Shutdown: Your favorite restaurant might not reopen. Here’s what could prevent that

More than 50 Sacramento-area restaurants shut down dine-in service even before county health officials called for the remainder to do so Tuesday afternoon. When will they reopen? Your guess is as good as the owners’.

Shutdowns related to coronavirus and its associated disease, COVID-19, could very realistically leave Sacramento’s restaurant scene looking like a ghost of its previous state whenever going out to dinner becomes safe again. Mass layoffs are already affecting the 75,000 people who work in the city’s restaurants and bar, and more will likely come as owners’ financial resources grow thin.

Many restaurants are still open for delivery and/or takeout meals, both of which are permitted under the state’s shelter-in-place order.

A Google Sheet set up earlier this week lists more than 175 restaurants doing so in Sacramento and its suburbs, with phone numbers, website and notes for each. Gift card purchases can also provide restaurants with small influxes of cash, though they’re not available at every restaurant (particularly more humble ones) and their use is contingent on the business eventually opening back up.

Paragary Restaurant Group closed its flagship Paragary’s but kept Centro Cocina Mexicana and all three Cafe Bernardo locations open for takeout and DoorDash delivery. Each are staffed with 10 or so employees; the remaining 200-plus have been laid off.

The remaining employees have still been financially hurt by the lack of sit-down customers, PRG partner Randy Paragary said. But Paragary also said he’s been pleasantly surprised how many customers have tipped well despite not receiving dine-in service.

“(Takeout) is actually doing pretty well,” Paragary said. “It keeps people employed and keeps commerce going. We’re still purchasing food from our vendors.”

But takeout-and-delivery-only isn’t a sustainable business model for, say, expansive dim sum restaurants like Happy Garden and King Palace, which normally seat close to 500 people. They’ll need some sort of rent relief from property owners and landlords, said Frank Louie, the COO of the California Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce.

The Sacramento City Council’s recent eviction ban covers people who have lost their jobs due to coronavirus, but doesn’t offer protection for businesses that have closed down as a result of the virus the way San Francisco and Los Angeles’ do.

Beyond rent decreases or deferred payments, Louie said restaurants need big cash — more than takeout, gift cards or GoFundMe campaigns. The National Restaurant Association asked the White House and Congress for $455 billion in various economic benefits Wednesday, including a $145 billion recovery fund to offset the anticipated $225 billion industry loss of revenue nationwide.

Region Restaurants, a subset of Region Business, started a GoFundMe page around 2 p.m. Tuesday that had raised more than $16,000 as of Thursday afternoon. Organizations like Visit Sacramento, the Sacramento Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Sacramento Economic Council will eventually disperse the fund to applicants under the advisement of Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s office.

The city of Sacramento established a $1 million economic relief fund for small local businesses including restaurants and bars, each of which would be eligible for up to $25,000 in zero-interest loans. California businesses also now qualify for low-interest U.S. Small Business Administration disaster loans. But restaurant margins are thin, and those loans have to be paid back. They won’t be enough to staunch the bleeding, Louie said.

Chinese restaurants were particularly hard-hit in the weeks leading up to the shelter-in-place order, with some in Sacramento reporting losses of 50 to 70 percent as fears about the virus spread. Their owners and other nonnative English speakers may not know about or know how to access aid options, Louie said.

“There is a cultural and language barrier, and they don’t know how to access city services, so the city should reach out to community-based organizations to try to get the word out,” Louie said. “Maybe the city could provide translators for some sort of service.”

For now, Burger Patch co-owner Phil Horn is asking for patience and patronage over the next few months, or at least for people to leave their favorite restaurants five-star online reviews. Operations at Burger Patch and other restaurants making the rapid switch to takeout-and-delivery-only are in a state of flux, and those businesses that survive will largely be hiring new staff when the pandemic ends.

Horn’s vegan fast food restaurant normally donates a portion of the money made from burger sales to a local charity. This month, 100 percent of whatever profit Burger Patch makes will go toward the Region Restaurants GoFundMe.

“The industry is as resilient a group as I’ve come across so I have no doubt that we’ll flex in all possible ways to creatively stem the tide now and ramp up with full force when it’s time,” Horn wrote. “We’ll be ready. So we simply ask that you bring your appetite (and maybe someone else’s).”