New York City

Restaurateurs’ hesitation is understandable. New York City began enforcing vaccine mandates in restaurants in September. Since then, according to a poll by the New York State Restaurant Association, which got 125 responses, most restaurants have experienced negative repercussion.

More than 90% have had customer-facing challenges, such as customers refusing to dine there, hesitating to present proof, canceling events or screaming at employees.

More than 75% have had staff issues, such as workers refusing to get vaccinated and having to be placed on leave and staff being spread too thin to enforce the mandate.

A majority of respondents, 57.6%, reported business worsened significantly. Another 19.2% reported business worsened a little. Less than 7% reported business improving and 16.8% said business was the same.

Like CRA, New York’s restaurant association dislikes mandates. “The mandate is a burden on an industry that cannot bear anymore. New York City must find alternatives instead of relying on already taxed business owners and their staffs,” said Melissa Fleischut, president and CEO of NYSRA. “City government should work to support restaurants during this time, not continue to add to their plight.”

Still, others are waiting to see how this infection spike plays out. Zach Shuman, vice president of operations and partner at The Bean Restaurant Group, which includes Union Kitchen and Wurst Haus in West Hartford, said he would comply if the town issued a mandate, but he doesn’t plan to do it now.

“I’m actually kind of shocked that New York City has had it for four or five months and it’s not in West Hartford yet,” Shuman said. “But I think people want to watch how it turns out before making that kind of a decision. Maybe it will go down in the next two or three weeks.”