Illinois Restaurant Association Joining Suit Against Pritzker
FoxFire Restaurant in Geneva, which is suing Governor JB Pritzker over his executive order closing bars and restaurants to indoor service.
A Kane County restaurant is getting a big hand in its battle against Governor JB Pritzker’s order closing bars and restaurants to indoor service. The Illinois Restaurant Association is joining FoxFire Restaurant’s suit against Pritzker.
IRA President Sam Toia says restaurants are “hemorrhaging” during the COVID-19 pandemic and Pritzker’s orders closing bars and restaurants to indoor service in every region of the state could be the difference between restaurants surviving the pandemic or not.
“It’s becoming very frustrating. When the pandemic started in March, we thought we’d be out of this by Memorial Day,” Toia said. “Now we’re moving close to Thanksgiving and back to no dining inside.”
Toia says 55% of restaurants in Illinois could close if the pandemic continues to hurt their business.
Toia thinks Pritzker should be limiting indoor service further instead of cutting it off completely to allow patrons to stay more distanced and still allow restaurants to bring in some income.
“We’ve had social distancing going on, which was about 50% occupancy,” he says. “Why are we going to 0% occupancy? Why can’t we do 25% occupancy with curbside pickup and delivery? It might be able to keep our restaurants in business.”
A Kane County judge granted an order allowing the restaurant to stay open in defiance of Pritzker’s order. It will likely get a full hearing later this month.
Toia says the Illinois Restaurant Association supports restaurants challenging the Governor’s order legally, but doesn’t support bars and restaurants staying open in defiance of the Governor’s order. Those restaurants face fines, citations, and potentially the loss of their liquor and gaming licenses.
Toia also called on the federal government to “step up” and provide a stimulus to help restaurants survive the pandemic.