The ban on restaurant dining during the Covid-19 pandemic has decimated the South Fork restaurant business, according to Mark Smith, a co-owner of the Honest Man Restaurant Group, and Jason Weiner, a co-owner of Almond in Bridgehampton. Both have had to lay off employees in order to remain finacially strong enough to reopen after the crisis has passed.
“First and foremost, I’m thinking about the financial well-being of our restaurants, and how we can hire back all of our people,” said Mr. Smith, whose company operates Nick and Toni’s in East Hampton, La Fondita and Coche Comedor in Amagansett, and Townline BBQ in Sagaponack.
On March 16, the day after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo ordered restaurants to shut their dining rooms and transition to takeout and delivery only, the Honest Man Group laid off more than 100 people. It later set up a GoFundMe page, the Honest Man Workers Relief Fund, to help them withstand the financial hit.
“I felt compelled to help them get through this ordeal,” said Mr. Smith. “A lot of the people we had to let go I’ve worked with for a very long time, and it was due to no fault of their own.”
Although his restaurants are still offering takeout food, he said, the amount of revenue that provides is minimal. “We’re just trying to take in enough to offset the costs we incur, and keep the remaining staff employed.”
Almond had offered takeout for a couple of weeks, said Mr. Weiner, but he and his partner, Eric Lemonides, decided the service posed too much of a health risk to both customers and employees — including a chef who traveled to work on the Long Island Rail Road — for too little reward. All of the Almond restaurants, including the New York City outpost, and one that recently launched in Palm Beach, Fla., are now closed.
The first indication that the Covid-19 crisis would be detrimental to business came on March 10 at Almond in New York City, said Mr. Weiner. “The number of customers dropped off a cliff,” he said. The Bridgehampton restaurant at the time, however, had a bump in business due to an influx of New York residents. “I thought maybe it was going to be like after 9/11 or Hurricane Sandy when people wanted to come out here to feel comforted,” he said. “That didn’t last long, a few days later all the restaurants had to shut down.”
Sixty people were laid off at the New York restaurant, and his Bridgehampton employees have been furloughed, he said. Mr. Weiner and Mr. Lemonides have also set up a GoFundMe page raise money for their staff.
Part of what makes the East End culinary scene special, said Mr. Smith, is the prominence of independent restaurants rather than chains. “But that’s a double-edge sword” he said, because unlike bigger restaurant companies, local eateries typically do not have large reserves of capital.
The federal stimulus package, which will provide small business loans and a $1,200 check to those making less than $75,000, is welcomed, he said, “but $1,200 is not going to go very far. Maybe for people in Duluth, Minnesota, or Fargo, North Dakota, but not on the East End.”
While airline and car companies seek federal bailouts, Mr. Smith said he finds it “frustrating that the hospitality industry is not recognized as one of the nation’s biggest employers. It’s also one of the largest employers on the East End.”
In addition to the stimulus package, Mr. Weiner said the abundance of farms and food artisans in the area will help local restaurants regain their footing more quickly than others. “Those people will put us at an advantage,” he said.
Despite the devastating impact from the pandemic, both Mr. Smith and Mr. Weiner are sanguine about being back in business soon.
“Don’t talk about us in the past tense, we’re still a family, and we’re going to get through this together,” said Mr. Smith of his team.
“We’re going to open again, there’s no doubt about it,” said Mr. Weiner.