FEATURE WINTER IS COMING
Federal assistance and a dry, warm summer kept most Cleveland restaurants open through the pandemic. That’s about to change By Douglas Trattner
Anisa Rrapaj
“I’VE NEVER SEEN A SUMMER like this in Cleveland,” says Doug Katz. “I’m so grateful that we have had this. But I think it’s going to be a true awakening when it gets too cold.” After enduring six months of awful, terrifying and confounding hardships, the vast majority of Cleveland restaurants still are open. While we have lost many prominent places, including Spice, Ushabu, Distill Table, XO Prime Steaks, Tastebuds, Zaytoon and Katz’s Fire, the number of independent eateries that have permanently closed has not risen to the fateful levels predicted. That’s good news, obviously. But it’s far from a success story. Restaurants might be open for business, but most are teetering on cliff’s edge. The ones that are
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clinging to life despite once-in-ageneration challenges are doing so in MacGyver-like fashion by knitting together a web of short-term fixes. Federal assistance like the Paycheck Protection Program provided a vital lifeline. Expanded outdoor dining areas helped to mitigate social-distancing guidelines that cut occupancy by half. Belt-tightening measures have translated to leaner staffs, shorter days and weeks, and limited menus. Those measures are supplemented by revenue generating “pivots” such as setting up makeshift bodegas, selling meal kits and whipping up to-go cocktails. But the economic assistance has dried up, winter is just around the corner and all the pivots in the world won’t offset the loss of precious holiday business. Many restaurant
| clevescene.com | October 7-13, 2020
owners are terrified about what’s to come, while others who can read the tea leaves are electing to get out while the getting is bad as opposed to miserable. According to the Ohio Restaurant Association, nearly 80-percent of restaurants statewide have now reopened. But a recent poll conducted by the organization revealed that a majority of owners reported sales that were down at least 50-percent compared to the previous year. Worse, 79-percent of them do not expect to break even in 2020. And worse still, more than half stated that if things do not improve, they will be forced to permanently close within nine months. Which ones ultimately survive will depend on a host of factors that include location, size of dining room, style of service,
demographics of clientele, reputation within the dining community, and whether the property is leased or owned. If the closure of Fire exposed anything, it is just how slim profit margins are – and how tenuous daily survival can be – for a fullservice restaurant. Katz says that his decision to permanently shutter his 20-year-old bistro was unavoidable given the financial realities. In the best of times, when Fire enjoyed robust food and alcohol sales indoors and out throughout the week, month and year, the net return was between four and six percent annually. “If you look at the profit level, and look at where you’re at with cutting seats, you’re really in trouble,” he explains. “The costs in a normal time are so expensive that it’s really all
