Stunned at Restaurant Closings
 

Why did governor Sununu destroy the hospitality industry?
Only 13 cases of the virus in a state with 1.3 million people
We were ready with enhanced sanitation.Customers were not concerned.
Sounds like a a case of CYA
Many restaurants will not survive

One of the major reasons was the southern cites were fearful of the onslaught from mass closing theirs.


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Are you not capable of providing take out service? If so, perhaps you should explore this...

Heard the same thing that those from the south were planning on partying north and spreading it up here. Yes, from the mouths of those intending. Good for Sununu, go to Conn, Vt or NY. :)

The answer was in the President's news conference. They said that their suggested restrictions will seem like they are overreacting. They are trying to keep 13 from becoming 1300 and no deaths becoming a hundred deaths. Further, if they are successful, people will also say they overreacted because the numbers won't get that bad.

China went from 278 cases to 75,000+ cases in ONE MONTH (Jan 21 - Feb 21). 6 deaths to 2239 deaths. At the start of that period they probably didn't feel too threatened either.

To be honest, I think some of the projections are hype but actual counts of sick and dead are real enough and something to take very seriously.

To deal with this, the whole world is taking a big economic hit but I don't know how else we can fight it. The only real weapon we have is to minimize its spread.

It’s going to get worse. The hospitals in the southern area are planning for the worst. They are already seeing packed emergency rooms as patients are coming North do to the wait in Massachusetts


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I agree a great compromise would have been max of 50% capacity and as you said enhanced sanitary practices or the restaurant and its patrons especially as they enter the establishment.


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Unfortunately Sam, most of our elected officials have never owned small businesses. If they did they would be less inclined to cancel events or enact restrictions. (I realize Chris Sununu is a small business owner.)

That said, it’s all about understanding and accepting risks. In 2019, nearly 500,000 people were hospitalized and 36,000 died from the flu. Not a big deal since we’ve accepted the risk of getting the flu. The Chinese coronavirus is an unknown. Couple this with the media and social media stoking the flame of panic, we are where we are.

I feel so bad for good people like you who provide jobs in our area.


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I find it quite interesting that Waterville Valley owned by the Sununu family is still open.

I do believe in three weeks every thing will open and we move forward. This shutdown gives the medical community a chance to catch-up. There will still be infected after the three weeks, but the ability to handle each will have been better defined


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I believe good leaders respond to changing situations, not just make a plan and stick to it no matter what. Much of the current situation status is unknown and unknowable. It is evolving. Further, even though it will have significant business impacts, business is NOT the foremost concern at the moment. President ***** has accepted he needs to manage the response to the medical crisis as the primary concern, and for now, to the exclusion of some other concerns. The potential cost to do otherwise might be catastrophic.

I think that's a reasonable thing to do.

Thanks for your support major....much appreciated from the thousands of hard working people in the industry who are now out of work..
I understand peoples concerns about the virus but there have been no deaths in NH, only 13 mild cases so far..
In 2009 The swine flu hospitalized over 250,000 people and caused over 12,000 deaths and there were no such closing of business', churches and sporting events. Many more people die of the common flu than have died from the coronavirus.
Most people in this business...servers, bartenders, cooks live pretty much week to week and being suddenly out of work is devastating to them.
We are going to pay our staff as long as the money holds out but I still think this was not a wise decision.

I'm quarantined to my home as of midnight tonight...
 

As are 7,000,000 of my neighbors for 3 weeks...In SF Bay Area.

I'll head out for food tomorrow and do what my Govt. has requested...

Sit on the couch and watch Netflix for 3 weeks and read. I've had years of practice for this. I'll do well.

To Go????
 

Samiam,

We love the Kitchen.....always have for over 30 years..........why oh why aren't you or your manager leading the communication to continue the work of expanding a Take Out business during these uncertain times. Giuseppe's has done a bang-up job communicating their strategy, so too has Buckeys.....

If for no other reason than to continue to employ a dedicated staff and to provide the residents of Moultonborough with some form of continuity.

Wishing you all the best during these very uncertain times.

unprecedented times
 

Restaurants are going to have to innovate to take out or lose weeks of business-maybe more. Servers will suffer. We all have to do our part to stop this thing otherwise we'll overwhelm hospitals (like italy) and THEN non-virus related deaths will sky rocket also. Italy is only reporting virus related deaths and omitting the s^%t storm from hospitals unable to keep up with demand.

