Kansas City restaurants ‘at a standstill,’ terrified about future: ‘It is pretty scary’
The Northland’s Trago Bar & Tapas had record numbers and big crowds last weekend, just before the world was turned upside down for the restaurant industry due to coronavirus bans.
Things had changed drastically by Tuesday night. Trago owner Kandi Kerns poured a glass of wine and ate her daily special — corned beef and cabbage in honor of St. Patrick’s Day — in an empty dining room.
“What’s this new normal? Because yesterday looked completely different than the day before,” she said. “You don’t want to lose good employees, but I don’t know if I will have a restaurant next month. You’re at a standstill.”
Earlier this week, the Kansas City area banned gatherings of more than 10 people and prohibited restaurants from offering dine-in service in an effort to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Restaurants are now resorting to cutbacks and layoffs as they try to pay the bills and stay open. Some are ramping up curbside and carryout services in an effort to maintain a revenue stream. But the pain is being felt and trickling down to servers and workers now without a job.
Many restaurateurs used the word “terrified” when talking about the future.
Winston Riley purchased Smokey’s on the Blvd. BBQ in Overland Park three years ago and later relocated to a more prominent spot, a former KFC. Still, he planned to turn it into a non-profit academy of barbecue in the spring.
“I have my whole life savings in here, which is probably not the smartest thing for a 60-plus-year-old,” Riley said Wednesday. “I own the building but overhead is $900 a day with the loan, taxes and insurance. Then on top of that you have your food costs and labor costs so you have to be doing at least a million-and-a-half a year. We made $174 today.”
Riley has had as many as a dozen workers. Now he has five employees, including a part-time high school student, and will have to let some go.
“I’ve been using my Social Security check and borrowing money, a line of credit on my house,” Riley said. “We have some loyal customers, just not enough. We are knocking out great barbecue. We can’t give up.”
Employees are top of mind for Chris Ridler, partner in Sol Cantina in midtown, the Barrio restaurants in Brookside and Red Bridge, and Zocalo on the Country Club Plaza. He has had to lay off more than 100 workers.
“Imagine anyone making their regular paycheck and then hacking that to zero overnight, to no fault of their own,” he said. “And unfortunately we simply don’t have the money to simply pay them because we’re still trying to figure out next month’s rent, utilities as well as a slew of other bills, so hopefully they have a place of work to come back to.”
He is hiring some of his servers on an hourly basis to deep clean the restaurant, power wash the parking lot and other jobs.
“The community couldn’t be more incredible. They will leave an extra $20, $50, $10 and 100 percent goes to the employees,” he said.
He also is looking at personally paying servers to make deliveries to elderly residents. (Some KC-area restaurants are paying workers to deliver food orders, all the while worrying about insurance if they should have a wreck.)
Many restaurant workers will struggle just to make it through the next couple of weeks as they wait for unemployment checks. They desperately hope that the shutdown won’t go on much longer. Some servers are already looking for jobs in other industries even many other companies brace for the slowdown.
Server Grant Allen, 21, said he loves taking care of his customers, and spending time helping them design a meal that will fit any dietary restrictions. He knows some patrons by first name and they ask for his table.
He didn’t want to publicly say the name of the restaurant, but he shared details of his last day: a 12-hour shift on Sunday that ended with a table for 20 and an $800 check. They asked it to be split into 13 tickets, and some left no tip. So Allen and another server split about $80.
“They have my livelihood in their hands,” he said of his customers. Then came news of the two-week closing.
Now Allen, who will be a first-time father on Friday, considers his next move, maybe working with a friend at a salaried job like a car wash.
“It is pretty scary. The world is shutting down and we are about to bring a whole new life into the world,” Allen said.
This story was originally published March 19, 2020 at 4:51 PM.