Fresno-area bars close, restaurants turn to takeout as they grapple with coronavirus fallout
With people increasingly staying home and Gov. Gavin Newsom directing bars to close, Fresno-area pubs and restaurants are feeling the sting of measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).
Newsom’s guidance to shutter bars isn’t mandatory, but that could change.
In the meantime, Bars like Spokeasy and Goldstein’s in the Tower District have closed, along with others in Clovis.
Goldstein’s is closed to the public, though employees were working inside cleaning Monday. But after that, there won’t be work for the dozen or so employees, said owner Craig Johnson.
“Everybody is a little bit confused as to what the rules are going to be, but at the same time, at the end of the day, we are concerned about the community,” he said. “It’s a public health and safety issue and we don’t want to do something that would endanger everybody.”
Many of Goldstein’s employees have other jobs, but they’re often bartending jobs facing the same issues, he said.
Workers can get unemployment benefits if their hours are cut, and the state has waived the typical one-week waiting period before people can get benefits.
Still, uncertainty is weighing on the minds of workers and small business owners.
“The bummer thing is we don’t know for how long,” Johnson said. “Nobody has given us any kind of indication as to the duration of the shutdown.”
Impact to restaurants
Restaurants are still open in California.
However, President Donald Trump recommended Monday in a press conference that people “avoid eating and drinking in bars, restaurants, and public food courts.”
California’s governor directed restaurants to cut capacity by half. That means many restaurants are seating people at every other table, with some restaurants removing tables. Pictures of tables at Red Robin with “closed table” signs on them were circulating on social media.
Some restaurants are taking more drastic measures.
Heirloom, at Friant Road and Fresno Street, is one of city’s most popular restaurants. It notified customers via social media Monday that it would no longer serve customers in the restaurant, nor take orders for takeout inside the restaurant.
Instead, it’s asking customers to order takeout via its app, available for download on its website. Heirloom is also offering 25% off all family-style meals, which are designed to serve between four and eight people.
Fast food restaurant Chick-fil-A on north Blackstone Avenue has also closed its dining room. However its drive-thru is open and the restaurant is offering curbside takeout service via its mobile app.
McDonald’s company-owned restaurants announced they are closing their seating areas starting Tuesday, though customers can still get food to go from inside the restaurant, along with the drive-thru and McDonald’s delivery service.
BooBoo Bean Bakery & Cafe at Bullard and West avenues was marketing back door delivery. Customers are instructed to call in their order, then given directions to drive up to the back door to pick it up.
Buffet restaurant Sweet Tomatoes announced Monday it is temporarily closing all its restaurants nationwide.
Over the weekend, business was steady with the exception of a small slowdown on Sunday at Vino Grille & Spirits, said owner Chuck Van Fleet. Many restaurants are getting cancellations of meetings and other events planned in their banquet rooms.
Van Fleet is also president of the Fresno chapter of the California Restaurant Association and said he and other restaurant owners are grappling with the uncertainty of the situation. He’s struggling to decide how much food to order for the coming week, for example.
“I know it’s going to lead to a huge drop in business,” he said of the restaurant industry.
Many restaurateurs are waiting to see what happens next.
Several states and the city of Los Angeles ordered restaurants to end dine-in service and do only takeout. The head of the California Restaurant Association said he expects other cities in California to do the same.
Take out
Many restaurants are turning to takeout as a way to stay afloat when some people are scared to dine out. Curbside service where workers run the food out to your car is common.
“Takeout is a great option,” said Van Fleet. “I honestly suggest that people call the restaurants and do the order.”
That’s because delivery services like DoorDash take 20% to 30% of the sale so the restaurant gets less money than if a customers calls in an order directly, he said. Often prices are higher on that app to make up for that so ordering direct from the restaurant and picking it up can also save customers money, he said.
Buying gift cards is also a good way to support a local business, he said.
For people who don’t want to leave the house, Uber Eats is waiving its delivery fee on independent restaurants. Click on the “eat local” label at the top of the page.
Rocky Hill Brewing Grill & Tavern is a new restaurant and craft beer taproom that opened in the Tower District last month.
It’s staying open as it is a restaurant and not subject to the governor’s directive for bars to close, said Sammy Franco, a restaurant consultant who opened the restaurant.
Reducing capacity by 50% was easy because business is slow, though he declined to say exactly how much business was down.
In fact, “50% would be great at the moment,” Franco joked.
“We’ve definitely seen a change, but we’ve definitely seen some people who are still looking to partake in normal everyday life … have a meal, have a drink,” he said.
The restaurant is taking extra steps to keep everything clean. They’ve removed tables, bought more potent cleaning supplies and wiped down everything a customer touches, including the entire chairs, three times a day.
They haven’t had to cut employee shifts yet, but their servers are already hurting because fewer customers means fewer tips, he said.
“The majority of the servers’ income is going to come from tips,” he said. “It’s going to be something that is going to hit their pocketbook very hard,” he said. “It is already.”
This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 2:37 PM.
