BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - Restaurants in New York State are not painting a bright economic future thanks to the pandemic.
According to a survey by the New York State Restaurant Association, approximately 90 percent of restaurants believe they will not be profitable in the next six months without government assistance.
"It's been hard," Ellie Grenauer, co-owner of Glen Park Tavern in Williamsville, said. "Going to take-out only initially was very difficult because it's not what we're used to. Financially, we were at a nice, comfortable place. We were supporting a lot of families through the restaurant. Then to be dropped to takeout only and open to just outdoor -our place doesn't have much of an outdoor except a parking lot- and then trying to open after that for indoor, outdoor, and takeout? Just to do that, I need twice the amount of staff to do half the amount of sales."
There are 18.6 percent of restaurants that remain temporarily or permanently closed. Nearly 75 percent of restaurant operators have no plans of hiring additional employees in the next month.
"To begin with, the (profit margins) are slim on a restaurant," Grenauer said. "When you drop your sales to half or less than half, how can you make any money? You still have to have the same amount of staff on. You're not making money. You're supporting a lot of families and that's one of the reasons why we make it work."
The NYSRA are pushing for the government to provide relief to the restaurant industry. This includes providing rent relief and an increase in the capacity for indoor dining. Free said the government can help by creating funds as an incentive to restaurants to re-hire people. The NYSRA also wants the government to insist that business interruption insurance claims are paid.
The National Restaurant Association wants the establishment of a Restaurant Recovery Fund to help restaurants receive liquid assets. They also want another application for payroll protection program loans and to make those loans tax deductible. The group also wants tax credits for when PPP loans run out, improvements in disaster loans, and other credits to assist small businesses.
"We certainly feel that most restaurants could handle a return to capacity," Free said. "Restaurants, by nature, have been doing all these safety things for years before this even happened. We're well trained in proper sanitation and health measures. During this, we've just ramped it up a little bit."
Free, who oversees the food service for the Buffalo Bisons, said the loss of fans at baseball games this year hurts them because that's their bread and butter. He said restaurant operators like him feel like they're in a "surreal time warp."
"Every day is like a groundhog day in the restaurant business," he said. "We're just trying to get through the next day. The feeling I'm getting now in talking to people is that it feels like we're treading water. Before, there was a light at the end of the tunnel, whether it be getting to phase two or phase three. Now that we're (in phase four), we're hoping for something else. Just a carrot that if some metrics are met, we can go to 60 percent capacity. We just don't have that carrot of hope that a lot of us are looking for."
Grenauer also said it will be important for an increased capacity at restaurants because restaurants will lose outdoor seating once the winter comes to New York.