Restaurants in South struggle to survive as pandemic continues.
As some Southern owners hopeful, others fear toll on industry
In March, shutting down restaurants to control the coronavirus seemed like a drastic measure. Now, nine months later, limits on the capacity of dining rooms, periodic shutdowns and skittish customers have become the new normal.
At the start of the pandemic, The American South followed restaurants across the region navigating the early, confusing weeks of the COVID-19 crisis. As the year comes to a close, we spoke again to some of those restaurant owners to see how they are faring and what they think the future holds.
Jonathan Magallanes of Memphis
Magallanes runs two locations of Las Tortugas Deli Mexicana, which was founded by his father, José.
People want to survive the year. People are talking to their accountants and saying, “What’s going on? How long do I keep the doors open? How many days do we have?” I feel so hesitant to make predictions, but I feel like we’re equipped to survive just because of the randomness of how our restaurants were built. They’re tiny. They have the tiniest imprint possible. And our team is built to survive, because — to be honest and frank — these people many years ago risked their lives to come to the United States to work and provide for their families.
So it’s steady as she goes at both restaurants. I do feel guilty that things are going better for me than for other people. But things are much slower, more tedious, more confusing and difficult. We’re eight months into this and it’s about to get worse. The dithering going on in Washington is absolutely sickening. It’s revolting. And so, here we are.
Andy Ticer of Memphis
With his fellow chef Michael Hudman, Ticer operates five restaurants in Memphis, including Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen, Hog & Hominy and Bishop. The childhood friends also run Josephine Estelle at New Orleans’ Ace hotel.
How this has been handled has been just asinine. The president put it down to the state level, which then passed it to the municipal level, which then passed to the county health department. They don’t want to shut us down, but they’re going to scare the public into not going out. It’s basically writing a death sentence for all the restaurants without mandating a shutdown.
We’ve talked to a lot of friends and colleagues across the country. Every city and every state has a different directive from their local health departments and officials. There’s no unity in any of it. There’s no reasoning.
Everybody is scared. The feeling among the Memphis restaurant owners is who’s going to survive the next three months. That’s the game, just survive an extra month. Honestly, if there’s not a stimulus from the government, I guarantee 30% to 50% of the restaurants in Memphis will be gone by mid-january. It’s dire straits here.
Rodney Scott of Charleston, S.C.
Winner of the 2018 James Beard Award for Best Chef Southeast, Scott is one of the most celebrated pitmasters in America. He has locations of Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ in Charleston, S.C., and Birmingham, Ala., with a third on the way in Atlanta, Ga. Scott was featured in the Netflix series “Chef ’s Table: BBQ,” which was released in the fall.
We’re just doing the best that we can to survive. Our drive-thru has been a huge factor. To-go has been huge for us. We were down, but after the Netflix release we balanced out a little bit. It made a difference. We had to hire some folks back, which was good. The lights are on, so I guess we’re doing all right.
I’m still optimistic that it’s going to be fine. You have the vaccines that are in motion. I feel like by the turn of the year, everything is going to be great again. People are going to be back into fine dining and back into eating out. I’ve seen some restaurants that closed their doors in the very beginning and are back open. You don’t hear about that. That’s something to look at as a positive move.
Kenyatta Mcneil of Charleston, S.C.
Nana’s Seafood & Soul, which serves Gullah cuisine, was founded by Mcneil and his family. The original downtown restaurant closed permanently due to the pandemic, but the family still has a smaller location uptown.
I’m in it for the long haul. I’m trying to maintain, trying to make sure bills are paid. I don’t see things changing overnight. For a couple of years, this is going to have an effect on everything.
Charleston was known for food. Everything, as far as tourism, is kind of slowing down. I’m actually trying to raise money for a food truck. We want to go mobile so that we can travel, we can be outdoors, we can have different locations in different cities.
Greg Tillery of New Orleans
Starting with a food truck, Tillery built a local chicken wing chain called We Dat’s Chicken & Shrimp.
Business is not where it was PRE-COVID. It’s a daily struggle, but we’re maintaining. I just stay prayed up. I just continue to try to find creative ways to advertise the business.
I’m real optimistic about where everything stands. It’s just still stressful, the fear of the unknown. Hopefully, we’ll have some cool things come down the pipeline with this new leadership in Washington and things can eventually get back to normal with the vaccine.
I just want people to be safe. I want everybody to get through this. So many people are passing away. So many people are being affected. Our city depends on tourism. Without people coming in, you see a lot of things happen, a lot of crime going up. So for everybody’s sake, I want things to get better.
Rick Blount of New Orleans
Blount is the fifth generation proprietor of Antoine’s, a French Quarter Creole restaurant that was founded in 1840.
December is normally one of our best months of the year. On Saturday, my sales were down 65.8% from last (year). Sunday sales were down 56.7%. Everything is canceled. Everything. Every Christmas party. Every company party. Our staffing is probably around 25%. And I’m afraid that isn’t going to hold. I’m afraid that I’m going to have to let go of a big percentage.
I think there’s an awful lot of people in the mix who are dead men walking. There’s an awful lot of hotels and restaurants and travel-related businesses and so on who are still going through the motions, but they have no chance of making it. The whole idea that you could turn back on the switch and it would save the day is pie in the sky. But I’m in it for the long run. We are going to survive. We have to. Whatever it takes, we will survive.
Note: The interviews were edited for length and clarity.