Chicago Bars and Restaurants Reopen for Indoor Service, But Will Crowd Limits Allow Them to Survive?
The famed Billy Goat Tavern in Chicago.
Over the weekend, restaurants and bars in the the city of Chicago and suburban Cook County were legally allowed to restart indoor service. But the rules for re-opening in the so-called “Tier 1” mitigations only allow a maximum of 25 customers, or 25% of a room in at one time.
While forced to suspend indoor service, countless Chicago-area restaurants have gone by the wayside. Illinois Restaurant Association President & CEO Sam Toia says such limited capacity won’t help struggling restaurants make ends meet.
“While every step towards reopening indoor dining is a positive one, these limited parameters fall short of the restaurant industry’s critical needs and expectations,” Toia said in a statement to The Illinoize Monday. “As one of the most highly regulated industries in terms of health and safety, with enhanced precautions introduced during COVID-19, Illinois restaurants know how to protect the well-being of their guests and team members. They are capable of safely serving more guests than what the state will currently allow, and they need more to survive this crisis.”
Even advancing from “Tier 1” to “Phase 4” mitigations only marginally increases seating limits in restaurants and bars that serve food.
We’ve asked the Governor’s office and Illinois Department of Public Health if they were considering more capacity at restaurants, but our message hasn’t been returned.
Toia added restaurants also need financial relief and encouraged Congress to pass federal RESTAURANTS Act., that would provide $120 billion in assistance to the food service industry. While President Joe Biden has signaled his support for an economic stimulus plan, it isn’t clear yet how bars and restaurants fit into the final mix.
Toia says, without action, Illinois could lose 5,000 restaurants before the end of the pandemic. The state had around 26,000 restaurants at the start of the Coronavirus outbreak.