State’s restaurants tackle ‘a lot of unknowns’ due to virus
Omicron is the latest curveball to hit the beleaguered restaurant industry, as staff get sick or exposed to COVID and customers lose confidence in indoor dining during the latest surge of cases.
As Connecticut reported a positivity rate close to 24% Tuesday, schools have closed and cities and towns have rushed to distribute at-home COVID test kits to residents, where demand has quickly outpaced supply.
Officials have attributed the sharp rise in cases to the prevalence of both the delta variant, known to be highly transmissible, and the omicron variant, which is believed to be even more infectious.
The rise in cases over the past two weeks prompted several restaurants in the state to close voluntarily due to concern for customer safety, along with short staffing caused by employees testing positive — and general difficulty in finding tests, said Scott Dolch, the executive director of the Connecticut Restaurant Association.
“There’s just been no relief to the challenges,” Dolch said. “There’s still a lot of unknowns on how we manage this.”
Restaurateurs have called him for guidance, he said, noting hours-long lines for PCR tests in some cities and multi-day waits for results, which could put employees out for extended time periods when restaurants are already shortstaffed.
“These are the kinds of calls I’m fielding,” Dolch said. “[They’ll say] ‘I only have three cooks, I’m a small restaurant of 11 people, I need to figure out when I can reopen my doors’... Safety is the first priority, but also the timing is critical. They’re making sure they can get back open as quick as they can in a safe manner.”
Broken Symmetry Gastro Brewery in Bethel and Haven Hot Chicken in New Haven closed temporarily, citing the health and safety of their staff and guests, but both were back open as of Sunday.
On Dec. 29, J. Timothy’s Taverne closed its main dining rooms for several days because of a “severe staffing shortage,” according to a Facebook post, and instead offered takeout and limited seating in its pub with a menu of just chicken wings, chicken tenders and fries.
The Plainville wings destination plans to resume normal operations Tuesday, a restaurant representative said.
John Ginnetti, owner of 116 Crown and Meat & Co. in New Haven, kept his restaurants closed through New Year’s to protect staff and customers. He made the decision because of “changes in people’s social circle over the holidays as well as swollen crowds over New Year’s,” he wrote in an email.
He said the Crown Street businesses would return to regularly scheduled hours this week. The sandwich shop reopens today, and the cocktail bar resumes service Wednesday. He is providing rapid tests for any employees who believe they may have been exposed to COVID-19.
“[We are] asking our employees and guests to pay special attention to any symptoms that should be telling them to stay home,” Ginnetti said.
Elsewhere in greater New Haven, two of the area’s most famous pizzerias have temporarily closed their dining rooms, with no concrete reopening date. Sally’s Apizzaannounced Dec. 26 that its locations in New Haven and Stamford would offer takeout and delivery only. Zuppardi’s in West Haven is offering curbside pickup only starting Jan. 2, according to a message on its website, “due to the increasing positivity rates of COVID 19.”
Both of Sally’s locations are currently closed for scheduled routine oven maintenance, which is expected to take two or three days, said marketing director Krystina Nataloni in an email. After that, the pizzerias will reopen just for takeout and delivery.
“In an abundance of caution, with the uptick in COVID cases we want to keep both our team members and guests safe. To do so, we chose to limit interaction by temporarily closing our dining room,” Nataloni wrote. “Currently, we do not have a set date for our dining room reopening as we’re monitoring the situation daily. Any updates will be posted on our website and social channels.”
Zuppardi’s will offer curbside pickup only in West Haven until further notice, said Jim Ormrod, a fourth-generation Zuppardi who operates the pizzeria and its pizza truck with several other family members.
“It seems like we’re preparing to enter a pretty dark period,” he said. “But we have a good curbside setup...[my family] has a good system that works for us.”
Zuppardi’s also has a satellite location at The Hops Company [THC] in Derby, a beer hall and event space. THC remains open, he said, but Zuppardi’s will offer curbside service there as well. Ormrod said the pizzeria’s planned takeout spot in Ansonia is also just a few weeks away from opening.
Ormrod said he thinks the Zuppardi’s dining room may be closed until spring, “unless we see a severe change in the numbers and the hospitals are doing better [before then]”.
A survey from earlier this year showed that Connecticut’s restaurants are still suffering from effects of the pandemic. About three-quarters of local eateries’ sales in August were weaker than in 2019, according to information from the Connecticut Restaurant Association.
Many have closed permanently and those that stayed open are paying more for foods and goods, the survey showed. Labor shortages, inflation and supply chain problems have also affected Connecticut eateries, restaurant owners said.