How Are Illinois Restaurant Workers Doing? 'Absolutely Terrible'

CHICAGO, IL — For bar and restaurant workers, Tuesday was a St. Patrick's Day massacre. Gov. J.B. Pritzker's order forcing more than 25,000 restaurants and bars statewide that employ about 474,500 people to shut down in-house service for two weeks in attempt to stem the spread of the new coronavirus started Tuesday.

"This is a f------ disaster," said chef Kevin Hickey, owner of Duck Inn. "We're on Day 1 looking down the barrel at little to no income, scrambling to try to set up food delivery and pick up, which wasn't a substantial part of our business and even if it increased tenfold wouldn't be enough to survive. ... And we're trying to do best by our employees."

The Michelin-star chef, like many Chicago bar owners and restaurateurs, set up a Go Fund Me page hoping regular patrons and kind-hearted locals will pitch in to help staffers at the Bridgeport hotspot survive without steady work. In less than 24 hours, 15 people donated $1,570 toward the $25,000 fundraising goal.

"We're hoping that it will help. They're going to be without income just as our business will be without income. And bills don't stop," Hickey said. "We'll see what the two weeks bring."

"People's stress levels are higher about the financial situation than about getting sick. And when you're freaking out about money, your immune system is gonna drop."

Shawn Podgurski, Dmen Tap co-owner

Shawn Podgurski, co-owner of Dmen Tap in Avondale, said the tavern's 20 employees are getting sliced with a double-edge sword at the intersection of new coronavirus fears and devastating financial losses.

"How are we doing? Absolutely terrible. Everyone is going on a red beans and rice diet," he said. "Chicago is an expensive city to live in. Some of our workers are artists and working here is their only income. People's stress levels are higher about the financial situation than about getting sick. And when you're freaking out about money, your immune system is gonna drop. April rent is due and our people are missing 14 days of shifts. We're all freaking out."

Podgurski and his partners also set up a Go Fund Me account to raise money for the bar staff.

"We noticed the big restaurant groups raising money online and thought we should try it, too. We're a pretty small unit but our regulars are really great people and in just a few hours they're showing that they want to help out our people," he said.

Dmen Tap bartender Taylor Eastman, a 24-year-old artist and T-shirt maker, lives with two roommates in Avondale where she runs her start-up design company Tooth Streetwear. She's trying to keep calm.

"I'm a painter and I live off tips and whatever artwork I can sell here or there," she said. "I have to work a week just to cover part of my rent. Two weeks is pretty brutal for all of us. We're applying for unemployment to see if that might help. I've been staying inside and keeping an eye on the Go Fund Me page, just hoping to be able to pay rent on time."

Dmen Tap patron Candy Alcat left a message along with a $35 donation. "Sending you guys hella love while I miss Taylor making me bloody marys," she wrote on the Go Fund Me page.

Illinois Restaurant Association President Sam Toia said the two-week shutdown could result in more than $400 million in lost revenue statewide. And if government decisions to close restaurants and bars in Massachusetts and Colorado for more than a month are any indication, Illinois' two-week shutdown might last much longer.

"We are in a crisis. We'll get out of it, but we're in this maybe for three to five months. And 2020 is shot for the hospitality industry," Toai said. "We're the largest private sector employer. The federal government needs to do what it did for the banking and auto industries and step up for the restaurant and hospitality industry."

Chef Hickey said he's been working with the restaurant association to lobby elected officials to find local solutions to help workers financially crippled by the mass closures.

"Hopefully they'll get money in people's hands, offer rent and mortgage abatement or give business some tax breaks," he said. "We're going to need to see as much of that as possible if we're all going to make it."

In the meantime, Hickey will be whipping up a "staff meal" for his employees like he always does, only in to-go boxes. On Monday, Hickey prepared a mushroom pasta, kale salad and buttermilk biscuits for the crew .

"And it's a hell of a mushroom pasta — Chanetrelle and trumpet mushrooms — thanks to Regalis Foods. They donated the mushrooms so the staff can come and grab some really good food to-go," Hickey said.

"Whatever we can do for them, we're going to do it while we still can."