MA restaurant owners fear rollback to Phase 3, Step 1 is another hit to business

BOSTON — Bessie King and her family own Villa Mexico Café in downtown Boston.

She says Tuesday’s rollback by Governor Charlie Baker is just another step backwards for restaurants.

“To hear the governor have these rollbacks without an economic relief plan attached to it, is just very tiring you know, very draining,” said King.

Starting Sunday, people will need to keep their masks on at all times while sitting at a table in a restaurant except while eating and drinking.

[ Baker: State rolling back reopening plan due to COVID-19 data ]

The maximum number of people per table drops back down to six instead of 10, and there’s a new 90-minute time limit for each party.

“Ninety minutes - it’s not enough time to get a table, serve it, make sure they leave on time and turn around for the next person with sanitation with the social distancing,” said King. “With making sure our kitchen is following the required cleaning and COVID sanitation rules.”

Restaurant owners say their businesses are not the source of spreading COVID-19.

“Unregulated gatherings make it easy to avoid the mandated and supervised safety steps that regularly occur in restaurants including distancing, mask-wearing, frequent use of sanitizer,” said Bob Luz, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Restaurants Association.

Luz says he’s at least thankful Gov. Baker didn’t shut down indoor dining completely.

[ Local chamber after MA COVID-19 rollback: ‘We will see more stores closing’ ]

“He’s reading the data and the data says that less than 2% of all tracing comes back to restaurants overall,” said Luz. “And in the past few weeks it’s been less than 1 percent.”

“They can come out and say we’re not closing restaurants, but they might as well say they are because without help we’re not surviving,” said King.

King worries these changes will make people more afraid to go out to eat, and restaurants are already closing down or going into hibernation for several weeks because they don’t have enough customers.

That’s the case right now for her restaurant. She says they’re forced to close until at least January.

“Restaurants bring in business and work and jobs to communities,” said King. “If we close the economic status of our state is going to be even more in peril.”

King is also a member of Massachusetts Restaurants United, which released the following statement Tuesday:

“These rollbacks are another blow to struggling restaurants at a precarious moment. For months, we have pleaded for targeted support to help independent restaurants survive and are deeply disappointed that Governor Baker’s announcement did not come with any emergency relief measures. Independent restaurants need extended winter patio use, liquor license fee reductions, temporary caps on predatory third party delivery fees, and direct financial support. Massachusetts has already lost hundreds of independent restaurants that brought vibrancy and diversity to communities across our state. It is past time for state leaders to come together to pass the long-stalled Economic Development bill and for officials at all levels to recommit to the survival of our small businesses.”

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