DCFEED
City Paper asked the city’s full-time critics how they’ll use their column space with restaurants closed to dine-in customers. Look for take-out and delivery reviews from Post critics Tom Sietsema and Tim Carman. Washingtonian’s Ann Limpert will pivot more to news and continue hosting her Friday chats. washingtoncitypaper.com/food
YOUNG & HUNGRY
The No-Service Industry Restaurants and bars are closed except for take-out and delivery. Now, small business owners and their employees wait for help.
Not eveN a month ago, staff shortages, climbing commercial rents, and Metro’s truncated hours were the local hospitality industry’s biggest woes. But on Monday night, D.C. restaurants and bars served their last dine-in patrons until at least April 1 because of the novel coronavirus. Even though it was the right decision, the move prompted mass layoffs in a field where profit margins are notoriously thin.
ference on Monday and issued a warning to any would-be speakeasies as she talked about enforcement. “We have the power in a state of emergency to revoke business licenses,” she declared. “We would identify the ways a business didn’t comply with the Department of Health mandate or other mandates and once we establish they have defied those orders, we can revoke those licenses ... As mayor, I don’t wake up in the morning thinking about how to shut down a business or issue a fine, but I’ll do it.”
How We Got Here Mayor Muriel Bowser mandated that all restaurants and bars close to on-premise consumption, with take-out and delivery still permitted. The District joined a handful of other jurisdictions that have done the same to urge people to practice social distancing during the global pandemic. The growing list includes Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Massachusetts, Illinois, Connecticut, New Jersey, Kentucky, North Carolina, California, Florida, and Washington. It’s been a death by a thousand paper cuts. Restaurant and bar owners first panicked last week because they’re in bed with so many other industries that began closing down after Bowser declared a state of emergency. Concert venues like The Anthem and 9:30 Club ceased operations, the Walter E. Washington Convention Center went dark, and the NBA and NHL suspended their seasons, dealing blows to businesses adjacent to these venues. As diners began to cancel reservations and private event bookings, restaurateurs started pleading. They stuffed diners’ inboxes and social media feeds with details about their increased sanitation measures and promises to send home sick employees. But restaurant operators aren’t doctors, lawyers, or epidemiologists. Their business goals didn’t align with the public health goal of flattening the curve of coronavirus cases, and eventually, new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines caught up with them.
What’s Next Attention shifted Tuesday morning to a critical D.C. Council meeting where councilmembers passed emergency legislation bringing some relief to unemployed workers and small business owners, who are now trying to calculate what kind of financial assistance they need to eventually reopen once permitted to do so. Everyone from the owner and executive chef down to the cook who sends money home to his or her family needs help. As an industry that pumps up the local economy to the tune of $7.1 billion annually, the nightlife industry is counting on the city to return the favor. “Cash is king,” says Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington CEO Kathy Hollinger. “Relief has to come in the form of immediate, easy access to grants that give restaurants the capital to stay afloat during an uncertain time. All of the other things are wonderful, but in order for them to reopen they’ll need that kind of financial support.” Specifically, the “COVID-19 Response Emergency Amendment Act of 2020,” approved unanimously Tuesday, extends unemployment compensation to those who are out of work because of coronavirus; creates a small business grant program; prohibits providers from disconnecting a business’ water, electric, and gas during the crisis; permits bars and restaurants to sell sealed wine, beer, and spirits; and offers assistance with sales and property taxes valued at $266 million. “I’m concerned that national response
Darrow Montgomery/File
By Laura Hayes
On March 13, the city announced it would follow the CDC’s recommendation and ban gatherings amassing greater than 250 people. Most restaurants and bars in the District have much smaller capacities. That night, droves of diners and drinkers still went out. Social pressure to stay in began to mount as those at high risk of contracting the virus begged the world to buckle down. A petition with close to 2,000 signatures asked Bowser to step in. On March 15, the city made some clarifications and instituted new rules. Restaurants and bars couldn’t seat parties of more than six people, had to do away with bar seating, and needed to separate tables by at least six feet. Nightclubs had to cease operating. The new rules didn’t automatically shut down bars, but they weren’t compatible with the bar business. Then a tectonic momentum shift occurred. Restaurant and bar owners and employees began calling for the city to shut them down and many restaurants and bars voluntarily closed, starting with
10 march 20, 2020 washingtoncitypaper.com
José Andrés’ ThinkFoodGroup. The new regulations had already begun to strangle operations, and some industry professionals believed that if there were mandated closures, it might make businesses more eligible for emergency financial relief. “We need strong governmental action to survive this pandemic with our businesses intact,” Tail Up Goat posted on Instagram. “That is why we are urging the mayor to #shutusdown. Doing so properly acknowledges the scale of the current crisis and begins to make available the kind of resources our employees and businesses will require to endure this financial storm.” “They keep stopping short of mandated closures because of the responsibility that goes with it—rent abatement and unemployment,” Red Bear Brewing Company manager Liz Cox told City Paper. “Severely reducing capacity without offering those services is keeping the industry in the worst kind of limbo—less sales and even less assistance.” Bowser answered that call in a press con-