PEORIA, Ill. — Local restaurateurs have been left to wonder “what’s next?” after Governor J.B. Pritzker’s Sunday declaration all bars and restaurants are to halt dine-in options as of Tuesday at 12 a.m.
“We’re still trying to wrap our heads around it,” said Matt White, owner and operator of Dac’s Smokehouse in Campustown.
“We were expecting it as a possibility, just with what other countries are doing, but to hear the actual words [from Pritzker], it doesn’t have us at ease because we don’t know what is going on or what to do right now.”
White, who has operated the restaurant since 2018, said it’s not just the short-term prospects that concern him, but also the long-term.
“We don’t know what the end is. We don’t know when it is,” he said.
“They’re insane to shut down restaurants for two weeks. It doesn’t seem like that’s realistic.
“They’re wanting everybody to stay away from other people, so it doesn’t make sense two weeks would be long enough. It [seems like it’s] going to continue to be longer that.”
For Brad Gebhards, co-owner of Gebby’s and Schooners in Peoria Heights, the immediate reaction was concern for his staff who relies on tips.
“They’re real nervous,” he said. “They don’t know what to do and they’re about as lost as we are.”
Gebhards expressed anger and confusion towards the situation.
“It’s not like [Pritzker] gave a lot of specifics on what’s allowed and not allowed. We heard a little bit about carryout and delivery, but you’re supposed to have a window and if you don’t have a window, can you still do carryout through the back door and take it to the cars?
“We’re just kind of a little lost right now.
“As a government, they should be advising us what to do and advising people not to go out, but to just straight shut down businesses and say ‘hey, it’s illegal for you to operate now,’ that is, to me, absurd. It’s our choice whether we want to go out, it’s our choice if we want to risk it, and if somebody doesn’t want to go to a restaurant then they stay home.
“But just to say ‘hey, you’ll be all right, I know it’s tough times,’ as a billionaire, it’s easy for him to say, but as a girl who’s working for tips every night just to make sure their kids are fed, I don’t think that’s very fair.”
While Amy Eid, HR Director and wife of a co-owner of One World Cafe, wasn’t happy about the decision, she was somewhat at peace with it.
“Honestly, we have to respect the decision,” she said.
“All we can focus on is what we can do. I will say for some measure this serious to be happening, if you follow the global news, we kind of somewhat expected it, but I think it really demonstrates the severity of the importance for protecting our community.”
Eid said the key to the situation will be adaptability.
“[Sunday] morning, we had actually already rolled out curbside pickup, to offer the safest option for people, because the good news is, they said the coronavirus is not transmittable through food, as long as you eliminate human interaction.
“We have plans by Tuesday to offer local delivery, so again, we’re just trying to figure out what we can do now.”
She said the restaurant on Main St. would continue to employ as many people as possible, “depending on community need,” but because the dining room will be eliminated, she was encouraging her staff to do as Pritzker suggested, which is to apply for unemployment.
“It was really hard to send that notification out, because we know how important it is for people’s hourly wages, but at the same time, luckily this unemployment is available, and they’re able to utilize it right away.”
In the meantime, White said he planned to huddle with his staff to figure the next course of action.
“We’re all going to meet [Monday], and hopefully we’re going to have more information. I’m concerned about their wellbeing and they have families they need to provide for, and we all together need to come up with a solution. We’ve got to figure it out and we’ve got to figure it out now.
“We have a lot of smart people who work for Dac’s Smokehouse, and we’re going to figure it out.”
White said in addition to continuing to cater, Dac’s will offer curbside takeout and delivery.
Gebhards said his establishments will celebrate a usually happy day one day earlier than planned.
“We’re going to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day [on Monday]. “we’re going to open up at 6 A.M. and get one last day for all the girls to come in and make as much money as they can to help them out for the two weeks off and help them in any way we can,” he said.
“We have 800 pounds of corned beef that we cooked up.”
Eid said she and her staff are looking ahead.
“I think we’ll really appreciate hearing the busy dining room. We’ll appreciate hearing the sound of those dishes getting done.
“As a community, we’ve really yet to see how this quarantine is going to affect everybody, but I think when we come out of it, everybody will be stronger and we’ll appreciate these little things in our lives more.”
