Chefs Call Lawmakers To Help Before Coronavirus Kills Restaurants

CHICAGO — Chicago chefs took to Instagram Friday in attempt to rally public support for federal help to keep their restaurants alive amid the new coronavirus crisis.

Chef Carlos Gaytan joined culinary stars from across America posting a selfie video from his home kitchen. Chefs Stephanie Izard from Girl and the Goat, the first woman to win Bravo's "Top Chef," and Kevin Hickey, owner of Duck Inn in Bridgeport, were among the Chicago restaurateurs taking part in the the Instagram campaign, #toosmalltofail.

Like the others, Gaytan read from the "chef's call to action" script:

“This week, millions of restaurant workers suddenly lost their jobs. You can help. Please call your representative and senators and insist that help be given — not just to big corporations, but to independent businesses as well. This is the only way to protect the people and places you love. We simply will not make it without your help.”

Gaytan, whose Mexican-French fusion restaurant earned a Michelin star before closing last year, opened Tzuco in River North last fall.

"All chefs are on the same boat. We are working together with Illinois Restaurant Association to try to push the government to do something for us. And we're going to continue pushing," he said. "Everybody is staying positive and motivated to keep going."

Bars and restaurants employ about 354,000 people in the Chicago metro area, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For every two weeks bars and restaurants are closed due to the new coronavirus, owners and workers lose out on more than $400 million in revenue statewide, according to the Illinois Restaurant Association estimates.

At Tzcuco, Gaytan and a skeleton crew of "volunteers" banded together to keep the River North hot spot open. You pick up orders of Cochinita Pibil, Ceviche Rojo and even a burger, a bottle of wine or two, and Arroz Con Leche for desert at 720 N. State St. Or have items from Tzcuco's limited 11-item menu delivered.

"With the dining room closed, we simplified the menu to just 11 items, things you can share at home with the kids, adults and everybody," Gaytan said.

At the end of each day, Gaytan splits the restaurant's profits among the five employees who "volunteered" to keep working as long as folks keep ordering.

"I'm putting myself in my workers' shoes. Thinking about what they need and what we can do for them. It's all of us working together," Gaytan said. "They're volunteering. Whatever we sell, the profits we make, it's for them."