At this point in the pandemic , nearly one in six restaurants , or about 100,000 restaurants , are closed either permanently or long-term in the United States , according to a survey released by the National Restaurant Association . Locally , the Rhode Island Hospitality Association surveyed the state ’ s hospitality business owners and found that 21 percent of respondents had experienced more than a 70 percent loss in revenue in July 2020 versus July 2019 . For those that continued to stay open through the fall and winter , every week marked another temporary restaurant closure due to a staff member testing positive for COVID-19 , during which all potentially exposed staff had to be tested and receive negative results for the restaurant to reopen ( that is , if the business followed Department of Health guidelines ).
In a new report from One Fair Wage , nearly one-half or 44 percent of hospitality workers who responded reported that at least one or more of their co-workers in their restaurant had contracted COVID-19 . As risks increased , 80 percent of respondents reported their tips plummeted ; tips declined more when they attempted to enforce COVID-19 safety protocols .
Dr . Sarah B . Andrea , a social epidemiologist at Rhode Island Hospital , conducts research to identify workplace and policy-level strategies to improve the health of hospitality and food service workers .
“ When it comes to folks working in food service jobs , they already had a whole host of chronic stressors related to working in the industry that are just being amplified in this context — if they are lucky enough to still have a job at all ,” she says . “ Folks are dealing with reduced hours , which means less income coming in . Even before the pandemic happened , it was legal to pay tipped workers $ 3.89
“ WE WANT YOU TO HAVE AN ENJOYABLE EXPERIENCE , AND WE WANT TO BE ABLE TO DO THAT WHILE MAINTAINING OUR SAFETY STANDARDS . BY DOING SO , WE PRESERVE THAT EXPERIENCE FOR EVERYONE ELSE .”
— LOREN SLOAN , JULIANS
per hour . There are a lot of employers who will pay them more , but that ’ s not required , so they are very reliant on tips from customers to pay their bills . This puts them in a very tricky situation because tips are very unpredictable ; they are inequitable .”
Some restaurants are opting out of indoor dining altogether and just offer outdoor dining or takeout only , but this also poses a challenge for tipped workers .
“ There ’ s a connotation with takeout , where people won ’ t tip on takeout or tip a lot less than they would for in-person dining ,” Andrea says , adding that she tips 30 percent on takeout . “ The bottom line is , hospitality staff are not getting the tips they need .”
At press time , Reopening RI ’ s COVID-19 | | CONTINUED ON PAGE 106
RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l MAY 2021 59