Carry-out won’t cut it; restaurants, bars face struggle to stay open amid coronavirus

Sisters (from left) Kim, Minah and Tran Dao opened a Northbrook restaurant and coffee bar, Basu, in late February. Kim encouraged her younger sisters to quit their jobs and go into the restaurant business. “It’s very bad timing,” she said.

Sarah Stegner looked at the deserted dining room of her restaurant at 6 p.m. Monday and said words that perhaps no professional chef has ever uttered before:

“I was afraid it was going to be too packed.”

She was explaining why, even though she could have held a final, last-hurrah dinner at her Prairie Grass Cafe before Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s order to indefinitely close all Illinois restaurants and bars went into effect, “that’s not the right thing to do.”

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She said it twice.

“That’s not the right thing to do.”

While a goodbye dinner would have raked in money that she, her partners and staff may desperately need in the weeks and months to come, it would also put those who love her Northbrook restaurant in jeopardy for contracting the virus. That, she was unwilling to do.

Instead, Prairie Grass, like many restaurants, is offering carry-out. I was there picking up dinner out of a sense of moral duty. Part of what gives Chicago its luster is the bountiful array of unique and delightful restaurants in and around the city, from beloved hot dog stands to world-famous 3-Michelin-star eateries. They have been there for us, framing the joyous moments of our lives — we had our 25th wedding anniversary dinner at Prairie Grass. It seems natural for customers to stand with them now that they need us most.

Sarah Stegner, chef at Prairie Grass Cafe in Northbrook, with husband and co-owrner Rohit Nambiar. “The plan is to keep cooking,” she said.

“So many people have texted, called, ordered curbside,” said Stegner, a James Beard Foundation Award winner, who was chef at the Ritz-Carlton for nearly 20 years. “I feel loved and supported. The plan is to keep cooking.”

That will be hard enough for Prairie Grass, in business for 16 years, a venerable age for top restaurants. In a far tighter spot are places like Basu. “Basu” means “three pennies” in Vietnamese, an apt name for a restaurant owned by three immigrant sisters: Kim, Minah and Tran Dao. They work long hours: coffee, muffins and scones to commuters beginning 7 a.m. at the Northbrook train station — the restaurant is literally trackside — shrimp spring rolls, tofu rice bowls and ginger chicken pho until 8 p.m.

The restaurant opened quietly Feb. 22, right into the teeth of the global pandemic. Now it’s take-out only, breakfast, lunch, dinner.

“We’re so new,” said Minah, the middle sister. “Everyone here has been super supportive. They come in and buy little things to help us out.”

“We hope to make it through,” said Kim, the oldest, who owns three Lotus Banh Mi restaurants in Chicago and encouraged her younger sisters to quit good jobs — Tran was a software engineer; Minah, a nurse — and open a restaurant together. “We’re praying.”

Prayer might not be enough. Food service is the largest private-sector employer in the state, with more than half a million workers generating $30 billion in revenue.

“The reality is that just doing carry-out is not going to put a dent into things,” said Scott Weiner, owner of The Fifty/50 Restaurant Group, which closed 11 of its 12 restaurants, leaving open only three Roots Handmade Pizza locations in Chicago . “Your utilities cost the same. There are so many fixed costs. Better to reopen than to risk losing even more capital and never be able to.”

They’re just keeping their head above water.

“We’re definitely not making money. All we’re doing now is, it allows us to keep our employees, to give them a paycheck,” said Weiner. “That’s all I’m trying to do now. To help people get by.”

He urged customers: “if you can, order direct. Skip the DoorDash. It’s going to be a lot more sanitary. Our drivers not only are employees with benefits, but also have food handler certificates. The last thing Chicago needs to do is support GrubHub. We’ve got our own app that puts the most amount of money in our employees’ pockets.”

Prairie Grass has 47 employees; most are on furlough. Every restaurant is in the same boat.

“It’s very tough,” said Kim Dao. “We’re suffering and the workers will be too. We do have savings, but that’ll get wiped out so quickly.”

Gene & Georgetti, 500 N. Franklin, has been closed since a grease fire Oct. 3. Since then, owners have been dealing with insurance companies and waiting on special-order kitchen equipment.

“We were planning to be open to the public April 5,” said Michelle Durpetti, the managing partner and third-generation to run the storied steakhouse, which opened in 1941.

Now she’s trying to find way to support her workers.

“Your staff are your family,” she said.

Six months of being closed has given her a certain brass-tacks perspective.

“I don’t have a whole lot of sophisticated advice for restaurant owners,” she said. “Everything we’ve gone through doesn’t give us an advantage now. Besides, when you are in this industry, you are tenacious. You are also a person or group who thinks on their feet. Conversation is key. We’ve been on the phone all day with our accountant, PR team, and very trusted advisors, to see what we can do, and do it.

“It has been a fight from the minute the fire happened, a fight to survive. The restaurant industry has historically small margins. A hard industry. It’s never been an industry that makes people a ton of money. This is a scary, scary time. How to survive? Everybody has to absorb it, stay calm, go into solution mode.”