Why my restaurant won’t require face masks
As a 30-year veteran of the Houston restaurant scene, I’ve lived through the ups and downs of countless oil booms and busts, financial crises and now even a global pandemic that has brought my industry to its knees. For those who have never worked in restaurants, it’s nearly impossible to gauge the challenges my community has faced over the past 12 months. As foodservice workers, my staff and I are on the front lines of the COVID outbreak, and we interact daily with all sorts of people, from our guests to delivery and service workers. None of us can work from home, and none of us, including many of us with families, can afford not to work.
When people ask me what I’m planning to do now that the current dine-in restrictions are being lifted, I gladly tell them that my restaurant will now operate at 100 percent capacity; I will not force people to wear a mask while at the restaurant if they choose not to; and I will continue to require my staff to observe safety protocols (mandatory masks, gloves, handsanitizer stations, half-hourly sanitizing of surfaces and restrooms, etc.). We can’t choose between protecting our lives and livelihoods. We have to balance both.
To those who criticize me for not requiring masks, I respond by explaining how — even before it was lifted this week — the mask mandate was unsustainable. What’s a restaurant owner to do when a guest refuses to wear a mask? Call the police? Obviously, that’s not an option. Beyond a few highly publicized fines, authorities have made little or no effort to enforce the mandate. In fact, the onus is on the restaurant owner to enforce it. But as we’ve seen in numerous instances reported by the media, confrontations over mask wearing have had disastrous consequences.
What if that same guest promptly orders a $200 bottle of wine? People, I beg you to try to understand: The pain and suffering endured by restaurant workers over the past 12 months have been as unconscionable as they have been unfathomable. The Houston restaurant industry has been decimated over the past year, and those of us still standing are barely able to pay their rent. I feel very fortunate to still be here today. But I assure you, I’m speaking from personal experience.
And there’s another and even larger issue with the mandate, and it has to do with the nature of restaurants and the people who frequent them: You can’t eat or drink with a mask on. You don’t need to take your mask off to pay at the self-pay aisle at Home Depot. You don’t even need to take your mask off to pay the cashier at Kroger. This is arguably the greatest challenge of enforcing the mask mandate in restaurants. Where do you draw the line between when guests are required and not required to wear a mask? If the guests are seated, do they have to wear a mask between courses? Between glasses of wine?
You get the picture. As far as restaurants were concerned, the mandate was untenable from the get-go.
Today, every restaurant owner faces a dilemma that falls somewhere between a rock and a hard place. And no matter what they decide to do, their businesses will suffer. Some restaurantgoers will avoid restaurants where masks are required. Similarly, others will avoid restaurants where they are not required. I know that I can’t be the mask police, and I also know that many families, including my own, rely on my restaurant’s ability to operate.
It’s my choice to let my guests decide what they feel comfortable with. Otherwise, I’d just be dividing our cherished community of foodies even more. Everyone is welcome at my table.