Here’s what Fresno County in orange tier means for local restaurants and bars
Restaurants in Fresno County can seat customers indoors at 50% capacity now that Fresno County has moved into the orange tier of coronavirus restrictions.
The news was welcomed by many restaurateurs, though some weren’t celebrating. The industry continues to face challenges that diners may notice when they go out to eat out.
The California Department of Public Health announced Tuesday morning that Fresno and Kings counties can increase their indoor dining to 50% of capacity or 200 people, whichever is smaller.
Bars that don’t serve food can open outdoors for the first time in many months.
Being able to fill restaurant dining rooms at 50% is a positive development, said Chuck Van Fleet, owner of Vino Grille & Spirits and president of the Fresno chapter of the California Restaurant Association.
That 50% threshold is what restaurants need to break even, he said.
It’s especially important for small restaurants, he said.
“If you look at some of the small restaurants in town, maybe a small Mexican restaurant, or a Chinese restaurant, they maybe have seating for 20,” he said.
To start seating and waiting on five people? “It’s not worth it,” he said.
At Señor Ají Peruvian Kitchen near Herndon and Milburn avenues, the dining room at the nearly 5-year-old restaurant could seat just 12 people at 25% capacity. Now it can essentially double that, said co-owner Lilian Arizola.
“Definitely it’s good news, especially for what we were going through with all these lockdowns,” she said. “It was really hard because our sales went down 80%.”
And it comes at an ideal time.
More customers are coming out to eat, saying they feel comfortable dining in now that they’re getting vaccinated, she said.
The restaurant also just upgraded from a liquor license that only allowed it to serve beer and wine to one that allows it to serve cocktails and shots of alcohol. It also remodeled to add a bar area.
Restaurant challenges continue
But it’s not all cocktails and rainbows.
Finding workers continues to be a challenge for restaurants, Van Fleet of the restaurant association said. Many restaurants are advertising for chefs, line cooks, servers, and dishwashers and not finding them.
“Just because we can seat 50% doesn’t mean we’ll be able to because we need to hire more staff,” he said. “Everybody’s running ads and no one’s applying.”
Or, restaurants will schedule 11 or 12 interviews with job candidates, and only one or two show up, he said.
Many restaurateurs blame the stimulus checks and unemployment benefits that include an extra $300 a week in federal benefits. Workers can make more collecting unemployment benefits at home than they can working, they say.
Other factors may be at play too, including workers finding lower stress jobs for the same pay at stores like Target, for example, said one Fresno restaurateur.
A recent New York Times story also detailed other reasons potential employees are staying away: They can get higher paying jobs in other industries, they’re worried about getting sick, or they are parents still needed at home since many kids are not back in school full time yet.
Regardless of why, the lack of employees may be something customers notice when they dine out.
It may translate to slower service, Van Fleet said.
Or, restaurants may decide to take fewer reservations or seat fewer customers instead of risking having slower service, he said.
“We’re very happy to be able to open at the 50% capacity,” he said. “Now we just need the people to service the customers.”
This story was originally published April 20, 2021 at 3:13 PM.
