Weck’s defies new shutdown, stays open
Other N.M. restaurants form coalition to protest what they see as governor’s overreach
New Mexico restaurants took to social media and one Santa Fe eatery even defied Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s latest health order Monday as operators throughout the state voiced their anger at the suspension of dine-in service during the COVID-19 crisis.
Restaurants around the state participated in a virtual protest at 2 p.m. Monday under the hashtag #letusserve on Facebook and Twitter.
The effort was organized by the New Mexico Restaurant Association.
The social media posts involved photos of restaurant employees holding up poster board with Let Us Serve messages outside and inside restaurants throughout the state.
Meanwhile, Michael Dennis, a licensed owner of Weck’s restaurants in Santa Fe and Farmington, allowed customers inside his restaurant Monday — an apparent violation of a public health order that says restaurants may only serve diners outdoors at 50 percent of maximum occupancy or via takeout and delivery.
Two New Mexico State Police officers showed up to the Cerrillos Road restaurant before 10 a.m., but no citation or cease-and-desist letter was issued, state
police Public Information Officer Dusty Francisco wrote in an email.
He added Dennis would be contacted “at a later time,” though the restaurant continued to serve indoor diners Monday.
One of Dennis’ customers Monday was Kadimah Levanah, owner of Apothecary Restaurant and Santa Fe Oxygen & Healing Bar.
She said she has not opened her dining room but added she hoped to form a coalition of Santa Fe restaurateurs to find a working solution to deal with the governor’s public health orders.
“The intention is to create a communication platform to discuss how we can be family-safe, community-safe and business-viable,” Levanah said.
Restaurant owners complain they have taken it on the chin several times since mid-March, agonizing over the most recent dine-in restriction that took effect Monday.
Many restaurants laid off nearly all their staffs in the spring except for the few needed to do takeout or delivery.
Some could keep paying employees through the federal Paycheck Protection Program, but the eight-week term for many has expired.
Levanah said she had 35-40 employees in early March and hired 15 new employees when restaurants were allowed to offer dine-in service at 50 percent occupancy. But only one of those people was from the March crew.
The Bourbon Grill on Old Las Vegas Highway has a patio, but the tips outdoors will be even less than the reduced tips servers got under 50 percent indoor occupancy, said server, assistant manager and social media manager Lauren Becerra.
Bourbon Grill took part in the #letusserve protest.
“Our patio is very small,” Becerra said. “We bought a tent, but it doesn’t have many tables.”
New Mexico Restaurant Association CEO Carol Wight said the #letusserve campaign is designed to give restaurants and employees a voice.
“We want our membership to have a way to feel empowered,” Wight said.
The governor’s press secretary, Nora Meyers Sackett, said Lujan Grisham’s most recent decision to eliminate dine-in service was a necessary outgrowth of the rise in COVID-19 cases in the state.
“The governor has said from the outset that if New Mexico’s COVID-19 cases continued to trend upwards, the state would need to retract some of the reopening measures we had been able to enact, including indoor dining,” Sackett said.
Weck’s Dennis did not respond for a request for an interview but did send an email message to The New Mexican.
“Over 200 restaurants have already gone out of business and they’re not coming back as a result of the first shutdown,” he wrote, citing a New Mexican Restaurant Association estimate of the number of restaurant closures. “That number will only climb with a second closure. … So we made a well-thought-out decision for the sake of our employees’ financial welfare, that we are keeping our dining rooms open but with strict safety measures in place. We have lowered our seating capacity to 25 percent, are continuing to disinfect our stores and kitchens, screened, and provided PPE to our employees. There are temperature checks on all customers and employees before they enter the store.”
Weck’s Inc., which operates 13 other restaurants in the state, set itself apart from Dennis in a Saturday Facebook post, noting he is the owner for only the Santa Fe and Farmington locations.
“The decisions he is making for his restaurants is completely independent from all other Weck’s locations,” the company wrote. “ALL Weck’s ABQ , Rio Rancho, Los Lunas and Las Cruces locations are NOT affiliated with the decisions he is making for his restaurants.”
Wight said the restaurant association had informed its members it could not condone the defiance of the public health order. “But we understand [Weck’s Santa Fe/ Farminton’s] need to do this,” she added.
Other Santa Fe restaurant owners said they also agree the dine-in shutdown is an overreach.
“It’s going way beyond what I think is necessary,” said Chocolate
En La Plaza owner Victoria Rivera, one of four eateries to join Levanah’s coalition Monday.