets is being considered as a strategy for reopening restaurants in the coming months. The possibility of moving restaurant seating to the streets was a question raised by a WNBC reporter at the Mayor’s press conference on Monday, an idea that de Blasio called “interesting.” The administration has “thought about it” and “begun discussions,” he said, though he added that it’s too early to unveil any plans. He went on to say that “there could be advantages to having more of it [restaurant seating] be outdoors.”
Looking to the Past
To prepare for the future. I don’t think anyone I know in the food world has ever thought about preparing for a pandemic. Having talked to dozens of colleagues around the country, we all seem to be pretty much in the same boat, struggling to answer the same questions. How do we deal with unexpectedly having to lay off dozens/hundreds/thousands of people that we’ve worked with for years? Are we providing better community service by staying open, or by closing? Can we figure out what the 900 pages of the CARES Act really mean? How does unemployment really work? What’s the difference between a furlough and a layoff? Can we survive for six months on limited menus for delivery and pickup? How long will this go on? Will it ever end? If it doesn’t end for a year, how do we handle that? If it does end, what will happen next? Just writing these questions, I can see why I — and probably most of us — have felt overwhelmed, pretty much daily, for the last few weeks.
Did You Know?
“Restaurant Rap” series doing double duty this week. Due totheexceptionally positive response received thus far, Bielat Santore & Company’s “Thursday Restaurant Rap” series is adding a second interview today. This “Tuesday Edition” features career restauranteur Alan Meinster, owner and operator of Marsillo’s Kitchen, Ewing and Rossi’s Bar & Grill in Hamilton, NJ. This series has appeared each Thursday within the company’s Restaurant Industry Alert daily bulletins. It presents recorded virtual video interviews with local restauranteurs and other industry professionals, many of whom are the firm’s clients, customers and associates.
Bankers Rebuke S.B.A.
As loan system crashes in flood of applications. The government started taking applications Monday for a further $310 billion in emergency funds, and quickly ran into technical problems. Minutes after a $310 billion aid program for small companies opened for business on Monday, the online portal for submitting applications crashed. And it kept crashing all day, much to the frustration of bankers around the country who were trying — and failing — to apply on behalf of desperate clients. Some bankers were so irritated that they vented on social media at the Small Business Administration, which is running the program.
Employee Tip
I lost my job because of the coronavirus—here’s how I’m paying my bills. I happily devoted more than 40,000 hours of my life—that’s 70 hours a week over the course of my 11-year tenure—to my employer, a catering business in Tempe, Arizona. After attending Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts in Pittsburgh, I’d worked at various bakeries, bars, restaurants, and country clubs before landing the position. Once there, I diligently climbed the ladder from pastry chef to sous chef to executive chef. Aside from absolutely loving my time in the kitchen and the leadership responsibilities of mentoring my hand-picked team, I’d also injected myself into the operational and sales sides of the business. I would have contentedly stayed there forever. On March 11, a full week before Arizona Governor Doug Ducey had even ordered the closure of all bars and restaurants statewide, I was laid off.
How remote learning is breaking parents. For the adults in the house, trying to do their own jobs while helping children with class work has become one of the most trying aspects of the pandemic. Parental engagement has long been seen as critical to student achievement, as much as class size, curriculum and teacher quality. That has never been more true than now, and all across the country, moms and dads pressed into emergency service are finding it one of the most exasperating parts of the pandemic.
Restaurant Industry Daily Alerts
A voice for our industry. If you are finding these daily bulletins informative and beneficial during this pandemic, we kindly ask that you write a brief Google review providing a vote of your appreciation. Simply Google “Bielat Santore & Company” and when the company name appears click the button on the right to write your review or; if you don’t use Gmail, go to Google Maps, type “Bielat Santore & Company” – Allenhurst, NJ into Google Maps; scroll down and you will see an option to leave a review.
Thank you and remember all of the “Restaurant Industry Alerts” and “Thursday Restaurant Rap” interviews can be found at www.123bsc.com/news/. We intend to continue to keep you informed as we all look for an end to this crisis.
