Local restaurant owners attend roundtable on extending COVID-19 provisions

Date: 12/1/2021

WESTERN MASS. – On Nov. 19, Western Massachusetts business owners and stakeholders met for a roundtable discussion with the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure at the Ludlow Senior Center to discuss outdoor dining and alcohol provisions enacted during the coronavirus pandemic and look for ways to extend and improve the provisions.

State Rep. Jacob Oliveira started the conversation by explaining the goal of the committee’s work in meeting with restaurants.

“Outdoor dining is something that was an executive order and was extended a couple of times, and now runs through May 2022. Our committee, which has jurisdiction over those types of areas is going to be discussing extending those provisions,” he said.

Jeremiah Micka, the owner of Union Station in Northampton, said he was in favor of expanding outdoor dining provisions forever.

“A portion of our business is an outside deck bar, which was about 150 seats pre-pandemic. Once we were able to expand out into the parking lot and I procured a tent, I was able to double our size to 250 people. Now if this continues, I could get to 300 or 325 seats out there and it has almost tripled our revenue out there,” he said. “I am here to say please extend this as long as we can.”

Micka also said he wants the committee to extend the provisions so there is more time for businesses and municipalities to find the best way forward.

Tony Tavares, the owner of The Villa Rose in Ludlow, said his restaurant was also able to pivot because of existing outdoor dining spaces.

“With the outdoor dining I actually got very lucky because about five years ago we put a beautiful outdoor dining that cost me $200,000. We have a garden area where we do ceremonies for weddings, so for the pandemic we turned this place into tables, so we did not have to get a tent,” he said.

Downtown Amherst Association Executive Director Gabrielle Gould said the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission (ABCC) will not be able to keep up with the permits once the provisions end and businesses are looking for license changes.

“What it takes to do a change of permit license with the ABCC is about an eight-week process, and Ralph [Sacramone] at the ABCC admits they do not have the staff to do this if it is overturned. If this ends and restaurants want to go back to that, it is going to be a real rush and a hell of a lot of paperwork walking into the ABCC,” she said. “It is going to be something that cannot really be managed in the amount of time we need to turn it around to businesses to open up in the spring.”

Along with the permit process, Gould said it is important to continue to allow restaurants to sell alcohol to go.

“The cocktails, beer and wine to-go is important. I think there is going to be a percentage of people who just will not go into an enclosed space anymore and eat. Those little cocktail pouches to-go saved a lot of restaurants. Booze is where restaurateurs make their money, the food is great, but it is when someone orders that second bottle of wine or cocktail that is the tipping point,” she said.

State Rep. Tackey Chan, the committee’s co-chair, said one of the committee’s goals is to not only address the needs of the restaurants but also bring back due process.

“The thing about the emergency order is it eliminated a lot of due process. This pandemic has resulted in a whole lot of suspensions upon the right of people to say I do not like an idea. We have been rolling over people. I understand there have been beneficiaries, but I still believe there is a balancing act here and people need a say,” he said.

Debra Flynn, the owner of Eastside Grill in Northampton, said one of her biggest concerns is the state of the sidewalks businesses are extending their outdoor dining onto.

“The sidewalks – not just on my street, but on every single street and every single side street  – are horrible, especially for wheelchair people, anybody with a disability and anybody even just walking. I cannot tell you how many times people have tripped and fallen in front of our restaurant because of the sidewalks,” she said.

Flynn added, “It was just a crazy time, and it would be much easier for everyone in the restaurant industry if restrictions were eased up, especially licensing.”

Eastside Grill General Manager Robbie Bocon said the provisions should be extended because of the timing when they are currently set to end in May.

“Just thinking of the date being in May, that is right in the middle of the busiest month of any restaurant in this room. It is in the middle of graduations at UMass for us, Mother’s Day, that is the busiest month for a restaurant. In the beginning of spring when you are talking about outdoor dining, it is a no brainer to extend it through that,” he said.

State Sen. Susan Moran, the committee’s co-chair in the senate, said restaurants and businesses need to be vocal about many of the issues, including sidewalks, at the local level.

“The sidewalks are something a ton of money has just been delivered to cities and towns for. That is something you can locally contribute your view. We need datapoints as does the local authorities. Look at making your opinion known to the local town,” she said. “The more information you can provide to us, the better decisions we will make, and the first stop for that is your local municipality.”

Steven Clark, the director of government affairs with the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, said businesses need more time to recover from COVID-19.

“Most of the people that responded to our most recent survey said the cost of doing business in August of 2021 is more than in August of 2019, and they are making less revenue. We have food costs, we have lack of labor, we have municipality issues, we have all of these things happening in restaurant recovery. These tools – beer, wine and alcohol to-go and the expansion of outdoor dining – are recovery tools, we are not recovered yet and we need time to recover,” he said.

Clark added that the sooner the committee approves an extension, the better it will be for restaurants across the state.