RESTAURANTS FACE ANOTHER CHALLENGE: WINTER

Restaurants that have already been struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic are preparing to face another challenge: winter, KCRA 3 News reported.

Colder temperatures are on the way and restaurant owners are trying to figure out ways to keep doors open and customers coming back.

Sacramento County has a 25% capacity for indoor dining, as outlined by the state’s reopening plan. City leaders and business owners were hopeful the county would move into a less restrictive tier, increasing indoor dining capacity to 50% or 200 people max capacity, whichever is fewer.

That didn’t happen.

Now restaurant owners are preparing to host customers outside as temperatures cool down.

Aziz Bellarbi-Salah, Owner, Brasserie Capitale, Aioli Bodega Espanola and The Grand Wine Bar

"At 50%, it’s a lot easier to make it through. But we’re going to have to maintain our patio as much as we possibly can. If that means I’ve got to run around the building the long way to get to a table, I will. If that means I’ve got to put investment where I don’t have liquid to put into it, I will. I’ll pay for it, blood and sweat."

Sharokina Shams, California Restaurant Association

"I think the difficulty is in the fact that today restaurants are facing depleted revenues. It’s not an exaggeration to say many of them are on the verge of trying to decide, ‘Do I keep going with this? Do I keep trying to stay open for weeks or months to come throughout the course of this pandemic?’ On top of that, what that entails is actually investing more dollars than what you have coming in and what you can afford."