I wasn’t sure whether or not I wanted to address the pandemic happening right now, as it seems like this is all we ever hear about in the news or online now. But seeing as I currently work in the restaurant industry in one of the states with the highest amount of cases in the nation, I figured I would give my perspective on how this virus has affected the restaurant industry. I will just be giving my observations of my personal experience and will try to avoid making any overarching statements about the situation as a whole, as I am no expert on the matter.
The restaurant industry in Chicago has taken a huge hit from this pandemic. They were amongst the first businesses to close down or reduce person-to-person contact by becoming carry-out/delivery only. I am lucky enough to work at a restaurant that is doing carry-out/delivery only, and therefore am still able to work through this. Many people I know haven’t been so lucky. Many are unemployed, as the restaurant they worked at have made drastic cuts to personnel in order to remain viable. This has caused many chefs in the Chicago scene, like Rick Bayless, to plead with the governor to help restaurant workers through this. However no relief is in sight as of right now. The stimulus package from the national government is all that these workers have to look forward to for help. Meanwhile, it is coming up on nearly two weeks without work for some restaurant workers and rent is coming up in a few days. And with pay as low as it is in the industry, the reserve money for a lot of people just isn’t as much as it needs to be to cover an event like this. My hope is that this won’t discourage people from working in restaurants, and I hope that this is the wake up call the industry needs to pay its workers what they deserve. Otherwise I fear that many restaurants won’t have cooks to make the food and will ultimately have to shut down even after this pandemic has passed.
On the other hand, for some restaurants it’s business as usual (kind of). The restaurant I work at is one of the only ones on the block to remain open, other than some chain restaurants. Even though we are only allowed to do carry-out and delivery orders, we are just as busy as we were before this all happened, sometimes even busier. Now, our issue isn’t that we have too many people working, its that sometimes we don’t have enough. A few of my coworkers are college students who, after dorms closed, had to go back home. Now, we are understaffed during some parts of the day, so it might be beneficial to hire maybe one or two other cooks to help out during those times. The only reason why we are able to do so well is because food service businesses are considered “essential” and therefore are allowed to stay open, even through a shut down order.
This can also be considered from a different angle. I framed being able to work through the shut down as a good thing, however it also can be seen as dangerous to us as workers. On a daily basis we are exposed to a lot more people than the average person quarantined in their home is, and therefore are more likely to contract and/or spread the virus to those we come into contact with. We have been taking many more precautions during this time in order to reduce the chances of infection, so the chances that we give it to someone are extremely low. But the chances that we get it are higher. This makes me question which is more important: money or my personal health. And in a lot of ways the two are synonymous, in order to be healthy you need money and vice versa. Personally, I am still young and have no underlying conditions, so I am confident that I will be ok and I am taking the necessary precautions in order to not spread the virus if I am a carrier. However another coworker of mine is asthmatic, so getting the disease for them could be extremely problematic.
As I am writing this the total amount of COVID cases in the United States is at nearly 105,000 people, and that number is rising every day. Things will only get worse before they get better, and I hope they get better soon. One thing that I hope happens after this all subsides is that the restaurant industry comes out better than it was going into it. Offering farer wages, and putting in place measures to make sure that they’ll be able to cope if anything like this happens again would be a great start. The main thing that people at home can do to help is to order from local restaurants that are still open. There’s a good chance that if you’re reading this, you like food and restaurants. Order from your favorite spot so that when the dust clears, they’re still there. Not only will you be helping ensure your favorite restaurant stays open, but you will also be ensuring that the people who work there can continue to do so.
The Cultural Chef 