Local restaurant and bar owners shed light on the effects of COVID-19
Stoyana Petkova, owner of the Wild Owl Cafe, says that COVID-19 posed some challenges, but community support kept them going. (Photo by Sarah Giglio)
NORWICH — The COVID-19 pandemic has brought on several changes to everyday life. Social distancing, face coverings, and extra cleaning and sanitizing are all a part of our new normal. This has been the reality for over a year, and for local bars and restaurants these changes have posed a challenge. But, it has also shown the positive and supportive nature of Norwich residents.
Owner of The Blarney Stone Pub, Sarah Woods, says the pandemic was scary at first, and brought along a lot of uncertainty.
"It was scary just not knowing what was going to happen or if we'd even be able to reopen," said Woods.
However, Woods also said that for The Pub, the timing was somewhat perfect. She had already begun expanding and remodeling the kitchen. At first she was unsure if renovations should continue, but she decided to take the risk. Luckily, it paid off.
The nationwide shut down allowed Woods to focus on the remodeling efforts. She expanded the kitchen, instituted a full menu, changed the tables, and redid the lights. When bars were allowed to reopen with the stipulation of serving food, she already had everything in place to adhere to this new guideline.
Owners of the Wild Owl Cafe, Mike LaCroce and Stoyana Petkova, had similar experiences. They closed their doors for the month of March to deep clean the restaurant. The timing coincided with the initial shutdown.
But, by mid-April they were open for business once again. LaCroce says this benefited their establishment because by then, customers had already gotten used to the new COVID guidelines.
"So everything had been closed down for about a month I think before we reopened, so they were already adjusted to it," said LaCroce.
Also notable was the way customers responded to the challenges restaurants were facing. According to Petkova, customers were tipping more than usual and social distancing on their own. Some customers were reportedly waiting outside in the cold for their food, in order to keep other patrons safe.
Being a restaurant, The Wild Owl was only allowed to offer take-out services initially. Petkova said they weren't used to this many to-go orders, and at the time only she and LaCroce were working at the restaurant. This resulted in extremely long wait times for customers.
"If somebody calls at 5:00 and their food will be ready at 7, they were okay with that, because they knew we needed the business and it was hard, it was hard to adjust," said Petkova.
Local restaurateur Dave Cirello, the owner of Park Place and Fred’s Inn, agreed that the pandemic has been challenging.
“We had to shut down for three months. It was pretty scary,” he said. “My biggest concern at first was ‘oh my god, how am I going to keep this place and pay these bills and make it through these three months.'”
Luckily, Cirello said he was able to apply to the Payroll Protection Program, which provided funds for rent, payroll expenses, and utilities.
There is also a new program aiming to support restaurants. Beginning April 30, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) will be accepting registrations for their new Restaurant Revitalization Fund.
Under President Biden, and the American Rescue Plan, $28.6 billion in funds have been allocated for restaurants and other food establishments. These funds are meant to help ease the financial damage done by the pandemic.
The SBA will be accepting applications until all funds have been exhausted. Approved businesses will receive up to $10 million, or up to $5 million per physical location. Restaurant owners will have until March 11, 2023 to spend the provided funds.
Beyond financial concerns, Cirello and Petkova agree that getting adjusted to the new guidelines was difficult at times. At Park Place, they began bleaching everything, including the bartop, tables, and door handles. Recently they even installed touchless faucets to reduce the spread of germs.
Petkova also stated that the new cleaning and sanitizing regulations were an adjustment.
"It was different because we had to sanitize everything a lot more than we did before," said Petkova. "We had to sanitize the tables, chairs, every single pen, we had to wear gloves all the time. It was extra work for everything. It wasn't bad it was just like, from one day you're doing one thing and then the next day you have to do 25 extra steps."
As far as mask-wearing, Cirello states customers have yo-yoed between compliance and defiance.
“We had a little problem at first. We actually had to put signs on the doors- mandatory masks- because they were fighting us over it,” said Cirello. “We had to have masks at the doors so we could hand them out.”
From there, he says, customers got used to the mask enforcement, because “it’s a state law, we don’t have a choice.”
Now, with more and more residents getting vaccinated against COVID-19, Cirello said this has posed a new problem.
“I’ve got people coming in going ‘well I’m vaccinated, I don’t need to wear a mask,’” he said.
On the other side of the coin, bartenders have become waitstaff overnight. Blarney Stone Pub bartender, Bev Smith, says this change was "amazing."
