Senator Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, sent a letter signed by senators of both parties to California Governor Gavin Newsom last Friday evening, asking the state to reclassify restaurants as essential businesses.
The letter comes in the face of the fact that outdoor dining is set to remain closed until at least Dec. 27, at a time when many restaurants would normally be experiencing a business-saving boom of holiday business.
“In 2019, more than 1.8 million jobs were attributed to the restaurant and foodservice industry in California. This equates to approximately eleven percent of employment in the state. Closed restaurants means jobs lost, missed rent, mortgage and car payments and a lot of unemployment checks,” reads the letter.
A September survey by the National Restaurant Association (NRA) found that nearly one in six restaurants are closed either permanently or long-term across the nation, with nearly 3 million restaurant employees were out of work. Overall, the industry is on track to lose $240 billion in sales by the end of the year, according to the NRA.
The survey also found that overwhelmingly, most restaurants are still struggling to survive and don’t expect their position to improve over the next six months.
See Related: L.A. County Health Officials Respond To Ruling Against Ban On Outdoor Dining
In L.A. County alone, the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation estimated that 700,000 jobs in the food industry would be lost in this shutdown, 75 percent of which would be for those earning $50,000 or less.
“It seems like the restaurant industry is kind of the punching bag. I’m all for the science, but show me the data that says that outdoor dining is the cause of the latest spike. There is no data, but they’re doing it anyway,” said Greg Amsler, owner of Salt Creek Grille in a previous story. “To single out one industry that employs more people than just about any other industry in the country and to completely lock them down seems unfair.”
As of Nov. 24, restaurants and bars within the county accounted for just 3.1% of the 2,257 confirmed COVID-19 cases traced to 204 “outbreak” locations identified by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
Last week, a California Superior Court Judge tentatively ruled that Los Angeles County acted “arbitrarily” and without “rational” justification when it ordered a closure to all outdoor dining at restaurants as a coronavirus-control measure. However, due to state restrictions, outdoor dining is set to remain closed until at least Sunday, Dec. 27, which was issued on Dec. 6.
“The governor’s recurring shutdowns have made it incredibly difficult for all businesses in California but restaurants have been particularly hard hit. Many have spent tens of thousands of dollars to comply with the governor’s ‘outdoor dining’ regulations only to have him pull the rug out from under them again,” said Wilk in a Tuesday statement. “Community restaurants have played a vital role in providing meals during the pandemic and should be treated as the essential businesses they are in our neighborhoods.”
Click here to view the signed letter.
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