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 Restaurants
throughout Illinois will be prohibited from letting customers eat inside
starting Nov. 4, as Gov. J.B. Pritzker expands an indoor dining ban as his major
response to COVID-19 infections.
But restaurant owners are increasingly fighting back, taking to social media or
the courtroom to try to save their businesses.
“There were a lot of the factors that came into play, and we decided that
instead of fighting it by opening illegally, we would fight it in the courts,”
said K.C. Gulbro, co-owner of Foxfire steakhouse in Geneva, Illinois. “We
believe in doing what’s right. What’s right is to take a stand and tell the
governor he’s wrong.”
Gulbro won a Kane County judge’s order Oct. 26 to stay open while the case is
heard. He is challenging Pritzker’s authority to keep issuing 30-day statewide
emergency declarations, nine so far related to the pandemic.
Restaurant owners in Park Ridge also filed suit in Cook County. They, too,
raised the issue of Pritzker’s emergency powers.
“We are remaining open because staff and ownership need to be
able to earn a living and our customers need a place to go to have some normalcy
in their lives,” read a statement from Shakou, a restaurant in Park Ridge that
is part of the lawsuit.
The Illinois Restaurant Association has pointed out that restaurants are among
the most highly regulated for sanitation, making them safer than other
businesses Pritzker is allowing to operate. They are asking Pritzker to work
with them on regulations rather than put at least 120,000 restaurant workers
permanently out of a job.
When Pritzker was challenged to show his data on restaurants causing the virus
to spread, the Illinois Department of Public Health responded with results from
17,939 positive cases. Of those, 2,300 reported being in a restaurant within the
prior 14 days; Pritzker admitted the link was weak.
“Contact tracing data doesn’t tell you where somebody’s caught it. In fact,
there’s no way really… to know where somebody’s contracted COVID-19,” he said.
Argie Karafotias, owner of Golden Brunch in Arlington Heights, Illinois, said
he’s not sure he can survive another shutdown.
“You need to give the people the choice. If you believe your establishment is
safe, give the people the choice to come in. If the people don’t like your
establishment or think you don’t follow the rules, they can leave and never come
back. Simple as that,” he said. “You have to give the businesses the choice to
survive.”
The new restrictions likely mean more Illinois restaurants will close
permanently. Estimates range from 5,000 to 21,700restaurants will not survive
Pritzker’s COVID-19 restrictions.
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“I was just thinking we could ink our way through
to April when it’s warm again, but I guess I let myself start to
believe too soon,” said Kristan Vaughan, whose family already gave
up one and is trying to sell a second of their seven Irish pubs in
the Chicago area. “I’m very disturbed the restaurant industry is
being singled out. The evidence does not show we are the cause of
the spread.”
Region 2, which spans from the Quad Cities area to
LaSalle and Kendall counties – and includes Peoria and Bloomington –
is the final region in the state to face tighter COVID-19
restrictions. The region had a 9.7% seven-day test positivity
rolling average as of Oct. 30, surpassing the 8% state threshold
that triggers the heightened restrictions.
The tighter restrictions mean the entire state – all 11 regions –
now faces a ban on indoor dining and bar service, as well as
gathering limits of 25 people or 25% of room capacity – whichever is
less. Restaurants and bars must also halt service by 11 p.m.
Prior to the order taking effect Oct. 30 in her city, Chicago Mayor
Lori Lightfoot expressed concern on the economic fallout it would
bring. “If the governor’s order goes into effect, it’s really
effectively shutting down a significant portion of our economy, at a
time when those same businesses are really hanging on by a thread,”
Lightfoot told PBS Newshour Oct. 27.
She later backed off a call to keep Chicago’s restaurants open.
Judges in Cook, McHenry and DuPage counties all upheld Pritzker’s
latest order in Oct. 30 rulings. Thirty-seven restaurants in McHenry
County were requesting a temporary restraining order on Pritzker’s
indoor dining ban. Similar requests were made and denied in DuPage
and Cook County.
“I’m not sure what to tell these guys, there’s no end in sight,”
Tony Antonacci, owner of Taco Melly and Pennyville Station in Park
Ridge, told the Chicago Tribune. “I feel restaurants in general have
lost trust in our government.”
Restaurants in Springfield – where tightened restrictions went into
effect Nov. 1 – are also pushing back against the indoor dining ban.
Twenty-two restaurant owners in Sangamon County are now seeking a
similar request as in other counties.
The statewide indoor dining ban comes as Illinois’ small businesses
face another threat: new taxes. On Nov. 3 voters are being asked to
pass Pritzker’s “fair tax,” which would increase taxes by up to 47%
on more than 100,000 small businesses.
Do COVID-19-ravaged businesses really need more taxes to contend
with?
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