CHEW GOTTA HAVE A PLAN!
Eateries urge reopen before winter hits
The winter of restaurant coowner Stephen Oliver’s discontent lies ahead — unless indoor dining reopens across New York City.
Oliver, speaking Thursday outside his Brooklyn eatery Chadwick’s, called for the state to loosen its coronavirus restrictions on indoor dining across the five boroughs before the cold weather arrives or run the risk of losing up to 80% of its restaurants.
“If they don’t open up for the winter, I don’t see many of the restaurants surviving,” said Oliver, 58, who took over at the restaurant on Third Ave. in Bay Ridge more than three decades ago. “In the last 3 to 5 years the restaurant business has become tougher than ever. The margins were tight to begin with.”
Oliver was joined by Councilman Justin Brannan and state Sen. Andrew Gournardes in calling for the city and the state to issue immediate guidance on reopening indoor dining before the fall gives way to winter.
“We’re not demanding ‘Right now, open for brunch,’” said Gournardes about the current situation, where suburban restaurants are already welcoming diners inside. “We’re demanding a plan. It seems so inconsistent and arbitrary that you can travel 18 miles from this very spot and dine indoors. But you can’t go 18 feet inside this restaurant and have the same meal. Why is that?”
The appeals came as the ongoing Albany-Big Apple food fight over the city’s restaurants grew even messier.
Gov. Cuomo snubbed longtime frenemy, Mayor de Blasio, when asked Thursday about a reopening timetable, instead announcing plans to contact Council Speaker Corey Johnson about a plan. And Cuomo suggested the city needs to step up its social-distancing compliance and enforcement before indoor dinner reservations are once again OK.
“My opinion is they should open,” said Cuomo. “The question is how. If Speaker Johnson wants to say we’ll have a dedicated task force of NYPD officers who will do this, and if the size of the task force matches what we need to monitor, I’m open to that.”
De Blasio, despite the latest barbs from upstate, assured reporters he was “totally at peace” about the city ’s COVID-19 response. And he simply shrugged off Cuomo’s call to Johnson.
“I’m not going to comment on whatever the governor says on any given day,” said de Blasio. “I’m not going to engage in that. Let’s get to the work of what is healthy and safe for New Yorkers.”
Oliver said outdoor dining, while helpful, remains dependent on the whims of the weather gods. Rain or a heatwave or flash floods can wreak havoc on the alfresco service. And he worries about the effects of winter weather on the business if he loses outdoor seating and can’t operate at 50% capacity at his 108-seat restaurant.
Fellow restaurant owner Jumana Bishara runs Tanoreen, a highly regarded Bay Ridge Middle Eastern eatery, with her mother. She said a plan for the future was essential for the businesses, their employees and their customers.
Outdoor dining, while better than nothing, still meant operating at a lesser capacity of customers with a smaller staff in recent weeks. And there’s the extra work and aggravation for all.
“Carrying furniture in and out twice a day is not easy,” she said. “Working with a mask on in 90-degree humid weather is not easy.”
Even with a negotiated rent reduction and the outdoor dining option, the whole summer was a struggle, said Bishara.
“We are sustaining ourselves,” she said. “We are able to employ our people, able to pay some of our rent and our utilities. We’re behind, and we’re barely breaking even.”
“If our small businesses die, our economic recovery will be over before it even begins,” she added. “There’s no question about that.”