Things I Know Now That I Didn’t Know Pre-COVID
The one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic’s aggressive foothold in the United States is fast approaching. A year of cancelled plans, shuttered restaurant dining rooms, and missed celebrations with friends; of postponed weddings, remote schooling, and working from home. On this day in 2020, none of us knew what we were in store for, but we could tell that this was not like SARS or Ebola — illnesses covered at length in the media, but with little impact on our day-to-day lives. I first knew that this was serious when SXSW was cancelled just a week before it was due to begin. We had many more questions about the virus…
Restaurants: A Love Letter
Restaurants, I miss you. I miss the anticipation of a night out. Putting on real clothes instead of my “daytime pajamas.” Swiping on some lipstick and mascara. Looking through my jewelry to pick the right earrings, even though I almost always settle on the same pair. I miss cocktail menus, full of delicious elixirs I could make myself, but won’t. At home, it’s always red wine, bourbon on the rocks, dirty martinis, or White Claws (pink grapefruit only!). But at a restaurant, it could be a frosé, icy and refreshing. Or an Old Fashioned with fancy bitters and rich syrupy Luxardo cherries. Or something herbal with an infused simple syrup…
What Will Make Restaurant Guests Feel Safe During COVID-19?
About two weeks ago, my husband and I went out to lunch. It was only the second time we’d gone out for a meal since March. We chose a local restaurant that we like with plenty of outdoor seating, so it felt like a pretty safe option. When we went to the bar to place our order, the bartender was serving another customer. She took the customer’s card, swiped it on the POS, and returned it. She then rang in our orders and ran our credit card, before getting our drinks. I ordered an iced tea, and the bartender used her (unwashed) hand to add a lemon. She also passed…
How to Prioritize Restaurant Employee Wellness
Once upon a time, I worked at a high-volume shot bar in downtown Boston. The hours were incredibly long, the place had three stories, and the patrons weren’t always very nice. So it could be a tough job. Male customers and bachelorette parties high on sisterhood often offered to buy us shots behind the bar, which we were allowed to take with manager approval. But there was also usually a little secret vodka mixed in with our sodas, which we sipped throughout the night just to make it to 2:00 AM. At this bar, I had a coworker we’ll call Steph. Steph was a lot of the things you’d want…
We can reopen restaurants. Here’s why we should not.
Across the country, states are allowing retail stores, movie theaters, and restaurants to reopen with restrictions in place to prevent the further spread of COVID-19. And while retail may be able to make the necessary adjustments to minimize risks, the nature of restaurants makes reopening a dangerous proposition. On a state level, new cases of the novel coronavirus have not been consistently going down, as this graph from the New York Times shows. And on a national level, more Americans have died from the coronavirus in the past three months than from the entire Vietnam War. So is this really the time to put groups of people into enclosed spaces…
5 Tips for a Successful Restaurant Takeout Operation
There are a lot of celebrations in the spring and early summer, which would usually draw big crowds to restaurants and bars. There are the brunches for Easter, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day. There are the pre-prom dinners and graduation parties for students. There are intimate anniversary dates and plenty of birthdays. Like my husband’s. And my mom’s. And my both my nieces’. And lots of my friends’. And mine. Yes, in two days I will turn the big 3-5. And it’s been hard to get excited about that, when I can’t go out for dinner and drinks with friends to celebrate. The current pandemic has made restaurant takeout more…
Resources for Restaurant Relief During COVID-19
Times have never been more uncertain for the restaurant, event, hotel, and hospitality industries. With dining rooms closed and people encouraged to stay at home, restaurateurs have found that staying afloat requires a Herculean effort. Unfortunately, from my position on the periphery of the industry, there isn’t much I can do to help. All I can do is share whatever information I have with anyone who will read it. So I’ve put together a list of resources to help independent restaurant owners during this crazy time. Some are grant and relief funds and some are discounts that may be helpful. They may not be huge savings on their own, but…
Remote Work Tips in the Time of COVID-19
Remote work can be lonely. Long hours of solitude and no one to bond with can contribute to depression and other mental health issues. Still, for many of us, the benefits of working at home outweigh the challenges. So we’re willing to figure out how to make it work. But now we’re in this bizarre situation where people who had no intention of becoming remote workers are stuck at home, trying to do their part to prevent the spread of COVID-19. While it sometimes sounds fun to work from home, the current state of affairs is jarring for those who weren’t prepared for it. And the lack of a schedule,…
SXSW Canceled – The View From Austin
For the first time in 34 years, SXSW is canceled. Concerns about COVID-19 have led the City of Austin to shut down the annual festival one week before it was due to begin. Is it the brave and responsible action of a city concerned for the safety of its citizens, at the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars in the local economy? Or is it a weak capitulation to an overblown media frenzy, compounded by the signatures of 50,000 frightened people? In either case, it must have been an agonizing decision to make, and I’m glad I wasn’t the one to make it. As hard as SXSW has tried…
