Interviewing restaurants

Local Restaurants through the Pandemic

KATELYN CHU

lifestyles editor

With 2020’s economic scene largely dominated by COVID and its influence, restaurants have not been exempt from the negative impacts including rates of employment dropping and decreased business sales across the country. Restaurant and shop owners have had to adapt in order to stay open and continue operating.

As of January 25th, California’s regional Stay at Home order lifted in Santa Clara County and consequently, more restaurants started opening up. However, this does not erase the millions of jobs in the restaurant and food industry lost due to the pandemic. Though some have recovered in the recent months, across the country, the numbers on employment and sales are not back to the same level as they had been before March of 2020.

According to the National Restaurant Association, total sales at eating and drinking places from March to November of 2020 were 192 billion dollars below the projected values. What are called “eating and drinking places’’ mainly comprise the U.S. restaurant and foodservice industry, and before the pandemic started, they accounted for approximately 75 percent of all restaurant and foodservice sales.

A staggering 5.5 million jobs were shown to be revoked last April alone in data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and still in January of this year, around 19,000 jobs were lost, according to the US Department of Labor. Additionally, more than 110,00 eating and drinking businesses closed in 2020.

Said Kathleen Guo, the owner of XLB Kitchen, a local restaurant that serves handmade “xiao long bao” and traditional Shanghainese food, “in the first three months our income dropped, 70 percent.” Larger chain companies like Panera Bread also struggled, with the company “[having] to close the Sunnyvale location permanently due in large part to the pandemic,” according to Tara Vo, a shift supervisor at Panera. However, the tolls of the pandemic are not solely economical, but also personal and stressful mentally. Vo faced mant challenges with “many anti-maskers” refusing to wear masks and Guo spoke to the strain of waking up every day and checking to see if she is sick or has brought the virus home to her young son.

In order to survive these brutal times, restaurants have adapted different ways to bring in customers and retain business. Describing one method she employed to help business, said Guo, “I turned to social media and formed my own message groups on WeChat for the local Cupertino and Saratoga areas. Both chats have over 200 members and were built through word of mouth. When I created new, unique dishes, I would offer them up for delivery in the group which kept [XLB Kitchen] fresh in people’s minds.”

Similarly, Dr. Limin Hu, a serial entrepreneur, saw opportunities in light of the challenges presented by the pandemic. “I have to cook more now, so I partnered with the owner of multiple restaurants to create pre-prepared gourmet kits. People can order online and enjoy their favorite meals from these restaurants at home,” said Hu.

Another aspect restaurants have to worry about during these times is taking the necessary safety measures to ensure customers feel comfortable. Aside from the constant sanitizing, mandated masks and making limited contact deliveries -- a task she single handedly undertakes -- another thing Guo did was “After cutting back on [her] team, [she] gave all [her] remaining employees full-time jobs because it reduces the risk, as they don’t have to also work another job somewhere else and be possibly exposed to COVID there.” And despite the many setbacks and procedural changes food service stores have had to endure throughout this pandemic, when asked if COVID had any positive impacts, said Guo “The customers, in the first three months were really supportive of

my business and I”.

Though undoubtedly devastating economically to many businesses and challenging to the workers, with restrictions easing up and vaccine

administrations progressing, hope for a return to ‘normal’ may be on the horizon

“Restaurants have lost almost three times more jobs compared to any other industry.”

“What was really touching to see was when they said ‘I want you to stay here’ and then gave tips that were two to five times the amount the order cost. [...] In times like these, good character really shines through.”

“Restaurants who have survived have done so because they adapted, and with their inventivness, some might even come out of the other end stronger.”