Philadelphia Medicine Winter-Spring 2021 - 14

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BREAKING NEWS

In mid-March, Gov. Tom Wolf announced in a release the lifting of some targeted restrictions on restaurants and other businesses, as well as increased gathering limits.
Effective April 4, restaurants may resume bar service, alcohol service will be allowed without the purchase of food, the curfew
for removing alcoholic drinks from tables will be lifted and indoor dining capacity will be raised to 75% for those restaurants
that are self-certified and those that undergo the self-certification process. Restaurants that do not self-certify may raise capacity to 50%. Outdoor dining, curbside pick-up and takeout are still encouraged. *

helped people keep their head above the water. "
Moran said that association member rely 67% on liquor sales
and 33% on food.
" That's the average member of my association, " he said. " They're
not all set up to be your local diner. Because of the mitigation orders
around liquor, they haven't been able to do much. "
Moran believes that every place is seeing their prices creep up,
" as they've had to do things differently, as they've seen their business
slow down, " he said. " A number of places that used to have specials,
they've gotten rid of those specials. I don't have any data to tell you
what the costs are. "
And establishments don't want to over-order food.
" When the governor decided with short notice to close them down,
they've lost a lot of money, so now they are being very cautious about
how much food they order and they're being strict on the type of
food they are ordering, " Moran said. " From 30 entrees, maybe now
you see only 10 on the menu. "
Not one said they are still operating with the same menu they
had before the pandemic, Moran noted. They provide more " burger
nights and wing nights and stuff like that, " he said.
Restaurants and bars that are doing the best are ones set up for
takeout and those that already had outdoor seating, Moran said.

Qualify for program
" To qualify for that $145 million grant program, they have to
show at least a 25% loss, " he said.
One location told Moran they won't qualify: they only had a
22% loss.
" I've had a lot of people tell me they are down 30%, 40% and
even 50%, and I have some places that hadn't been open for the
past year, roughly, " he said.
" The places that were set up with a lot of outdoor seating and
the places that are set up to naturally handle take-out food, I don't
want to say they're doing great, but their heads are a little bit higher
above the water than other places. "
Moran sees declining membership in line with restaurants that
are fighting to stay alive or forced to close.
" Right now I have about 25% who have been unable to pay their
membership dues since last June, " he said. " I would say it's probably
in the range of 15 to 25% who have closed. "
Every month when Moran sends out the bills, he gets 1 to 3
back, saying undeliverable, " and when I do the research, they're
14 Philadelphia Medicine : Winter-Spring 2021

closed permanently, " he said.
The association membership fee is $375 for 12 months.

Hurt establishments
The shutdown in December hurt many establishments considerably.
" We went through a time period, especially in December, where
they lost a significant amount of money, " Moran said. " For our
industry, the profit margin is somewhere between 3 and 5%, and
most of that money is really made during the holiday season, when
many were closed and could not accommodate indoor dining. Not
only did that hurt the business, but that's also the most generous
time of the years for wait staff to get tips. "
While the $145 million in grant money may take the edge off
business losses, not everyone can qualify for it.
" You have to have fewer than 300 employees across your entire
company, " Moran said. " But some of these restaurant owners who
own 4 or 5 or 6 restaurants, they may run into some difficulties to
qualify. They can't be a publicly traded company. "
The grant money is what Gov. Tom Wolf found through unemployment compensation that he transferred over to the General
Fund. The grant program's currently being set up and is funded
through each county. Each county has to contract out with CEDO,
a community economic development organization, and through that
organization, the businesses, restaurants, and taverns that qualify for
the grant can apply for it.
" They probably won't see that money before July, " Moran said.

Follow the law
The association wants its members to follow the law.
" We understand that they have their back against the wall, " Moran
said. " It's hard for a person who has worked their entire life to build a
business and watch it crumble. A lot of these businesses, their liquor
license, which could be as much as $500,000, that's their retirement
plan, that's their 401(k), so to speak.
" And if their business goes under, that liquor license isn't going
to be worth hardly anything. They'll be able to sell it and recuperate
some, but they will be able to make a lot more money if they are
fully operating and running a strong business. "
Moran said the association knows from research that the cost
of liquor licenses in Pennsylvania has been dropping because of the
pandemic. It varies county to county. There are a lot of liquor licenses
in Philadelphia, and a lot of unused liquor licenses too.

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