"It's a lot more action but I like it that way," said Smith. She also said that their new food service "saved them."
Smith also stated that while some customers may not agree with the regulations, they are still respectful and follow them. Woods agrees, citing the positive attitude of customers and their good reception to the food requirements.
"It's been incredible. Because people know what to do and they respect the rules and they respect us and other people. It hasn't been an issue at all," said Woods.
Regulations surrounding bars and restaurants have also been rapidly changing over the past year, causing difficulty for employers and staff.
“They were so gray and vague, it was almost like every day you had to look at the New York State website and see what kind of nonsense was next. It was almost impossible to keep up with it even though you’re trying cause they’re passing stuff so fast,” said Cirello.
“In the beginning it was a little confusing because I know other people who have restaurants in other counties and they were under the impression that they had to do certain things,” said LaCroce. “Everybody had a different idea of what they were supposed to do.”
Fortunately, regulations for bars and restaurants seem to be changing for the better. This week, it was announced that patrons no longer need to purchase food in order to drink alcoholic beverages.
Starting next month, curfews will begin to lift as well. Effective May 17, the 12 a.m. outdoor dining curfew will be removed. On May 31, the 12 a.m. indoor dining curfew will be lifted as well. This means bars and restaurants will be able to return to their regular hours.
Do these changes in guidelines show a brighter future for bars and restaurants? Cirello is hopeful that is the case.
"All the restrictions they put on us are coming off and we're heading in the right direction, so I'm excited about that," he said. "We're open until midnight, I don't have to serve food with alcohol, and hopefully we'll be open 100 percent here in another month or so."
Petkova is hopeful as well, but stated she doesn't think things will be the same.
"I don't think it can go back to what it was before. I think it's only going to go forward now," she said. "No matter what, they're always going to go out to eat, it's just going to be in a little different way."
Despite their struggles, there is a consensus among restaurant owners and workers that they have been taken care of by the community.
"When everything started it was 'we're in it together,' and it's totally true and it was like that," said Woods.
"The community took care of the hospitality industry, the restaurants, for sure," said LaCroce.
These restaurants were able to stay in business throughout the pandemic, and it is largely in part to the support shown by the Norwich community.
"We survived it and that's all that matters," LaCroce said. "Every day on Facebook you would see 'oh this restaurant is closing after 40 years.' Utica, Syracuse, they all got destroyed where here even some of the ones that aren't busy stayed going which is impressive."
"We were not only able to survive the pandemic, but we've flourished since reopening. It's been really good," said Woods.
Owner of The Blarney Stone Pub, Sarah Woods, says the pandemic was scary at first, and brought along a lot of uncertainty.
"It was scary just not knowing what was going to happen or if we'd even be able to reopen," said Woods.
However, Woods also said that for The Pub, the timing was somewhat perfect. She had already begun expanding and remodeling the kitchen. At first she was unsure if renovations should continue, but she decided to take the risk. Luckily, it paid off.
The nationwide shut down allowed Woods to focus on the remodeling efforts. She expanded the kitchen, instituted a full menu, changed the tables, and redid the lights. When bars were allowed to reopen with the stipulation of serving food, she already had everything in place to adhere to this new guideline.
Owners of the Wild Owl Cafe, Mike LaCroce and Stoyana Petkova, had similar experiences. They closed their doors for the month of March to deep clean the restaurant. The timing coincided with the initial shutdown.
But, by mid-April they were open for business once again. LaCroce says this benefited their establishment because by then, customers had already gotten used to the new COVID guidelines.
"So everything had been closed down for about a month I think before we reopened, so they were already adjusted to it," said LaCroce.
Also notable was the way customers responded to the challenges restaurants were facing. According to Petkova, customers were tipping more than usual and social distancing on their own. Some customers were reportedly waiting outside in the cold for their food, in order to keep other patrons safe.
Being a restaurant, The Wild Owl was only allowed to offer take-out services initially. Petkova said they weren't used to this many to-go orders, and at the time only she and LaCroce were working at the restaurant. This resulted in extremely long wait times for customers.
"If somebody calls at 5:00 and their food will be ready at 7, they were okay with that, because they knew we needed the business and it was hard, it was hard to adjust," said Petkova.
Local restaurateur Dave Cirello, the owner of Park Place and Fred’s Inn, agreed that the pandemic has been challenging.
“We had to shut down for three months. It was pretty scary,” he said. “My biggest concern at first was ‘oh my god, how am I going to keep this place and pay these bills and make it through these three months.'”
