New York State had just shut down all dine-in restaurants due to COVID-19, but allowed delivery and take-out service to continue. As a restaurant owner I was very greatful. (Unfortunately, we are currently operating at just 30% of our regular business. We are awaiting NYS Phase 3 to re-open our dining room.) To make things even worse, I along with two business partners had just opened a second restaurant on February 20, 2020, three weeks prior to the shut down. So I started thinking outside of the box!
The big idea hit one day when I heard the news about “New York State on Pause.” I began to worry about the finances and future of my business. My staff and I depend on the business’ survival to pay bills and take care of our families. In my frustration, I blurted out, “This COVID-19 SUCKS!” It was at that point I thought, “Maybe I am on to something, and I am probably not the only one that feels this way. “
By wearing the COVID-19 SUCKS T-shirt, you can show the world how you really feel. This shirt will surely start interesting conversations!
It’s only been 5 days since our first formal communication was distributed but life as we know it has changed in a very big way in less than a week as I’m sure yours has. We’ve been instructed to reduce our work force by 75%. That, undoubtedly is the toughest thing that we’ve ever done in 35 years of doing business. Truly our staff can receive more money from unemployment than can working a 40 hour minimum wage job. Apparently, the appropriate verbiage is no longer ” laid off ” or ” unemployed “, but politically correct, polite term is ” furloughed “. Not sure what’s the difference… either one means no work, less earnings!
As I’ve mentioned before, real caterers are a resilient breed. We can make a lot happen with a little. We can go deep and figure things out. We band together and take insurmountable challenges. The problem here is we are dealing with lots of unknowns. If we knew that life as we knew it would return in 2 weeks, we could pace ourselves, plan our time, prepare for that… but alas we have no idea when it will be ” business as usual ” and nobody else does either.
I am the president of this small business with 12-25 staff depending on the time of year, I am the first to admit that I have no concrete plan. I am not sure how to proceed and it breaks my heart to have to ‘ furlough ” long time , dedicated, hard-working staff. My best effort is to maintain as much optimism as I can muster and limp along with whatever business we can attract to stay alive just a couple of staff on the job. Sure we have expert professionals to turn to for advice and counseling . The problem is we’re all in the same boat. None of us has experienced anything like this in our lifetime. There is no road-map, no master plan, there is no crystal ball.
I had been working as a camp councelor in the Finger Lakes region for the past 3 Seasons and loved my job working with the childern. Unfortunately the camp is not going to open this Summer due the corona virus and that means no job for me.
This corona virus and social distancing with face masks makes it pretty hard on the dating scene! With the lock down there is not many fun places to go hang out.
My inspiration for COVID-19 SUCKS! T-shirts
New York State had just shut down all dine-in restaurants due to COVID-19, but allowed delivery and take-out service to continue. As a restaurant owner I was very greatful. (Unfortunately, we are currently operating at just 30% of our regular business. We are awaiting NYS Phase 3 to re-open our dining room.) To make things even worse, I along with two business partners had just opened a second restaurant on February 20, 2020, three weeks prior to the shut down. So I started thinking outside of the box!
The big idea hit one day when I heard the news about “New York State on Pause.” I began to worry about the finances and future of my business. My staff and I depend on the business’ survival to pay bills and take care of our families. In my frustration, I blurted out, “This COVID-19 SUCKS!” It was at that point I thought, “Maybe I am on to something, and I am probably not the only one that feels this way. “
By wearing the COVID-19 SUCKS T-shirt, you can show the world how you really feel. This shirt will surely start interesting conversations!
Stay safe, we will make it through this!
Sincerely,
HBD
What’s a Caterer to do?
It’s only been 5 days since our first formal communication was distributed but life as we know it has changed in a very big way in less than a week as I’m sure yours has. We’ve been instructed to reduce our work force by 75%. That, undoubtedly is the toughest thing that we’ve ever done in 35 years of doing business. Truly our staff can receive more money from unemployment than can working a 40 hour minimum wage job. Apparently, the appropriate verbiage is no longer ” laid off ” or ” unemployed “, but politically correct, polite term is ” furloughed “. Not sure what’s the difference… either one means no work, less earnings!
As I’ve mentioned before, real caterers are a resilient breed. We can make a lot happen with a little. We can go deep and figure things out. We band together and take insurmountable challenges. The problem here is we are dealing with lots of unknowns. If we knew that life as we knew it would return in 2 weeks, we could pace ourselves, plan our time, prepare for that… but alas we have no idea when it will be ” business as usual ” and nobody else does either.
I am the president of this small business with 12-25 staff depending on the time of year, I am the first to admit that I have no concrete plan. I am not sure how to proceed and it breaks my heart to have to ‘ furlough ” long time , dedicated, hard-working staff. My best effort is to maintain as much optimism as I can muster and limp along with whatever business we can attract to stay alive just a couple of staff on the job. Sure we have expert professionals to turn to for advice and counseling . The problem is we’re all in the same boat. None of us has experienced anything like this in our lifetime. There is no road-map, no master plan, there is no crystal ball.
But there are better days ahead!
I had been working as a camp councelor in the Finger Lakes region for the past 3 Seasons and loved my job working with the childern. Unfortunately the camp is not going to open this Summer due the corona virus and that means no job for me.
That sucks,
Emma
I love my son but we have been butting heads with his home-schooling. I am ready to wring his neck for not following through with the instructions.
This Sucks,
Susan
This corona virus and social distancing with face masks makes it pretty hard on the dating scene! With the lock down there is not many fun places to go hang out.
Covid Sucks balls,
Kevin