Closing restaurants makes perfect sense
 

From NYT

"Sweeping new federal recommendations announced on Monday for Americans to sharply limit their activities appeared to draw on a dire scientific report warning that, without action by the government and individuals to slow the spread of coronavirus and suppress new cases, 2.2 million people in the United States could die."

Closing restaurants makes perfect sense if we are trying to slow the virus down and attempt to avoid overwhelming the hospitals. Anyone over 60 and healthy should be very careful. Anyone with medical conditions should be even more careful.

Everyone in the world is paying the price right now. Stocks are falling, interest rates almost zero, companies closing, etc. Some business will weather the storm and some will fail but we are all impacted economically one way or the other.

SAMIAM - can we get gift certificates thru a website?


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Thanks very much and yes,we are going to try some take out....evenings only. Tonight with corned beef for saint Patricks and our usual turkey dinner on Wednesday and we'll see how it goes.
If we have any success at all we will continue with a limited menu

I don’t think SAMIAM is as concerned about the VK (it is established) as much as for other small mom and pops. Especially those that tend to struggle this time of year. I hear the politicians talk about how they have to protect the workers who live paycheck to paycheck, but I’ve heard no mention of how some small mom and pops may loose everything.

Fact is; employees can apply for unemployment benefits. I am encouraging mine to do so and do so with pride. They have been paying into it and I have been matching their contributions. If their benefits are not enough, I’ll subsidize the difference. Only because they were thoughtful enough to ask if I’ll be OK.

Another fact; I’m an odd duck. It was the financial collapse that brought me to the lakes region. Unfortunately there will be very hard times fall upon some however opportunities will be created for those who can keep there head. Markets will rebound like whiplash. I will focus on getting my distillery open and hope to time things just in time for a celebratory toast with you all once this passes, as it will.

I just finished reading this mornings news about politicians discussing support (I read as bailouts) for the airline & oil industries, both who have made huge (some might say obscene) profits over the past few years. I haven’t read anything about plans to support small business, most of whom get by on far smaller margins and are the ones who push local economies.

Doesn’t sound right to me. I’m sending my thoughts to my senators and my congressman.


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www.waterville.com ..... click on 'covid-19 update' at top of page .... and as of today, March 17, the ski area is running the lifts, the base lodge and all restaurants are closed, and a lift ticket window or something is selling food take-out.

Instruction for using the rest room: take deep breath while outdoors, and hold breath while inside restroom. .... :emb:

Waterville is open with a couple inches of fresh, new snow ....... is good time to hit the slopes ....... at $70, is that a reduced price for a covid crazy-Tuesday ski price? Like, when Team Sununu first bought the area in 2011, they had $10-Tuesdays & Thursdays ..... those were the days ..... and Chris Sununu said the next year after raising price ..... "when you charge ten dollar for a lift ticket, what you get is a ten dollar skier."

www.waterville.com/cams

My sister-in-law works at an Olive Garden. Staff was told to go file for un-employment. Managers will handle the take-out orders.

Email from Patrick's:

Be generous, everyone
 

I have ordered pickup at the V.K. many times, and they do a great job. If I were in charge, I would have a message on the sign: WE WELCOME TAKEOUT ORDERS (with the phone number) or something sassier, and have a limited menu. For those who love the V.K., please remember to add a generous tip for those who prepared your meal. These people don’t deserve to go without their income.
Good luck, Samiam.

I was advised by my work to plan for 6-8 weeks of working remotely. I think three weeks right now is optimistic.

The only very slight silver lining in all this is at least around the lake at least it's not tourist season yet. But I think a lot of small businesses around the country will be gone forever by the time this is over.

Those whose savings are in CD's, annuities and other secure investments will be poised to pounce, while those whose savings are in securities will gnash their teeth and pull their hair...if there isn't the hoped-for bounceback.

Why did governor Sununu destroy the hospitality industry?
 

Same reason MA did, and the same reason CA is shut down.

States are going to get in line quickly for Federal disaster relief dollars/reimbursement, so all recommendations are going to be followed. Hence some states declared emergencies before the Fed Gov did.

An aside - today we drove past ~ 20 closed restaurants going to get office takeout. Also drove through two fair size office parks and saw about 10,000 empty parking spots that are normally full - in one area of one town. You can believe in this or not, but it's happening and it won't stop in 3 weeks.

T-bones take out today:

https://mailchi.mp/greatnhrestaurant...l?e=91a64d8b31

FYI - After you stock up, keep replenishing at your normal rate.

If not, you won't be ready if you need to self-quarantine.

VK listen up!
 

