Restaurant Owners Beg Murphy to Let Them Reopen
New Jersey Restaurant & Hospitality Association holds press conference with restaurant owners. Their dining rooms closed since March, New Jersey’s restaurant owners on Friday implored Gov. Phil Murphy to allow them to reopen, starting with outdoor dining. “Every day that goes by is literally a missed opportunity,” said Chris Wood, owner of Woody’s Ocean Grille in Sea Bright. “Every day missed; we lose another business. It’s time to act now before we lose anybody else.” At a parking lot press conference outside of Wood’s restaurant, the New Jersey Restaurant & Hospitality Association asked Murphy to allow outdoor dining starting June 5, matching the actions in neighboring states.
Gopal Stands with NJ Restaurant & Hospitality Association and Garden State Restaurants
Calls for Immediate guidelines on outdoor dining and concrete roadmap toward permitting indoor dining within the coming weeks. Senate Majority Conference Leader Vin Gopal (D-Monmouth) today joined the New Jersey Restaurant and Hospitality Association in calling on Governor Murphy to immediately lift the statewide prohibition on outdoor commercial dining and issue a concrete roadmap toward permitting indoor dining within the coming weeks. “I stand with all the restaurateurs today who are making their voices heard. Out of respect in making sure this press conference by restaurants stays non-political, I will not attend but am issuing my strong support in this statement. Hundreds of restaurants have already gone out of business, and it is clear that we must make real, swift moves forward to allow those remaining to open up before it’s too late.”
How Does New Jersey Plan to Life Restrictions?
What does a responsible and strategic restart of New Jersey’s economy look like? On March 9, Governor Murphy declared both a state of emergency and a public health emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, to stop the spread of COVID-19 and to save lives, Governor Murphy issued New Jersey’s stay-at-home Executive Order, which has been in effect since March 21. On May 18, Governor Phil Murphy unveiled a multi-stage approach to execute the responsible and strategic economic restart to put New Jersey on the road back to recovery from COVID-19. The multi-stage blueprint, guided by the Governor’s Restart and Recovery Commission and complementary Advisory Councils, plans for a methodical and strategic reopening of businesses and activities based on level of disease transmission risk and essential classification.
Rebuilding America
What to expect when South Jersey restaurants reopen. Collingswood Mayor Jim Maley spent the last two decades working with local officials to attract independent restaurants to the borough, turning it into South Jersey’s top dining destination. Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, the tree-lined town packed more than 30 restaurants into 1.9 square miles, including some Philly offshoots (Sabrina’s Cafe, Circle Thai) and some rivaling the city’s top offerings (Hearthside, Zeppoli). When Gov. Phil Murphy banned dining in restaurants in March in response to the pandemic, the borough quickly created drive-up zones for customers safely grab curbside takeout — and many restaurants adapted. But as New Jersey begins to re-emerge from its months-long lockdown, the question becomes — what’s next for South Jersey restaurants?
These Are the Ways the CDC Wants Your Favorite Restaurant
To look totally different. As restaurants and bars start to slowly open back up around the country, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) released a list of guidelines for eating establishments to follow in order to ensure safety—and lower the risk of coronavirus. In their published restaurant guidelines, the CDC was very clear that these considerations are meant to “supplement—not replace—any state, local, territorial, or tribal health and safety laws, rules, and regulations with which businesses must comply.” This means that the states and local officials still have a say in how these businesses are run, while the CDC provides restaurants with a set of guidelines to ensure the safety and health of customers and employees.
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Will Restaurants Feel Like Hospital Cafeterias in The Future?
Chefs struggle to bring dining out back. Former “Top Chef” contestant Carrie Baird’s new restaurant was open for just seven days when the coronavirus outbreak prompted health officials to order an immediate halt to in-person dining across Colorado. She was still finessing the menu at Rose’s Classic Americana, including her signature Fancy Toast, when she was forced to close. Now, she’s trying to figure out how to reopen as health rules relax and diners begin returning to restaurants across the country. For many Americans tired of baking sourdough and eating their own cooking, those restaurants reopening in the coming weeks will look different than before. A study by reservation service OpenTable indicated that as many as 25% of restaurants nationally may never reopen, the victim of razor-thin margins even under the best of times.
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Did You Know?
Our favorite restaurants, in recipes. Go traveling in your mind as you cook this evening. Pete Wells has a fine reverie in The Times today about restaurants and our memories of them, of particular dishes at particular times at particular tables or seats at the bar. It’s an essay to accompany a collection of recipes and stories we’ve gathered from restaurants across the United States, recipes, he writes, that are like postcards from another time: “The time before this, when you could just take a subway, a taxi, a ferry or a plane without thinking twice, and when you could arrive wherever you were going and walk down a street where the lights were on and the doors were open.”
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Employee Tip
Can you collect unemployment if you have a side business? Whether you have a business alongside your day job or you work for yourself full time, your side hustle can be both a blessing and a curse. If you’re one of the millions of Americans who are out of a job as a result of the coronavirus crisis, you can apply for unemployment insurance. But if you have a side business or are self-employed, your unemployment benefits might not be as high as those of other types of workers. While unemployment insurance is temporary, your benefits might be murky if you have a side job. Here’s what to expect if you have your own small business and you’re looking to collect unemployment.
Bielat Santore & Company – Restaurant Industry Daily Alerts
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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.
How to market your restaurant for sale during the coronavirus pandemic. Of course, it will be challenging to market and sell businesses that have temporarily been shuttered during the pandemic, because valuations are based on historical financial data. However, whether you choose to reopen your business or not, owners can still position them for sale. So, what should you do if you want to sell in the next 6 – 12 months? Contact a good business broker that specializes in the sale of hospitality real estate and businesses. Bielat Santore & Company, Allenhurst, NJ has been brokering such sales for over 40 years and will be able to help you come up with flexible deal structures and capital sources to make a sale possible; call for a free consultation – 732.531.4200.
