From New York City To Los Angeles, Restaurants And Bars Are Ordered Closed To Fight The Coronavirus

Across the country, millions of restaurant workers woke up Monday to find out that they no longer had jobs.

Governors and mayors ordered restaurants and bars in the nation’s biggest cities to close to dine-in patrons, in an effort to fight the spreading coronavirus.

In many cases, restaurants are limited to carry out and delivery service only, including curbside pickup.

That included the country’s two most important restaurant markets, New York City and Los Angeles, whose mayors each announced restrictions Sunday night on the way eating and drinking places could operate.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would sign an executive order on Monday limiting restaurants, bars and cafes to food takeout and delivery.

He also said nightclubs, movie theaters, small theaters and concert venues had to close, too.

The order was set to take effect at 9 am ET on Tuesday. However, that allows revelers one last night to patronize places in advance of St. Patrick’s Day, and there were calls for de Blasio to move up his declaration so that social contact could be restricted.

In Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced similar restaurant and bar restrictions, and added entertainment venues and gyms to that city’s ban. Although California’s governor said he supports restrictions across the state, he had not yet ordered them.

The steps by those mayors followed actions on Sunday in Ohio, Illinois, and Massachusetts that also limited restaurants and bars to carryout and delivery service.

On Monday, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also announced steps that would take effect at 3 pm ET.

One hold out from the dining room ban is New Orleans, home to one of the nation’s liveliest restaurant scenes.

There, Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced that restaurants had to close at 9 pm CT, and that their dining rooms had to be reconfigured to reduce the number of available seats by 50 percent.

Restaurants can offer carry out and delivery until their usual closing times. Bars are allowed to stay open until midnight, with last call at 11 pm, but are limited to half their occupancy capacity.

The restrictions on restaurants and bars are likely to stifle one of the country’s most important hospitality employers.

Restaurants are a nearly $900 billion industry, according to the National Restaurant Association. An estimated 15.6 million people work in the industry, at more than 1 million locations across the United States.

The restrictions come as restaurants hoped to be climbing out of what has been a difficult winter for many places. The first quarter is traditionally difficult for restaurants, except for a bump in business around Valentine’s Day.

Many restaurants have been looking ahead to spring, when bars fill for St. Patrick’s Day and March Madness basketball contests, now canceled by the NCAA. Restaurant business also picks up around Easter, then is strong for Mother’s Day and graduations.

But before those holidays, a number of restaurant owners are facing a more immediate problem: their responsibility to their employees, as well as the challenges in covering rent and expenses because of a reduction in business.

In Chicago, a group of independent chefs posted letters on Instagram that they had sent to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, seeking immediate relief for restaurants and their employees.

The restaurants and chefs included some of the city’s most prominent, such as Rick Bayless, Paul Kahan, and Zachary Engel, as well as beloved small establishments such as Hoosier Mama Pie Company and Floriole Cafe & Bakery.

Specifically, they asked Pritzker to:

1) Immediately support emergency unemployment benefits for all salaried and hourly workers furloughed during the crisis

2) Eliminate the payroll tax immediately

3) Call for rent and loan abatement for workers impacted by the closure of the restaurant industry.

Even before the weekend’s action, a series of the country’s most prominent chefs had already announced plans to temporarily close their restaurants.

They included Danny Meyer, the New York restaurant entrepreneur and founder of Shake Shack, chef Tom Colicchio and Grant Achatz, owner of Alinea, the Michelin three-star restaurant in Chicago, as well as a series of other establishments.

Business was already trailing off on Sunday at many restaurants around the country, as patrons decided to self-isolate or practice social distancing.