You are SPOT ON. VK is a lakes region treasure and take out would be awesome-especially now.

!!!!why for public safety !!!!!

VK To Go
 

I am not sure what the Village Kitchen's plans for the next few weeks are, but they are open today for take out -- just a corned beef and cabbage dinner, which is the only thing I wanted. When I go to pick it up I am going to tell them that take out, even with a limited menu, would be a good idea.

Also picked up some hot and fresh bagels this morning from Winnipesaukee Baygulls in Moultonborough. Heath supermarket also appears to be more well stocked than Hannaford.

The Cup and Crumb in Moultonborough is also still open, 6:30-11am, for takeout.

If folks have other updates for restaurants around the lake, please post them! I definitely want to support who I can!

Lyon’s Den
 

Just had a fantastic “corned beef and cabbage” takeout from the Den!

Support your local restaurants!

Dan

Wait a minute ... I thought tips were for the waitstaff?

What, do waitresses routinely split tips with the cooks?

If so, that's news to me.

Not saying "don't tip," just seeking clarification.

While it's not tourist season yet, many MA plates are pulling in to get to their homes early, I believe. We noticed an uptick in Wolfeboro this past week.

Cape May NJ has just put out a notice that says:
Stay away, we love visitors but not during a pandemic- they're seeing an increase in traffic and are asking people to not come down and bring the virus to their popular resort.

If anyone googles The New York Times or New York Post headlines, the up to date numbers are staggering, and the info is shocking. Italy put out a video on how carefree they were until everything started ramping up. It is very scary.

I love eating out, esp at VK, and gave Rhonda the picture of her and our waitress dressed up during Christmas we took. We hope to be grabbing takeout soon-

Stay safe, everyone~

I've been working from home for 10 years (in-calls center). It would be a lot harder without an internal IM/Chat program to share info with the team either collectively or to 'tap on the window' of a colleague.

Even if your home-office has everything you want close at hand, try to get up and walk around a few minutes each hour to avoid cramps, just like at your regular work-place.

I can’t believe the head-in-the-sand attitude. I suggest you spend some time looking at what is going on in Italy, with doctors having to choose which patients have a better chance of survival with ventilators, and being unable to help others dying on cots gasping for breath. Absent drastic measures, we are only a couple weeks behind Italy. And that is from the head of the NIH and *****’s “face” of the pandemic response. If even ***** can now wrap his head around this, everyone should be able to.

No, there have not been large numbers of deaths in the U.S.... yet. As any epidemiologist will tell you, by the time the death toll starts to rise in a pandemic like this, you have already lost the battle.

This is going to be very painful for the economy, and yes, hourly earners, servers, etc. are the hardest hit. But at least if we act now we can have a chance at mitigating this highly contagious threat.

The flip side of this is that, if drastic mitigation efforts and social distancing are successful at slowing transmission and hopefully ultimately minimizing infections and deaths, we are going to hear how there was “overreaction” and “unnecessary harm to businesses.” The problem with these types of things is that if you’re actually successful on the front end, you won’t know how bad it could have been. Only if you’re unsuccessful will you look back and say that we all should have done more.

Stunned at Restaurant Closings
 

A good friend of mine is an ER nurse out in Montauk at the end of Long Island. She tells me they are inundated by people fleeing New York and, thus, bringing the virus with them, overwhelming their small community hospitals and totally depleting their grocery stores. The Lakes Region will likely be in the same position any day now. 🤦🏼*♀️🤦🏼*♀️🤦🏼*♀️


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I'm sorry, but what happens in Italy has little or no bearing on what happens in the U.S. Regardless, with socialized medicine, which certain segments of our country are clamoring for, deciding on who to treat or not treat is part of the deal. That is why a free-market health care system is superior.

My guess is that you don't own a small business. You wouldn't understand the frustration of having your business being destroyed and witnessing your employees suffering. As we speak, a good portion of our population is wondering how it will pay bills, feed families, and keep their homes. The economic price paid by this overreaction will be tremendous. And small businesses, especially restaurants, are wondering when and if they will ever reopen. Their lives matter too.

To date, the H1N1 crisis was far worse. (The present Chinese coronavirus could end up being worse, we just don't know.) How did we handle that? We didn't have reports from this country or that stating that the sky is falling. We didn't have the media or social media stirring us into a panic. We dealt with it by being responsible and taking metered steps in preventing its spread.

Personally, I don't want to see it spread, and have loved ones would probably wouldn't survive if they were afflicted with it. However, even they say it's an overreaction.