![]() ![]() Ludlow and Leiser-Miller plan to mask up again when Psychic Pie reopens. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more. And some owners that had shed health precautions are now reinstating them for employees, particularly masking. Gone are the region’s mandates on masking and proof of vaccination, though some restaurants are voluntarily continuing them. “It’s just a nervousness on our part in terms of the team and whether or not everybody can stay healthy,” he said.įor restaurateurs, this moment in the pandemic is different, with fewer government restrictions affecting both them and their customers. Truong of Handroll Project said it felt like this current surge “came out of nowhere,” just as the Bay Area recovered from omicron. Equator Coffees has adjusted by closing early at some cafes, CEO JP Lachance said. More front-of-house employees have been sick than kitchen staff, who have remained masked at work since the restaurant reopened in September, said owner Nancy Oakes. When staff at longtime San Francisco restaurant Boulevard have been out with COVID-19 in recent weeks, the restaurant has staved off closure by decreasing available reservations by as much as 25%. The bar at San Francisco’s Boulevard, where management has been cutting down on reservations to manage demand when staff members are out with COVID-19. The week before the closure was the young restaurant’s busiest week yet, the owners said. Shutting down meant incurring the cost of lost ingredients, including pizza dough that takes three days to make, and employees not being able to work busy weekend shifts. Ludlow and Leiser-Miller are isolating at home with their 1-year-old daughter and hope to reopen by Thursday. “It’s a lose-lose.”Īt Psychic Pie, with co-owners Ludlow and Leith Leiser-Miller out sick and only four other people on staff, they weren’t able to keep their 3-month-old restaurant open. “In the end, it’s a burden on restaurant workers whose incomes obviously rely on staying open - and complicated by the health factor - and us as restaurant owners, who end up either covering for multiple roles every night, or stressing about the business tanking,” she said. Employees received pay for the lost days, which cost Daytrip $12,000. Stella Dennig, co-owner of Daytrip in Oakland, said the last few weeks have “been one of the absolute most challenging times since we opened, from a staffing perspective.” The restaurant closed down for three days in late April after two employees tested positive. San Francisco in particular is seeing an alarming spike in cases. The Bay Area now has one of the highest COVID infection rates in California, “fueled by highly contagious omicron subvariants,” Bay Area health officials said last week while urging residents to wear masks again in indoor public settings. The Oakland restaurant closed temporarily in late April due to COVID-19 cases on staff. “It’s still really fragile,” Psychic Pie co-owner Nicholi Ludlow said of the state of the local industry.ĭaytrip co-owner Stella Dennig (left) and Yanessa Maldonado wait outside for customers in 2021. Owners are also again seeing a spike in COVID-related diner cancellations and uneven, unpredictable business. Equator Coffees has been shuffling employees among its eight Bay Area cafes when staff get sick, but didn’t have enough people to keep its popular Mill Valley location open on Saturday - the company’s first temporary closure since January. When the chef of North Beach’s Noren Izakaya contracted the virus last week, owner Kristy Leung had to fill in for him to avoid a temporary closure. Sebastopol pizzeria Psychic Pie temporarily shut down last weekend after the owners tested positive. ![]() It’s a new wrinkle in a lamentably familiar pandemic cycle for food businesses. The latest coronavirus surge rippling through the Bay Area is colliding with the restaurant industry’s staffing shortage, forcing temporary closures not only due to health concerns but also because there simply aren’t enough employees to fill shifts when others are out sick. “We really didn’t want to try to limp into an opening week,” said co-owner Tan Truong, who also runs Ju-Ni and Hina Yakitori in San Francisco. ![]()
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