A return to at least a semblance of normal
- Scott Daniels: We Ate Well and Cheaply
- April 17, 2021
- 731
Given where we were a year ago, people are getting their COVID vaccines at a surprising clip. I’ll get round two at the end of the month, and I’m very much looking forward to feeling a little safer.
We really have to clap it up for the people responsible for getting the research and development for the vaccine accomplished so quickly. How many times have we read about some promising new medicine or treatment, with the caveat it might come to market in seven to 10 years? It's just over a year since the horror began, and an end to it is in sight.
That holds the promise of a return to at least a semblance of normal and the ability to get together for a good meal at a favorite restaurant without feeling like you’re risking life and lung.
Restaurants, which have been closed or only partially open, are gearing up to reopen fully, from fast-food places to fine dining. Diners are eager for this to happen, and places that have opened are reporting pretty briskly turning tables.
While they are trying to get back to normal, many restaurants are running into a serious roadblock: People don’t want to work there. Many are open at greatly reduced hours because there just aren’t people to cook and serve the food.
Last year when eateries closed down, then began a toe-in-the-water reconfigured carryout business model. Employees were let go, forming a small army of unemployed former restaurant workers turning to unemployment and stimulus checks to survive.
Many found other jobs at large retail fulfillment operations offering stable hours and real benefits, something generally lacking in food service. They aren’t likely to come back.
I’m reading stories about restaurant owners preparing to reopen and having no one show up for the hiring party. That’s both major chains and mom and pops. There are exceptions, and most of them are restaurants that didn’t let people go to begin with. Olive Garden has actually paid grateful bonuses to their employees who stayed put through the pandemic.
There's also the matter of safety. There’s no way to avoid being in close contact with people in the food-service business, and customers ditch their masks, of course, as soon as they’re seated. It’s far safer to stay home and away from the risk. Customers are separated by space, dividers and, in the best scenarios, seating placed to avoid recirculated air. Servers get no such protections and are forced into uncomfortably close contact with patrons.
The kitchen staff is at an even greater risk, as there is no way to cook in a kitchen and stay 6 feet apart. In the best of circumstances, restaurant kitchens are hot, steamy and crowded. If anyone can work in that environment and keep a mask on for the full hours of service, more power to them.
Would you walk into that kind of environment for $10 an hour? I would not. Owners are understandably balking at the $16 or $18 an hour it takes to compete with government stimulus and unemployment income.
All this will shake out, of course, and I think it will be to our benefit. Those who are still in food service or are returning will be those who really want to be there. They’ll be the people who cook because it is their passion, their calling.
Perhaps those who are there because it’s something to do for a paycheck will settle in elsewhere. When people love what they do and are eager to bring great food to guests, that’s a huge win for people who love to eat good food.
Our area has seen a pretty steady return to being fully open, but we’ve also lost some great places, which closed last spring and have not reopened at all. I’m looking forward to what is to come.