The Impacts of Covid-19: The Food Industry of Boston

Working for Boston Red Dogs for more than fifteen year as a street vendor, George said, they almost didn't make it this year. Video by Arturo Ruiz

By Arturo Ruiz

Covid-19 has brutally affected the restaurant industry. Cities like Boston are facing the harshest circumstances. Boston relies on people coming into the city to support its restaurant industry. Furthermore, the demise of the restaurant industry during the Pandemic has had a rippling effect on restaurant owners, employees, and the overall economy of Massachusetts.

Steven Clark, the Vice President for Government Affairs for the Massachusetts Restaurant Association represents the food and beverage industry on a number of different fronts, whether it's advocacy with the government cost savings and education.

Initially, the organization had a rush of questions revolving around Covid-19 protocols and guidelines. The industry had a number of questions during the first reopening.

“I believe we shut down restaurants got shut down on March 16 and they remained closed, except for takeout and delivery until June 8. Outdoor dining was allowed to reopen and on June 22, and indoor dining was allowed to reopen. There were a number of questions with the reopening process of what was permitted, what people needed to do, how they needed to comply.”

The entire industry restaurant industry across Massachusetts has been severely impacted by Covid-19. The losses from 2020 alone are close to $7 billion. Clark went on to say that businesses in downtown Boston face unique challenges.

Barking Crab converted their patio into a tent for the cooler months. Hanging up plastic on the sides to keep the heat in. Photo by Arturo Ruiz

“I think operations in downtown Boston were disproportionately impacted. Boston relies on tourism, workers, athletics, and events and all those things didn't happen.” Clark continued saying, “restaurants in the middle of the city that had no foot traffic and had nobody there.”

While restaurants located in suburbs struggled they were able to rely on their neighborhood populations. “Restaurants in suburban locations have built-in neighbors, you know, a kind of a built-in network already. They're not relying on people that are driving to their places to go.”

Restaurant in the North End opening its windows for the warm weather. Photo by Arturo Ruiz

Before the pandemic hit the industry was about 10% of all the workers in Massachusetts, it's more than 300,000 workers. And that doesn't count any of the vendors. So there's a second, the industry is a significant factor in the Massachusetts economy.

Across Massachusetts, about twenty-two percent or 4,000 restaurants have closed. In March, 250,000 of the state’s 300,000 restaurant workers were furloughed, and nearly 40 percent have yet to be recalled, according to Bob Luz, president of the Massachusetts Restaurants Association.

“It was a difference between life or death. I mean we would have literally filed for bankruptcy,” said Cliff Dever owner of Warehouse Bar and Grille located in the financial district of Boston. A combination of PP loans, EIV loans, savings, and a great landlord allowed him and his wife to keep their restaurant open despite having to close down temporarily.

In late February 2020, Cliff starting getting calls canceling events. As news of Covid-19 spread, Cliff decided to close his restaurant for a couple of days, and then the Governor announced everything would be closed for two weeks.

In Cliff’s head, he was saying okay this just two weeks to get this under control, and then we can move on. However, they did not re-open until the middle of June with just outdoor dining.

“We were just in disbelief of everything that was happening and we wanted everyone to be safe,” said Cliff.

Cliff received the first round of PP Loans which allowed them to re-open outdoors and get through the summer. We made it through summer and to the end of October we were just broke even. As the winter months approached the restaurant had to close down temporarily.

“We applied for everything you could apply for, PP loans, grants, other loans, and anything we could to survive.”The reason we were able to stay open is because of our PP Loans and our landlord’s flexibility, which was a blessing Cliff said.

Cliff spoke about the challenges of being in the city. Unlike restaurants in residential neighborhoods, the Warehouse Bar and Grille rely on office tenets and tourism. Furthermore, they rely on sports. The dining restrictions combined with shortened sports seasons have made it hard for the restaurant to adapt.

Cliff said he was lucky to receive the second PP loan and is planning to open back up in a week. Cliff noted that he feels very lucky to still have a restaurant as many others in Boston have been forced to close permanently. He also added that while restaurants have been getting a lot of publicity restaurant employees and vendors are really struggling right now.

Before the pandemic hit the restaurant industry was about 10% of all the workers in Massachusetts, it's more than 300,000 workers, said Clark. The industry is a significant factor in the Massachusetts economy.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, prior to the pandemic, the unemployment rate was 2.7% and now is 6.8% in Massachusetts.

With the weather getting nicer, restaurants are trying to make use of all the outdoor space they have. Photo by Arturo Ruiz

Fwd.us – a pro-immigration lobbying group based in the U.S. that advocates for undocumented immigrants, DACA recipients, and higher levels of immigration work visas – immigrants are 50% more likely to contract the virus than essential workers born in the U.S. Further, immigrants work on the front lines of the pandemic and face an increased probability of exposure, as social distancing is not always possible and personal protective equipment is not available.

Sandra Aleman-Nijjar founder of the East Boston Soup Kitchen said it is heartbreaking to see how COVID-19 has affected her community.

“Sometimes my tears have come out seeing people of all ages, not just people of like middle-aged, but elderly too. And because they're undocumented, they don't qualify for government assistance,” Aleman-Nijjar said. “They hurt so badly because they know they lost a job that had been in for so many years. And now they have been laid off and they can't get any benefits, they can't get another job because they're too old.”

As of April 12, according to the Boston Public Health Commission, the Latinx/Hispanic community in Boston has the second-highest known cases at 18,211, which are 30% of the known cases in Boston.

“At the soup kitchen, we have people that come in crying, saying that they don't have money to pay rent, and the landlords are pressuring them to pay or otherwise they have to go,” Aleman-Nijjar said. “Some of their circumstances have really been a drastic change from renting one room or being in a house to living in a U-Haul truck.

East Boston has the highest cumulative percentage of positive COVID-19 cases in Boston at 19.1%.

While there were a lot of rules and regulations put out there revolving around the restaurant industry and how they operate under COVID-19 protocols, Clark was proud that the industry had high compliance rates.

Restaurants across Boston, such as Gather, have used igloos to allow for outdoor dining in the cooler months. Photo by Arturo Ruiz

“We're proud to say that the industry has truly complied. The most recent numbers we've seen from the investigators was 99% compliance rate with COVID-19 protocols in the restaurant industry.”

A big factor of a restaurant’s survival during the pandemic was its ability to adapt. Many restaurants turned to creative ways to maximize outdoor dining. These included tent-like structures or additional outdoor seating.

Furthermore, restaurants that previously relied very little on take-out are relying on it now to keep their restaurant afloat.

3,400 locations have never reopened since last March, that's a significant closing said, Clark. Every closing that happens is its own story. A story of an owner losing their business, employees that don't have their job anymore, and customers who lost their favorite restaurant. Each one of those stories is sad, and we do need to mourn the loss that has happened.

Explorateur closed in August 2020 and plans to re-opend as a new restaurant later on in 2021. In September 3,600 restaurants were closed across Massachusetts. Photo by Arturo Ruiz

Clark believes that while the restaurant industry in Boston and Massachusetts may change it will bounce back as more and more people continue to be vaccinated.

“I think that I think that employees that are getting their shots, I think customers getting the shots is going to bring people back. I think those are all good things to help the industry. I think the industry is going to come back and I think it's going to come back really strong.”