After a year of closings, cancellations, postponements and pivots, we reflect on how quickly everyday life changed. And as vaccines bring a dose of optimism, we look to the future for the arts and entertainment community in St. Louis.
How it started • The lexicon is second nature now. Pivots. Curbside pickup. Contract-free delivery. PPP loans. I sometimes must remind myself these terms meant nothing to me until those frantic first few weeks of the pandemic one year ago.
Is it safe to get takeout? Should we support restaurants by buying gift cards or merchandise instead? What percentage of St. Louis’ independent restaurants would not survive a prolonged shutdown? 25%? 50? 80? What would happen to all their employees?
The federal CARES Act that passed in late March 2020 provided some temporary relief for both restaurant owners and employees, but that temporary loomed behind each PPP loan, each enhanced-unemployment check.
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How it’s going • How is it going? Where are you located? Each restaurant has had to navigate the restrictions specific to its city or county (or region in Illinois). Each restaurant owner has had to decide if, say, 50% capacity is practical or feels “safe.”
The pandemic has highlighted our regional fragmentation — never more so than at the end of 2020, as St. Louis County shut down indoor dining during a surge in COVID-19 cases while the city and other counties did not.
Given the number of restaurants that have permanently closed and the financial pain that every restaurant owner and employee has experienced, I do not want to call this “good news,” but so far, fewer restaurants have shuttered than I feared back in March.
Even more surprising is the number of restaurants that have debuted during the pandemic. From June through November especially, my spreadsheet tracking new restaurants does not look much different from pre-pandemic years.
Floor manager Gabby Durham sanitizes a table after patrons leave Kingside Diner in Clayton on Jan. 4, 2021. It was the first day of indoor dining in St. Louis County after COVID-19 restrictions were eased.
Where it’s headed • For the first time since last March, I feel something like optimism. The vaccine rollout is underway, if slowly. Warmer weather has arrived, permitting the return of true, unenclosed outdoor dining.
Crucially, for restaurants now staggering out of the pandemic winter, the American Rescue Plan that President Biden is due to sign this week includes over $28 billion in relief for restaurants and bars.
It is easy to imagine the combination of quarantine burnout, pent-up demand and, as the vaccination rate increases, greater comfort with outdoor dining leading to a summer dining surge. You can almost see, by late summer or early fall, a return to “normal.”
What is normal, though? Or what should it be? One year ago, the normal restaurant industry was brought to its knees in a matter of days.
Even if the pandemic is a once-in-a-lifetime event, the normal restaurant industry still depends on the tipping model to pay many of its workers — and many of its workers nationwide are speaking out about the industry’s systemic problems with abuse of power, racial and gender inequity and sexual harassment and assault.
The diners will return. The questions are not going away.
In this Series
One year into pandemic, optimism meets uncertainty for arts, entertainment community
Ian Froeb
Restaurant critic
