28 THE QUEENS COURIER • QUEENS BUSINESS • JUNE 11, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
queens business
Queens restaurants and bars work
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
aacevedo@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Cantina 33, a brand-new Peruvian
restaurant at 55-33 Myrtle Ave. in
Ridgewood, was only open for two
months before it had to temporarily close
due to New York state’s stay-at-home
order.
“I honestly thought it was going to
last like two weeks,” said Chef Kevin
Lenis, owner of Cantina 33. “I didn’t
think it would be this long. But it’s been
two months, and I had to make changes
because, at the end of the day, I still have
rent to pay.”
Lenis wanted to wait until it was
safe to open back up to inside dining,
as he felt his food — beautifully
craft ed, traditional Peruvian
dishes with a modern twist —
was meant to be enjoyed inside
the vibrant and sleek ambiance
he created.
But as time went on,
the 28-year-old business
owner from
Jackson Heights realized
there was no specifi c end
date in sight. He also thought
about his team of about 15 people, who
wanted to come back to work.
So on May 15, he began off ering deliveries
and adjusted the menu by adding
more options, including Peruvian sandwiches
inspired by his go-to, aft er-work
snack he used to get from a small food
truck in Peru. As New York’s COVID-
19 numbers decrease and the city and
state begins to reopen, Lenis isn’t sure
that some of the restrictions that have
been mentioned would allow his restaurant,
with 42 seats, to not only survive,
but also thrive.
“I don’t know if all restaurants will be
able to bounce back from this,” Lenis
said. “Yes, you need profi t … but we put
a lot of passion and love into what we do.
And that’s what pushes us to keep going
every day.”
Like Cantina 33, restaurants and bars
across the city struggled to fi gure out
what to do once Gov. Andrew Cuomo
passed the stay-at-home executive order
in March. Many settled for delivery and
takeout; some temporarily closed; and
others have shut their doors permanently.
But as stay-at-home orders continued
to get extended for two more weeks —
which became a month, then two months
— independent restaurants and bar owners
began to fear for their businesses’ survival.
Back in March, Queens Chamber of
Commerce President and CEO Tom
Grech said “at least 50 percent of restaurants”
that closed in Queens due to the
pandemic probably won’t reopen. “Th at’s
a terrible thing for livelihood … terrible
thing for Queens,” he said during a virtual
town hall. Even now, restaurant and bar
owners are taking it day by day, uncertain
of their future. But more and more are
speaking out and
calling for offi cials to come up
with a concrete plan with guidelines that
will let them reopen sooner rather than
later — or allow them to do it themselves.
Planning ahead
A few weeks ago, Mayor Bill de Blasio
mentioned limiting capacity inside
restaurants and bars. Roseann McSorley,
the co-owner of Katch Astoria, a popular
gastropub at 31-19 Newtown Ave. that
reopened for takeout and curbside margarita
pickups in May, said limiting their
capacity won’t help.
“We’ve told Senator Michael Gianaris
and a lot of our local politicians that 30
percent is not going to help us open.
We need at least 50 percent occupancy,”
McSorley said, adding that Katch has 150
seats. “If you tell me that I can only get 30
percent, that’s a very small number and
we’ll never be able to make it.”
She added that capacity limits may also
aff ect how many people she’ll be able to
employ (she had about 40 staff members,
most of whom are collecting unemployment).
And as major sports prepare
to come back, McSorley said people will
want to watch them at places like Katch,
where they pay thousands of dollars a
month for cable. McSorley already came
up with a guide to reopen.
Th ey’re going to take temperatures of
both staff and customers, who will all
need to use face masks; have dining tables
six feet apart separated by plexiglass;
give customers Ziploc bags to store their
masks when they’re eating and drinking;
use a phone app so they won’t need to use
physical menus; and have a cleaning company
do a deep clean once a week while
they disinfect every day.
McSorley runs Senator Gianaris’ western
Queens business committee, and said
businesses in the community are looking
to buy supplies like masks, face shields,
hand sanitizer and gloves in bulk to distribute
among each other.
“We don’t see each other as competition
anymore. We’re all aff ected by the
same things,” she said.
James O’Reilly, owner of Yerman’s Irish
Pub at 7026 88th St. in Glendale, took
to Facebook on May 28 to showcase his
opening model.
“It looks like they have no guidelines or
model for places to maximize customers,”
O’Reilly said in the video. “Well I came
up with a model, call this O’Reilly’s Law.”
O’Reilly showed off the adjustable separators
made of wood and plastic glass that
they created to place in between customers
at the bar, with Marine plastic placed
in front of the bar. He also has mobile separators
to put in between booths.
His restaurant has almost 300 seats,
which he said allows him to safely use
the inside. O’Reilly, a 59-year-old Irish
immigrant, has been in
the restaurant business
in Queens for almost 20
years.
His staff of 10, including
his two daughters and
in-laws, say they want to
go back to work. He said
they’ve all had antibody
tests that came back positive,
so they’re not worried
about contracting
the virus, if the antibodies
suggest they already
had it.
“You can go to Home
Depot, Walmart, BJ’s …
where people are standing
shoulder to shoulder,
and we can’t open?” he
told QNS. “It’s unfair.”
Reopening
carefully
Even so, restaurant
owners want to be careful
about how and when they
reopen. Th e Lowery Bar and Kitchen at
43-02 43rd Ave. in Sunnyside came back
for pickup aft er receiving calls from community
members who missed them.
Anne Muldoon, an Irish immigrant
who opened up the restaurant about four
years ago, said that aft er deep cleaning the
restaurant, she decided to reopen at the
end of April with a smaller menu.
“We have a lot of love for this neighborhood,”
Muldoon said. “It’s not really about
making lots of money or making a profit
right now. It’s about survival, and about
putting food on my staff ’s tables.”
Muldoon is deeply mindful of cleanliness
and social distance precautions. She
said her staff is bleaching her sidewalks
every night, windows are cleaned, and her
cooks wear masks and gloves that they
change periodically.
Loycent Gordon, the owner of Neir’s
Tavern, decided to temporarily close
the 191-year-old restaurant almost two
months ago in order to keep his staff
safe. To stay connected with Neir’s loyal
patrons, Gordon has hosted several virtual
happy hours. But he isn’t quite sure
when they’ll reopen.
“It’s multi-faceted,” Gordon said, noting
that one of his concerns is dealing with
liability issues, like if a customer says they
got sick at their restaurant.
Th e Center for Disease Control and
Prevention has provided guidelines for
restaurants to consider, delineating low-
to high-risk establishments, promoting
behaviors to reduce the spread of
COVID-19 and maintaining healthy environments.
Where aid has come up short
Gordon managed to receive the federal
government’s PPP loan, which can be
forgiven if the business maintains their
payroll. But he said it’s “good, but it’s also
bad,” explaining that because most of his
staff are on unemployment, they’re “just
Photos by Angélica Acevedo
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