Actually we never went in because they had a sign on the door that said Masks were Required.
This restaurant only recently opened in my small town in rural county. They only serve breakfasts on Saturday am. We were the only car in their lot other than their workers. Was the food ok? I wondered. How come no one else was there?
We noted the open sign and walked up to the door. When we saw the sign that masks were required we walked away.
One of the workers or the owner opened the door and ran out to say we are open. We said yes we knew and that you mandate masks so we will be going elsewhere.
They just lost a customer and some revenue they probably needed since there were no other customers in their restaurant. Knowing this rural conservative town.. they probably have lost a ton of other customers here, too. People here in general don't want to wear the masks.
I suspect they won't last the year.
The local restaurant industry is the most difficult in the United States to run for more than a year. Most local restaurants, we're talking around 90%, don't make it more than 12 months before shutting their doors.
Those that make it past their first year are still usually weeded out in the next 3-5 years. If you make it past 5 years, then you're probably going to remain a community staple. A place that everyone goes and recommends like the Mexican restaurant in our town that even survived COVID because everyone loves it.
If you're adding another layer of reasons for people not to walk in your door on top of all of the hundreds of other reasons the people might not eat at your establishment, then you're turning that 12-36 month time frame much much shorter.
Mask mandates feel designed to kill the local restaurant industry.
This entire charade is designed to kill small businesses. Class warfare.
This. The focus is on restaurants because there are so many, but with few exceptions most small businesses are struggling. And while they are talking about continuing the eviction moratorium, that is only applying to residential - not commercial.
I know a guy who is a commercial lease litigator and he is VERY busy. He said most of the mom and pop landlords are willing to work with the tenants. The corporate ones, not so much. My brother is a small business owner and I introduced them. His landlord wants all the back rent - and yes, I get it is a contract, but for the love of all things holy, the business is down 50% and he didn't pay himself last year. Unlike the other tenants, he was actually paying a portion of the rent over the last year as a show of good faith. This guy lives in an $11 million home in SV. My brother's position is - and I quote - 'this guy needs to take a bite of the shit sandwich too.'
Good? attempt at pulling a random number out of your ass. But it's well known in the industry, less than 2% of restaurants make it. That's 98% plus that don't.