Restaurant owners: ‘Our livelihoods are at stake.’
‘This is a trickle-down effect. These people are our families.’
More than 100 people gathered on the plaza in front of the Shelby County Government building Monday afternoon to protest an expected closure of Memphis restaurant dining rooms.
“Our livelihoods are at stake. Our ability to put food on the table is at stake,” said Shawn Danko, protest co-organizer and owner of Kooky Canuck. “Tell our mayor and county commissioners to allow us to put food on the table!”
The protest was in response to a draft of Health Directive 16, which was leaked Friday. The draft said indoor dining at restaurants would be prohibited for two weeks starting Dec. 21.
On Monday afternoon, shortly after the protest, the Shelby County Health Department issued a new directive that limited indoor seating capacity to 25%. The order takes effect Dec. 26 and runs through Jan. 22. It also encourages residents to “shelter at home” as much as possible.
“It at least gives restaurants the ability to generate some income,” Danko said after he learned of the new directive. “But if you have a 50seat restaurant and now can only have 12 seats, that would be a tough situation.”
The crowd at Monday afternoon’s protest was a mix of industry workers, restaurant owners, musicians and residents wanting to show their support of the Memphis restaurant and music industry.
The event was organized by Downtown Neighborhood Association president Jerred Price, B.B. King’s owner Tommy Peters, Alchemy owner Nick Scott, Tandem Restaurant Partners co-owner Tony Westmoreland, Lafayette’s general manager Julien Salley and Danko.
In an interview with The Commercial Appeal, Salley pointed out the organizers represented all aspects of the Memphis restaurant community.
“Lafayette’s and B.B. King’s are entertainment venues, Alchemy represents the bar community and Tony and Shawn represent traditional restaurants,” he said. “We have all been impacted by this.”
Price called for the government to follow the data, citing studies that showed only a small number of COVID-19 transmissions had come from restaurants. “We need common sense solutions,” he said multiple times throughout the one-hour protest.
Price encouraged everyone to contact the mayor and county commission.
Westmoreland told the group, “We are here fighting for our people.”
He added that shuttering restaurants during the holidays is a problem. “Taking away their income now is not the right time.”
Westmoreland also said restaurants have been going “above and beyond” what other businesses are doing to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“I think that it’s important to question the process and the data that we are using to make the decisions that are being made by our officials and our health department,” Scott told The Commercial Appeal. “I think that we need to ask if what we are doing and what we have already done has been effective. Should we keep making the same moves and expect different results?”
Westmoreland said the restaurants’ employees and vendors need to be considered. “This is a trickle-down effect,” he said. “These people are our families.”
Salley recounted a statement one of his servers said to him: “There are no beaches in Memphis. Our attractions are our music, our food, our history and our culture. Do not put us all out of a job.”
Jennifer Chandler is the Food & Dining reporter at The Commercial Appeal.
She can be reached at jennifer.chandler@commercialappeal.com and you can follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @cookwjennifer.