Some big name Fresno-area restaurants closing due to Newsom’s COVID-19 order — for now
It just doesn’t make financial sense stay open, they say.
A handful of restaurant owners are deciding to close temporarily after the governor’s new stay-at-home order kicked in Sunday night, mandating restaurants offer only takeout or delivery food.
Some big names in the Fresno area are deciding to shut down – though they do plan to reopen eventually – including the School House Restaurant & Tavern, Fresno Breakfast House, Tabachines Cocina and 13 Prime Steak.
The regional stay-at-home order started when hospitals in Fresno and surrounding counties had less than 15% capacity available in intensive-care unit beds. That threshold triggered new limits for at least three weeks on restaurants, hair salons and barber shops, and other businesses.
As of Sunday, just six ICU beds were available in Fresno County, with 460 new case of COVID-19 reported that day.
Under the stay-at-home order, restaurants can only offer takeout or delivery. Outdoor and indoor dining must stop.
Bars and wineries must also close.
Takeout and delivery
Many restaurants will stay open offering takeout and delivery, especially ones that thrive on it like pizza or fast food.
But for some restaurants, that model just doesn’t work. They don’t make enough money to justify staying open — or sometimes even to pay the bills.
Fresno Breakfast House at Bullard and West avenues has been through this before, noted Symoné Tellawi, who runs the restaurant with her family. Takeout doesn’t bring in enough income.
“It’s really hard to keep justifying reasons to keep your business open when you’re actively losing money,” she said.
Customers come for the ambiance and the experience of dining at the restaurant, she said.
“It’s a whole experience they have when they come in here, and that really doesn’t translate over a plastic takeout container,” she said.
At the School House Restaurant, in a historic school at the corner of Frankwood Avenue and Kings Canyon Road, staying open for takeout wouldn’t bring in enough money to pay the bills, said Michelle Jackson, who owns and runs the restaurant with her husband, executive chef Ryan Jackson.
The restaurant, about 25 minutes from Fresno, is often a destination for special occasions, not the type of place people swing by on their way home to pick up dinner.
“We knew we would lose money because of geographically where we’re located. We’re not in a shopping center,” she said. “When we know we’re limping along and it’s a marathon, and we don’t know what Newsom is going to throw at us next … we had to be smart.”
In Clovis, 13 Prime Steak emailed customers to say Sunday was its last day until the restaurant could offer on-premise dining again. The restaurant had shifted its menu in the spring to focus on takeout-friendly dishes like meatloaf instead of steaks, but it apparently wasn’t enough.
Tabachines Cocina, a high-end Mexican restaurant at Palm and Herndon avenues, made a similar decision. The business requires 80 to 85% of its tables to be full to break even, according to owner Consuelo Alvarado.
She’s already spent money trying to make it work, including on outdoor heaters, takeout containers and more.
She’s said she’s frustrated with leaders who think small businesses can keep making major changes quickly.
“Unlike the politics or so-called leaders, my money doesn’t come from a paycheck, I have to work for my money,” she said. “This is out of our control, yet the restaurant industry has been the one that has been more punished time and time again.”
And this time around, there is no national paycheck protection grant or loan program to help them get through.
“What we need at this point is grant help and we need it now,” she said.
Employees at each restaurant — both School House and the Breakfast House have about 30 each — should be able to get unemployment benefits. However, Alvarado noted it took her employees three months to get unemployment checks last time around.
It’s not clear when the restaurants will reopen. The lockdown order lasts three weeks, expiring in the week between Christmas and New Years, though several say they think it will be extended beyond that.
Why don’t they stay open?
On social media, the public has increasingly been asking why restaurants don’t just stay open and defy the order, especially since many agencies have said they don’t plan to enforce it.
A few restaurants are.
But the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage control is enforcing the order, and restaurants could potentially lose their liquor licenses.
For the Fresno Breakfast House, it would mean not only losing the right to sell mimosas and other cocktails, but also losing its Tellawi Lounge, the bar it owns next door. And not serving alcohol would be a huge blow to its banquet business that it expects to rebound when things get better, Tellawi said.
Plus, many restaurant owners want to do the right thing.
Jackson from School House said they also fear litigation, in the event a customer or employee gets sick and blames it on the restaurant.
What can people do?
If the public wants to help, there are several things they can do, restaurant owners interviewed by The Bee said.
First, buy gift cards. Even if the restaurant is closed, call or check online to see if they sell gift cards.
And stop ordering through Uber Eats or other delivery services.
Instead, order and pick it up yourself, said Tellawi. Delivery services take up to a third of the final sale.
And the tips customers pay to services like DoorDash? The restaurant staff doesn’t see any of that.
“Please call the restaurant directly, order from the restaurant directly,” she said. “That way you can ensure you can tip the restaurant and staff and that whole percentage (that delivery services take) is actually going to the restaurant.”
