Restaurant Owners Say 60,000 MA Jobs May Be Gone For Good

BOSTON — A group of more than 100 Massachusetts restaurant owners sent an open letter to Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and state lawmakers asking that they be allowed to start reopening on May 19.

Under the name MA Restaurant and Jobs Group, the group is made up of locally-owned food service businesses and headed by Phantom Gourmet owner Dave Andelman. The group said 150,000 of the state's 300,000 hospitality jobs have been lost since Baker ordered restaurant dining rooms closed in March. The group also said 60,000 of the lost jobs may not come back.

"Unlike the owners and presidents of most of these multibillion-dollar, multinational companies, we live here and work in our stores, so our safety measures impact us and our families," the letter said. "Cleaning and sanitation for the safety of customers and employees has been the most crucial component of our industry for decades; it’s what we do first and foremost."

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Boston-area small businesses, including locally-owned restaurants, have been harder hit than their counterparts in other parts of the country in the COVID-19 crisis. Restaurants have either closed or have offered takeout and delivery since the state of emergency to slow the spread of the new coronavirus started on March 15. The restaurant owners want to be allowed to begin dining rooms with limited capacity on May 19 and be allowed to operate at full capacity 30 days later, "provided that virus hospitalizations aren’t rising."

Baker outlined a four-phase plan to reopen the state's economy on Monday. On Tuesday, he said businesses that would be allowed to reopen in the first phase on May 18 would not know until the day of the reopening.

Baker has repeatedly said the reopening of Massachusetts will progress only as much as the health data does. Officials are closely watching several metrics, many of which have been trending downward in recent weeks.

The restaurant owners who signed the letter outlined steps they would take to insure worker and customer safety, including reconfiguring patios, dining rooms and bars to allow six feet of space between customers, sanitizing menus after every use and taking employee temperatures when they report for work.

"Restaurants are one of the top few generators of jobs, tax revenue, and culture in Massachusetts. Hard-working industry employees have been denied the right to make a living, and many will lose their job permanently," the group said. "To create a safe, legal framework to reopen, we deserve a seat at the table, guidelines and a timetable, now."

More Coronavirus Coverage On Massachusetts Patch:

• 'The New Normal': MA Details 4-Phase Approach To Reopening State
• MA Small Business Hit Harder Than Most By Coronavirus Shutdown
• What MA Businesses Could Reopen In Phase 1
• Coronavirus Case Counts For Every Massachusetts Town (Updated May 6)

Dave Copeland writes for Patch and can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).