Coronavirus fears force bars, wineries, breweries to scramble after Newsom requests shutdown
6 min read
Shortly after a news conference Sunday afternoon in which Gov. Gavin Newsom recommended cocktail bars, beer and wine tasting rooms close to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, Golden Road Brewing Anaheim shut down abruptly.
Staff members told diners they would have to leave the popular brewpub across from Angel Stadium immediately after finishing their orders.
“It’s scary that we’re not more prepared,” said Jordan Dewyse, of Montclair, who had to finish a conversation with friends outside the bar. “We watched other countries go through this and we didn’t take necessary steps early on. We’re being reactionary at this point,” he said.
The news conference, which also saw Newsom calling for older residents to self-isolate and also restaurants limiting occupancy, left local breweries, wineries and bars scrambling on Sunday evening.
At Escape Craft Brewery in Redlands, Melissa Fisher helped her customers stock up on beer to drink at home. “Right now we’re looking into seeing how we can go about doing beer deliveries,” said Fisher, who owns the brewery with her husband Josh Fisher. “Not a whole lot of businesses can survive being closed and not generating any revenue,” she said.
On Sunday afternoon she wasn’t sure when she might shutter, so she was getting word out to her customers to come in ASAP. “We usually close at 8 p.m. and I’m getting bombarded with phone calls. We’re moving as fast as we can to get beer out the doors.”
In downtown Huntington Beach, where a sunny weekend means bars are always lively, Main Street Wine Company was also facing tough decisions. Manager/sommelier Oscar Carillo was about to call owner Dann Bean to suggest that the wine bar go to half capacity rather than close completely.
“We can’t just shut down, the bills don’t stop coming in,” Carillo said. “I don’t want to put anybody at risk but I know my staff will be worried about how to make rent and pay bills if we went to half capacity.”
Carillo said he could always sell bottles because the wine bar has a retail shop, but it’s a hardship because it’s an 80-20 split between tasting room and retail revenue. “That would just be limping along,” he said.
Paying the tab
The reality is much harsher for bars that have no retail outlet, said Rakesh Desai, the owner of R Bar in Long Beach who had already arranged to start special coronavirus safety training sessions for his staff on Monday. “We’ve been busy ever since this whole thing started happening. Friends are needing to get together,” he said, adding that he thinks the situation has actually increased a feeling of community in downtown Long Beach. He owns other businesses and he’ll be fine financially, but he’s concerned for his employees who don’t get paid if they don’t work.
“The Governor still gets paid and we don’t. That’s unfair. I think they should be putting out guidelines as opposed to asking for complete shutdowns,” Desai said. “There’s going to be a serious correction of businesses for people who are barely surviving now. Some of those businesses will not come back.”
Several business owners were hoping for more clarity from the state. Jennine Smith, a manager at the 35er on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, said that though the bar was aware of Governor Newsom’s urged shutdown, it was not planning to close until action was requested specifically from the City of Pasadena. “We’re going to do what they ask but we’re not going to do it until they ask,” she said.
Smith says she remembers large scale closures of bars before, most notably during the Rodney King riots, but that she has never seen bars forced to close as a result of a virus. She said she anticipated that request would be coming from the city, and probably sooner rather than later. “I expect it to come before St. Patrick’s Day,” she said.
In Temecula Valley Wine Country, wineries too found themselves in the midst of a lot of confusion and frustration after Newsom’s request.
Akash Patel, owner of Akash Winery & Vineyard, said he was at a loss for words as he planned to close up his winery Sunday evening for an undetermined period of time and offer free ground shipping for customers who want to order wine to drink at home.
“As a business it’s going to affect us big time,” Patel said. “I have 20 employees. How do I put them to work? I don’t have work for them if I’m not able to stay open. And how do I pay my bills? How do I pay my electricity bill? How do I pay my water bill? I’m a vineyard and winery. How do I keep producing my crops and producing my wine and keeping a thing going?”
Patel, who opened Akash Winery with his family eight months ago, said the business was starting to generate cash flow. “Now it’s going to a zero dollar amount again for who knows how long and how do you bounce back from that?,” Patel said. “We will bounce back from it, but it’s a scary thing for employees at this point.”
As for Carillo, he was considering plans for a drastic pivot. “I might even be delivering wine,” he said. “I’ll tell everybody in our email blast, ‘We can still get you bottles of wine, I’ll just drop them off at your door step.’”