Luckily, Cirello said he was able to apply to the Payroll Protection Program, which provided funds for rent, payroll expenses, and utilities.
There is also a new program aiming to support restaurants. Beginning April 30, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) will be accepting registrations for their new Restaurant Revitalization Fund.
Under President Biden, and the American Rescue Plan, $28.6 billion in funds have been allocated for restaurants and other food establishments. These funds are meant to help ease the financial damage done by the pandemic.
The SBA will be accepting applications until all funds have been exhausted. Approved businesses will receive up to $10 million, or up to $5 million per physical location. Restaurant owners will have until March 11, 2023 to spend the provided funds.
Beyond financial concerns, Cirello and Petkova agree that getting adjusted to the new guidelines was difficult at times. At Park Place, they began bleaching everything, including the bartop, tables, and door handles. Recently they even installed touchless faucets to reduce the spread of germs.
Petkova also stated that the new cleaning and sanitizing regulations were an adjustment.
"It was different because we had to sanitize everything a lot more than we did before," said Petkova. "We had to sanitize the tables, chairs, every single pen, we had to wear gloves all the time. It was extra work for everything. It wasn't bad it was just like, from one day you're doing one thing and then the next day you have to do 25 extra steps."
As far as mask-wearing, Cirello states customers have yo-yoed between compliance and defiance.
“We had a little problem at first. We actually had to put signs on the doors- mandatory masks- because they were fighting us over it,” said Cirello. “We had to have masks at the doors so we could hand them out.”
From there, he says, customers got used to the mask enforcement, because “it’s a state law, we don’t have a choice.”
Now, with more and more residents getting vaccinated against COVID-19, Cirello said this has posed a new problem.
“I’ve got people coming in going ‘well I’m vaccinated, I don’t need to wear a mask,’” he said.
On the other side of the coin, bartenders have become waitstaff overnight. Blarney Stone Pub bartender, Bev Smith, says this change was "amazing."
"It's a lot more action but I like it that way," said Smith. She also said that their new food service "saved them."
Smith also stated that while some customers may not agree with the regulations, they are still respectful and follow them. Woods agrees, citing the positive attitude of customers and their good reception to the food requirements.
"It's been incredible. Because people know what to do and they respect the rules and they respect us and other people. It hasn't been an issue at all," said Woods.
Regulations surrounding bars and restaurants have also been rapidly changing over the past year, causing difficulty for employers and staff.
“They were so gray and vague, it was almost like every day you had to look at the New York State website and see what kind of nonsense was next. It was almost impossible to keep up with it even though you’re trying cause they’re passing stuff so fast,” said Cirello.
“In the beginning it was a little confusing because I know other people who have restaurants in other counties and they were under the impression that they had to do certain things,” said LaCroce. “Everybody had a different idea of what they were supposed to do.”
Fortunately, regulations for bars and restaurants seem to be changing for the better. This week, it was announced that patrons no longer need to purchase food in order to drink alcoholic beverages.
Starting next month, curfews will begin to lift as well. Effective May 17, the 12 a.m. outdoor dining curfew will be removed. On May 31, the 12 a.m. indoor dining curfew will be lifted as well. This means bars and restaurants will be able to return to their regular hours.
Do these changes in guidelines show a brighter future for bars and restaurants? Cirello is hopeful that is the case.
"All the restrictions they put on us are coming off and we're heading in the right direction, so I'm excited about that," he said. "We're open until midnight, I don't have to serve food with alcohol, and hopefully we'll be open 100 percent here in another month or so."
Petkova is hopeful as well, but stated she doesn't think things will be the same.
"I don't think it can go back to what it was before. I think it's only going to go forward now," she said. "No matter what, they're always going to go out to eat, it's just going to be in a little different way."
Despite their struggles, there is a consensus among restaurant owners and workers that they have been taken care of by the community.
"When everything started it was 'we're in it together,' and it's totally true and it was like that," said Woods.
"The community took care of the hospitality industry, the restaurants, for sure," said LaCroce.
These restaurants were able to stay in business throughout the pandemic, and it is largely in part to the support shown by the Norwich community.
"We survived it and that's all that matters," LaCroce said. "Every day on Facebook you would see 'oh this restaurant is closing after 40 years.' Utica, Syracuse, they all got destroyed where here even some of the ones that aren't busy stayed going which is impressive."
"We were not only able to survive the pandemic, but we've flourished since reopening. It's been really good," said Woods.
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