Pinoy resto workers speak out as ‘death blow’ starts

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

—J Mascis

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

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 December14 (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 especially now that the winter season is starting.”

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 for 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 a 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 as 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 reported 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 its 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)

 

 

Our last dining at Q

“The way to make money is to buy when blood is running in the streets.”—John D. Rockefeller

 

By Alex P. Vidal 

 

DECEMBER 13 (Sunday) would be our last dining date at the Q Town Asian Cuisine Inc., a popular Chinese seafood restaurant on corner Whitney and Broadway Streets in Elmhurst, Queens as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ordered the suspension of indoor dining in New York City beginning December 14 (Monday) as hospitalizations related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continued to climb in the Empire State.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has supported Cuomo’s order.

He tweeted: "This is painful. So many restaurants are struggling. But we can't allow this virus to reassert itself in our city."

Since October, we’ve been dining at the restaurant every Monday starting at 6 o’clock in the evening.

As regular customers, we strictly followed the social distancing and other protocol while inside the restaurant. 

From the restaurant, we hopped to the “inasalan”, a makeshift kiosk selling charcoal-baked animal intestines, lamb, pork, and other meats   located across the street.

The curfew inside the restaurant, which had been set at 10 o’clock in the evening since indoor dining was temporarily permitted, will no longer take effect once the suspension of indoor dining commences.

 "The hospitalizations continue to increase in New York City," Cuomo announced December 11. 

"We said that we would watch it. If the hospitalizations didn't stabilize, we would close indoor dining. It has not. We're going to close indoor dining on Monday."

 

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The daily number of hospital admissions for COVID-19 hit 205, climbing above the threshold of 200, according to a fresh data released by city hall.  

The number of new cases on a seven-day rolling average is reportedly 2,559. 

The seven-day average is at 5.35 percent, which is also reportedly above the city’s threshold of 5 percent.  

Only outdoor dining, takeout and delivery will be continued, it was learned.

The announcement was a big blow for the restaurant industry, which has been struggling since the beginning of the pandemic in March. 

It was only in September that restaurants were allowed to reopen their dining rooms at 25 percent capacity. 

There were fears that the latest shutdown would lead to layoffs. 

"It will be the last straw for countless more restaurants and jobs," Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, said in a statement. "And the restrictions begin on Monday with zero economic support for small businesses that are already struggling to survive."

A new survey from the New York Restaurant Association found 54 percent of New York restaurants do not expect to survive the next six months without some form of federal relief, compared to 37 percent of restaurants nationwide.

The announcement came as new contact tracing data released by the governor found that bars and restaurants were responsible for just 1.43 percent of the spread. 

 

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Household gatherings were reportedly the biggest culprit, with 74 percent of the spread linked to people meeting in their homes. 

Indoor dining, meanwhile, will be allowed to continue in other parts of the state where the infection rates are climbing.

"New York City is different," Cuomo said. "A high transmission rate in a dense environment is different. You can't eat and drink and keep your mask up.”

Cuomo called on the federal government to provide relief for restaurants in a stimulus plan that still remains stalled in Congress. 

He said the state would extend its moratorium on commercial evictions. 

But beyond that restaurants have been left with little help as they've been forced to bear the brunt of coronavirus restrictions.

The city has allowed for expanded outdoor dining, but it remains to be seen how successful it will be as the temperatures continue to drop. 

Cuomo also announced gyms and hair salons in orange zones will now be allowed to operate at 25 percent capacity with weekly testing of staff. 

He said those businesses are responsible for only about 0.06 percent of the spread.

"Gyms are one of the lowest known spreaders now, by the facts," Cuomo said.

As for the race to vaccinate people, the governor said a state panel has signed off on the FDA's decision to approve a COVID-19 vaccine. 

Cuomo said in addition to the Pfizer vaccine, which is expected to arrive this weekend, 346,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine will be delivered the week of December 21.

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