Staff writers Alex Groves and Mindy Schauer contributed to this report.
We are providing free access to this article. Please consider supporting local journalism like this by subscribing here.
Staff members told diners they would have to leave the popular brewpub across from Angel Stadium immediately after finishing their orders.
“It’s scary that we’re not more prepared,” said Jordan Dewyse, of Montclair, who had to finish a conversation with friends outside the bar. “We watched other countries go through this and we didn’t take necessary steps early on. We’re being reactionary at this point,” he said.
The news conference, which also saw Newsom calling for older residents to self-isolate and also restaurants limiting occupancy, left local breweries, wineries and bars scrambling on Sunday evening.
At Escape Craft Brewery in Redlands, Melissa Fisher helped her customers stock up on beer to drink at home. “Right now we’re looking into seeing how we can go about doing beer deliveries,” said Fisher, who owns the brewery with her husband Josh Fisher. “Not a whole lot of businesses can survive being closed and not generating any revenue,” she said.
On Sunday afternoon she wasn’t sure when she might shutter, so she was getting word out to her customers to come in ASAP. “We usually close at 8 p.m. and I’m getting bombarded with phone calls. We’re moving as fast as we can to get beer out the doors.”
In downtown Huntington Beach, where a sunny weekend means bars are always lively, Main Street Wine Company was also facing tough decisions. Manager/sommelier Oscar Carillo was about to call owner Dann Bean to suggest that the wine bar go to half capacity rather than close completely.
“We can’t just shut down, the bills don’t stop coming in,” Carillo said. “I don’t want to put anybody at risk but I know my staff will be worried about how to make rent and pay bills if we went to half capacity.”
Carillo said he could always sell bottles because the wine bar has a retail shop, but it’s a hardship because it’s an 80-20 split between tasting room and retail revenue. “That would just be limping along,” he said.
Paying the tab
The reality is much harsher for bars that have no retail outlet, said Rakesh Desai, the owner of R Bar in Long Beach who had already arranged to start special coronavirus safety training sessions for his staff on Monday. “We’ve been busy ever since this whole thing started happening. Friends are needing to get together,” he said, adding that he thinks the situation has actually increased a feeling of community in downtown Long Beach. He owns other businesses and he’ll be fine financially, but he’s concerned for his employees who don’t get paid if they don’t work.
“The Governor still gets paid and we don’t. That’s unfair. I think they should be putting out guidelines as opposed to asking for complete shutdowns,” Desai said. “There’s going to be a serious correction of businesses for people who are barely surviving now. Some of those businesses will not come back.”
Several business owners were hoping for more clarity from the state. Jennine Smith, a manager at the 35er on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, said that though the bar was aware of Governor Newsom’s urged shutdown, it was not planning to close until action was requested specifically from the City of Pasadena. “We’re going to do what they ask but we’re not going to do it until they ask,” she said.
Smith says she remembers large scale closures of bars before, most notably during the Rodney King riots, but that she has never seen bars forced to close as a result of a virus. She said she anticipated that request would be coming from the city, and probably sooner rather than later. “I expect it to come before St. Patrick’s Day,” she said.
In Temecula Valley Wine Country, wineries too found themselves in the midst of a lot of confusion and frustration after Newsom’s request.
Akash Patel, owner of Akash Winery & Vineyard, said he was at a loss for words as he planned to close up his winery Sunday evening for an undetermined period of time and offer free ground shipping for customers who want to order wine to drink at home.
“As a business it’s going to affect us big time,” Patel said. “I have 20 employees. How do I put them to work? I don’t have work for them if I’m not able to stay open. And how do I pay my bills? How do I pay my electricity bill? How do I pay my water bill? I’m a vineyard and winery. How do I keep producing my crops and producing my wine and keeping a thing going?”
Patel, who opened Akash Winery with his family eight months ago, said the business was starting to generate cash flow. “Now it’s going to a zero dollar amount again for who knows how long and how do you bounce back from that?,” Patel said. “We will bounce back from it, but it’s a scary thing for employees at this point.”
As for Carillo, he was considering plans for a drastic pivot. “I might even be delivering wine,” he said. “I’ll tell everybody in our email blast, ‘We can still get you bottles of wine, I’ll just drop them off at your door step.’”
Staff writers Alex Groves and Mindy Schauer contributed to this report.
We are providing free access to this article. Please consider supporting local journalism like this by subscribing here.
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