COVID-19 means an uncertain future for Bradenton restaurants and their workers
Jason Garris saw his hours drop to an on-call situation, before the restaurant he’s worked at for 14 years suddenly closed.
He was one of the thousands of restaurant workers in Bradenton and Manatee County affected after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Friday that restaurants can only provide take out or delivery, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of Monday, Manatee County had 15 positive cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Garris was a server at Heinrich’s German Grill, located at 8420 Lockwood Ridge Road in southern Manatee County.
“The feeling that you can’t provide for the people you love is heartbreaking,” Garris said in a phone interview with the Bradenton Herald.
Heinrich’s only has 10 tables, so when capacity was first cut in half before the shift to only take out and delivery, Garris saw his hours slashed.
Garris has three children with child support payments tallying $1,300 per month. He said his girlfriend, who is battling cancer, and his roommate’s son were also servers at the restaurant, which closed Friday.
‘This is red tide meets a hurricane’
The uncertainty of how long restaurants remain closed or others continue to stay afloat with take out or delivery options is one of the hardest things workers in the service industry are dealing with in Manatee County. It’s a nervousness shared by everyone from servers to owners.
“This is 10 times crazier than anything we could have thought up,” said Ed Chiles, owner of The Sandbar, Beach House and Mar Vista restaurants, in a phone interview with the Herald. “We’ve been through red tides that were devastating. We’ve been kissed by hurricanes, where we got away with our lives and we didn’t have the problems that other places had. We had a three-day problem or a five-day problem. This is red tide meets a hurricane that you’re not sure about the ending.”
Added Garris, who is filing for unemployment and food stamps for the first time: “I’ve lost both my parents. I’ve lost my family. I found my best friend hanging when I was 17. I’ve been to prison, I’ve done my time. I’ve been through hard times. But there was always a reason or something I could point to and say, ‘This is the day I can get out. This is the day, something’s going to happen.’ I don’t know how to deal with this. It’s not your norm.
“This is like a zombie apocalypse happening in front of us,” Garris said.
Bradenton resident Jeanne Bradshaw also works in the restaurant industry as a server. Unlike Garris, she didn’t see her job end. Instead, she’s been cleaning during the dead times during her shifts, just hoping for orders to come in at the Lucky Frog, 4625 Cortez Road W., Bradenton.
Bradshaw, 57, worked as a dental assistant for 32 years before becoming a full-time employee at the Lucky Frog. She began working at the restaurant about five years ago.
“It’s pretty scary, especially if they start closing everything down,” Bradshaw said.
COVID-19 changes restaurant business
Other local restaurants have seen the difference. March is still high season for Florida. The Anna Maria Oyster Bar, which has multiple locations through Manatee County, has felt the COVID-19 pandemic through how much business they’ve lost since Friday’s announcement that sit-down dining was no more.
AMOB owner John Horne told the Herald in a phone interview that they’re doing about 10 percent of their normal March weekend business, which is about 150 orders per day.
Horne said they’re taking extra precautions in food preparation and packaging and they’re encouraging customers to pay via credit card over the phone. The orders are placed outside the front door, so there isn’t a human-to-human contact to pick up their food.
Employees at the Landside location off U.S. 41 near Bayshore Gardens are using a golf cart to make deliveries to the Trailer Estates neighborhood nearby. No layoffs have occurred at any of the AMOB restaurants, but hours were cut and they’re operating off a 10-item to-go menu, Horne said.
“We have some people that are cooking, obviously, we have some people that are manning the phones,” Horne said. “People that are putting to-go orders together. Those are hourly employees. We’re trying to rotate them through the staff, that everybody is getting some hours.”
Another sales approach for some restaurants is with alcohol. The Loaded Barrel in downtown Bradenton is selling alcohol only with a food purchase as the restaurant has a packaging license.
Easing grocery store burden
Chiles’ restaurants employ more than 300 people. On Monday, the Beach House closed, but The Sandbar and Mar Vista were still open, according to an email from the Chiles Restaurant Group.
Chiles said they’re looking into delivery options, as well as using his farms, including the Gamble Creek Farm in Parrish, to alleviate some of the stress on grocery stores by allowing people to purchase produce and other items through them.
In Ellenton, the Shake Station is delivering everywhere north of the Manatee River, which includes Ellenton, Parrish and Palmetto, owner Andy Ameres said. Ameres opened the Shake Station in 2015, and said they depend on community support, which they’ve received so far in the wake of Friday’s takeout/delivery only announcement.
“Initially, it was scary thinking everyone’s going to lose their jobs,” said Ameres, who has 48 employees at the restaurant. “But we implemented it right away. ... We’ve had an unbelievable amount of support from the community.”
This story was originally published March 24, 2020 at 7:51 AM.
