Jersey Shore Beaches to Open
With restrictions during coronavirus outbreak. Beaches along the Jersey Shore and lakes throughout New Jersey will be open with some restrictions this summer as the state continues to grapple with the coronavirus outbreak, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Thursday, a little more than week from Memorial Day weekend. Beaches and lakefronts must limit the amount of visitors given access so people can properly socially distance. Families and households are allowed to cluster together, but otherwise people need to be six feet apart, the governor said. The opening goes into effect May 22.
The Great Jersey Shore Take-Out
Last month, The Great Jersey Shore Take-Out became a huge success, with restaurants across the area banding together to help restaurant employees, so many of whom depend on the normal eat-in business for their livelihoods. On Sunday, May 17th, just order take-out from a participating restaurant. All proceeds from the day will go to restaurant employees. Here’s the list as of this writing:
McLoone Reopens 7 Restaurants
50 percent capacity won’t cut it. As of Wednesday, New Jersey restaurateur Tim McLoone is reopening all seven of his restaurants in New Jersey: Robinson Ale House (with locations in Red Bank and Asbury Park), Rum Runner in Sea Bright, CJ McLoone’s in Tinton Falls, Iron Whale in Asbury Park, McLoone’s Pier House in Long Branch and McLoone’s Boathouse in West Orange will reopen for takeout and curbside pick-up only, as per state law. They will also sell mixed drinks to go. But the going will not be easy from here. “As it is right now, we won’t make it to January, not if we can only reopen at 25 or 50 percent seating capacity.”
Restaurants Fear Loans Won’t Bring Relief
Unforgivable? Restaurants owners across the U.S. are worried that a loan from the government’s coronavirus relief program could wind up being a burden instead of a blessing. The Paycheck Protection Program has disbursed more than 4.3 million loans worth more than half a trillion dollars to small businesses in about six weeks. A PPP loan can be forgiven if owners spend the money within eight weeks of receiving it and put at least 75% of it toward employees’ pay and the rest toward rent, mortgage interest and utilities. Restaurant owners may be getting some help from Congress. A bill introduced by House Democrats Tuesday would give small businesses including restaurants more options and breathing room in using their loan proceeds. The House bill would allow business owners to use their loan money for whatever bills they need to cover. The bill would also give businesses 24 weeks or until Dec. 31, whichever is earlier, to spend the money.
Wisconsinites Head Out to Bars
After state stay-at-home orders lifted. After the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the state’s stay-at-home order, which immediately lifted restrictions on businesses and gatherings, some bars opened their doors (and taps) Wednesday night as patrons began trickling out. The ruling applied to Gov. Tony Evers’ statewide order to lock down Wisconsin amid the public health emergency of the coronavirus pandemic. Evers intended to keep the order in place until May 26. However, localities are still imposing and extending their own stay-at-home orders, meaning not all businesses in the state may immediately open.
How to Save Restaurants
Meet “the Airbnb and Match.com of Food”. Let’s say you go onto Grubhub, see that there is a new franchise in town called The Captain’s Boil, and order a shrimp basket for delivery. Score! But here is what you don’t see: The Captain’s Boil may not have a restaurant in your town. Your lunch was actually made inside a Ruby Tuesday. This is magic of Franklin Junction, which bills itself as a mixture of Airbnb and Match.com — but for restaurants. The platform finds kitchens with extra capacity and matches them with brands that want to expand into new locations. It was conceived of by Aziz Hashim, founder and managing partner of NRD Capital, which owns more than 700 franchise units in North America. He launched it in January, and originally intended it for his own stores (including The Captain’s Boil and Ruby Tuesday). But once COVID-19 damaged the restaurant industry, he opened the platform up to any brand, and is now working with Nathan’s Famous and exploring other partnerships.
Did You Know?
“Restaurant Rap” continues with exclusive restaurant industry interviews. Today’s “Restaurant Rap” features an interview with restauranteur, owner and operator of Old Man Rafferty’s Restaurants in New Brunswick and Hillsborough, New Jersey; Mark Jakuboski. Mark has been in the restaurant business for over 40 years. Tune in as he describes the changes, he has made in is restaurants and the changes he foresees for the industry going forward. This series appears 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.
All previously recorded interviews can also be found at our website www.123bsc.com/news/ and on at https://vimeo.com/bielatsantore.
Employee Tip
A plan for a compensation fund for essential workers and their families was just announced by a bipartisan group in the House and Senate. Democratic and Republican lawmakers unveiled on Thursday a plan to provide a compensation fund for essential workers and their families who have become ill or died from the coronavirus. The “Pandemic Heroes Compensation Act” would provide compensation to essential workers across a variety of industries, including grocery, retail, delivery, transit, janitorial services, healthcare, and other jobs whose workers have responded to the pandemic. It would also account for family members who became ill or died because of an essential worker in their family.
Bielat Santore & Company – Restaurant Industry Daily Alerts
New restaurant industry survey. Bielat Santore & Company is conducting an online survey of restaurant owners and operators throughout the NY-NJ-PA metropolitan area, inquiring about the challenges the industry is facing during COVID-19 pandemic.
The firm will donate $1 dollar for every valid survey response it receives to the Independent Restaurant Coalition (IRC). The Independent Restaurant Coalition was formed to save the local restaurants affected by COVID-19. “Our firm is committed to working with the active community of restauranteurs and hospitality operators, many of whom are our clients, to help with the rescue and reopening of their industry,” states Richard Santore, Partner in Bielat Santore & Company.
You can find the survey on the company’s website at www.123bsc.com/news/ and Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/123BSC/ . In addition to the company’s monetary donation, if enough survey responses are received, Bielat Santore & Company will publish a comprehensive report compiling the results of the survey for distribution.
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.
