Pinoy resto workers speak out as ‘death blow’ starts

By Alex P. Vidal

 

“It’s good to have certain restrictions sometimes, but it’s definitely more fun to play really loud, with distortion.”—J Mascis

 

AS mentioned in my previous article, we had our last dinner at the Q Town Asian Cuisine Inc., a seafood restaurant in Elmhurst, Queens, on December 13 (Sunday) as suspension of indoor dining in New York City restaurants takes effect on December 14 (Monday).

I was with two Filipino restaurant workers: a 63-year-old server in a Manhattan restaurant and a 40-year-old chef in a Queens restaurant.

We entered the restaurant at past seven o’clock in the evening and went home at past 10 o’clock in the evening, the curfew imposed by the city government in relation to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

“I pity the restaurant owners,” quipped the Filipino chef. “They will have to shell out money for the rental and wages of their workers. They need to earn”

The Filipino chef admitted he and his fellow workers might be affected if the restaurant where they work can not earn enough income if customers won’t be coming to dine in.

He worried about the money he will send to his family in the Philippines for Christmas.

The move announced late last week by Governor Andrew Cuomo is in response to a rise in new COVID-19 cases across the city and state.

The city’s COVID-19 positivity rate now stands at 6.26 percent.

 

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“The good thing is this is just temporary,” hissed the Filipino server. “This (suspension of indoor dining) will only last for two weeks, but it will interrupt the Christmas Day celebration.”

The Filipino server considers himself to be “luckier” because he is receiving pandemic unemployment assistance from the Department of Labor.

“But this (pandemic unemployment assistance) is not forever. I heard it will last until this month (December) only kaya marami na ang kinakabahan ngayon (that’s why so many people are now getting nervous),” the Filipino server said.

Some Filipino restaurant workers who are mostly “undocumented” will be affected even as most restaurant owners and operators, who called the guidelines a “death blow” to the restaurant business, bewailed they were already struggling to rebuild their businesses after losses sustained from the springtime shutdown of dining.

If anything, they were hoping the state would soon increase the citywide indoor capacity from 25 percent to 50 percent.

What happened was the opposite.

Now, they are back to zero.

 

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And while the city has given restaurants an easier pathway to offering outdoor dining through its Open Restaurants program, which was started during the pandemic, establishments said they were seeing patrons balk at sitting outside as the weather turns colder, even when heating elements are provided.

Delivery and takeout remain another revenue source, though many restaurants said it is only a small piece of their business.

A Manhattan-based restaurant owner doesn’t even have a to-go option because of the nature of his complex, multicourse menu.

As a result of all these factors, many who work in the industry or track it predict a brutal outcome for the city’s thousands of dining and drinking establishments, with numerous ones having to shut for good.

Meanwhile, the 21 Club, a Midtown Manhattan restaurant with a 90-year history and a long list of famous clientele past and present, said last week it didn’t plan to reopen “in its current form for the foreseeable future.”

The restaurant, which closed in March when all New York City restaurants were initially mandated to cease service, said it is “exploring potential opportunities that will allow ’21’ Club to remain a viable operation in the long term.”

 

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The Wall Street Journal reported that Cuomo has proposed some assistance to restaurants to counter the curtailment of indoor dining.

The report quoted Cuomo saying on December 11 that the state would extend its moratorium on evicting commercial tenants, which was set to expire on Jan. 1. Such a move protects restaurant owners who can’t pay any or all of their rent.

In addition, Cuomo said the state is partnering with Ritual ONE, a digital ordering platform similar to Grubhub and DoorDash, so that restaurants can offer their service to customers without the establishments having to pay commission.

The offer runs through April 2021.

Ultimately, the Wall Street Journal reported, Cuomo and restaurant-industry officials are looking to the federal government to support these businesses, whether they are in New York or elsewhere in the country, through a multibillion-dollar stimulus program that has yet to be approved by Congress.

 

(The author, who is now based in New York City, is a former editor of two dailies in Iloilo, Philippines)