The California Restaurant Association is hopeful that the recent lift on the state’s regional stay-at-home order because of improving conditions involving spread of coronavirus will be a much-needed lifeline to operators that were able to stay open.
Jot Condie, president and CEO of the California Restaurant Association, told the Northern California Record that the association is “encouraged” by the lifting of the stay-at-home order that allows restaurants to return to outdoor dining “subject to county approval.”
“We are also thankful that the governor has opted to maintain frontline worker prioritization in the vaccination sequencing along with sensitive age populations,” Condie said.
The return of outdoor dining in many counties serves as a “lifeline for restaurants,” Sharokina Shams, the association’s vice president of public affairs, said in an interview for the Northern California Record.
“The struggle in the restaurant business continues, having outdoor dining back, that simply means having a lifeline back that allows you to operate to some extent,” Shams said. “It allows you to bring some of your employees back to work. It would be helpful in doing things like helping get the rent paid, helping pay the other bills, helping keep the lights on.”
The California Restaurant Association sent a letter to California Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders last August, stating, “An audacious plan of action is needed to save California’s restaurants,” the letter said.
The letter said that California risked losing up to 30% of restaurants unless there was state action.