The Number One Problem Plaguing Restaurants As They Try To Reopen

困扰餐馆重新开业的头号问题

As a diner, you may have waited all through shutdown to make a restaurant reservation. You were delighted when your state’s governor says they could begin patio or dining room service.

作为一名就餐者，你可能在停业期间一直期待着能订到餐厅座位。当你所在州的州长宣布餐厅可以开始露台或堂食服务时，你很高兴。

And still, the place where you want to eat hasn’t reopened — and it may even have announced it isn’t coming back.

尽管如此，你想去的餐厅还没有重新开张--它甚至可能已经宣布不会再复工了。

What’s the main reason that’s hampering places from coming back to life?

阻碍这些地方恢复生机的主要原因是什么？

In a word: cash.

总而言之：资金。

“The big thing for us is cash flow,” says Michael Gulotta, the James Beard Award-finalist chef and owner of Maypop and MoPho in New Orleans.

“对我们来说，最重要的是现金流，”詹姆斯•比尔德奖决赛的主厨、新奥尔良美波普餐厅和摩福餐厅的老板迈克尔•古洛塔表示。

“It’s really frustrating. A lot of us thought we’d be busier (doing carryout and delivery), and we’re not.”

“这真的很令人沮丧。 我们很多人都以为做外带和外卖会更忙，但事实并非如此。”

The situation brings to mind what happens to companies when they skate close to Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

这种情况让人想到，当企业濒临破产时，会发生什么。

They begin to hoard cash because they will have expenses to cover, once they wind up in bankruptcy, and they’ll no longer be able to count on lines of credit and bank loans.

他们开始囤积现金，因为一旦破产，他们将有开支需要支付，他们将不再能够依赖信用额度和银行贷款。

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The cash issue is the key reason why restaurants across the country have decided not to reopen.

资金问题是全国各地餐馆决定不再重新开业的关键原因。

The lengthy list of shutdowns include Foley’s, the sports bar in New York City that is a favorite of baseball fans; Logan, an Ann Arbor, Mich., restaurant that has been in business for the past 16 years; Toast, a pair of popular breakfast spots in Chicago; McCrady’s in Charleston, S.C.; Locanda, in San Francisco, and the Souplantation chain in California.

长长的停业餐厅名单包括位于纽约市深受棒球迷喜爱的体育酒吧福利餐厅； 密歇根州安娜堡的一家已经经营了16年的洛根餐馆； 芝加哥两家受欢迎的吐司早餐店； 南卡罗来纳州查尔斯顿的麦克拉迪餐厅； 旧金山的洛坎达餐厅和加利福尼亚的素普兰提恩连锁店。

The list of closings is likely to grow even longer when New York State lifts a moratorium on evictions that lasts until mid-August.

当纽约州解除持续到8月中旬的暂停驱逐令后，停业名单可能会更长。

Many places simply can’t afford to make the renovations required to operate in the COVID-19 era. And, the income they hoped to derive by offering food to go hasn’t materialized.

许多餐厅根本负担不起新冠疫情时期营业所需的翻修费用。 而且，他们希望通过提供外卖来获得的收入也没有实现。

I’ve been writing about Gulotta as he has navigated the COVID-19 world.

我一直在关注古洛塔在疫情期间的经营经历。

He originally chose to keep Maypop and MoPho closed, even though other chefs pivoted to carry out and delivery.

尽管其他厨师在忙着做外带和外卖，他依旧选择关闭美波普餐厅和摩福餐厅。

Gulotta figured that customers would excitedly rush back in mid-May, once they heard he was serving food to go at MoPho, his casual restaurant near City Park that specializes in pho and other Asian-influenced dishes.

古洛塔以为，当顾客们听说他那家位于城市公园附近、主打越南河粉及其他亚洲风味菜品的休闲餐厅摩福提供外卖时，他们会在5月中旬兴冲冲地赶来下单。

He had hoped he would bring in about 100 orders per day, or roughly one-third the business he did with sit-down guests.

他原本希望自己每天能接到大约100份订单，大约是堂食时期业务量的三分之一。

But, he is only doing 15 to 25 percent of the restaurant’s pre-COVID business, depending on the day of the week.

但是，他只做了餐厅疫情前的15%至25%的生意，而且还取决于那一天是一周中的星期几。

The tepid business is keeping him from re-hiring more staff.

不温不火的生意使他无法重新雇用更多的员工。

“It’s hard,” he says. “We can only go off the numbers we’re bringing in. If we see the numbers aren’t big, we have to keep (staff) small.”

“太难了，”他说。 “我们只能减少我们引进的员工数量。 如果我们看到客流量不多，我们就必须裁减员工。”

Like a number of restaurants across the country, Gulotta received a Paycheck Protection Program loan from the government.

和全国各地的许多餐馆一样，古洛塔从政府那里获得了一笔工资保障计划贷款。

He used the proceeds to cover the salaries of staff that he laid off when his restaurant dining rooms closed earlier this spring, and pay some outstanding expenses so that the restaurant was current on its bills.

他用这些收入来支付今年春天早些时候餐厅停业时被裁员工的工资，并支付一些未付的费用，确保餐厅账目无拖欠。

However, in order to reopen MoPho, he had to take a series of steps that are something like restaurants faced after Hurricane Katrina:

然而，为了重开摩福餐厅，他不得不采取一系列步骤，这个过程的艰难堪比卡特里娜飓风过后餐馆面临的情况:

— He spent several thousand dollars to repair ovens, as well as a freezer and walk-in cooler that failed, requiring him to throw out $500 in food that spoiled.

--他花了几千美元修理烤箱，以及一个坏了的冰箱和步入式冷藏库，这期间还需要他扔掉500美元变质的食物。

— Gulotta had to completely sanitize the restaurant’s surfaces and equipment, and invest in personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves for all his staff.

--古洛塔不得不对餐厅的台面和设备进行彻底消毒，并为所有员工购买口罩和手套等个人防护装备。

— Vendors, who used to allow him 10 to 15 days to pay bills, now are demanding payment on delivery.

--以前给他10到15天付款期限的商贩，现在都要求货到付款。

Meanwhile, he has yet another dilemma.

与此同时，他还有另一个进退两难的问题。

As I wrote earlier, Gulotta has put off reopening Maypop, even though the well-regarded downtown restaurant is the reason he is a finalist for the Beard Award as Best Chef-South.

正如我之前写到的，古洛塔已经推迟了美波普餐厅的重新开业，尽管这家在市中心享有盛名的餐厅让他入围“詹姆斯・比尔德奖”南部最佳主厨决赛。

However, Gulotta still faces covering the monthly lease payment and the payment for the loan he took out to open the restaurant.

然而，古洛塔仍然面临着支付每月租赁费和支付他为开餐馆而借出的贷款。

He can get out of the five-year lease by paying a steep penalty, but would still owe his restaurant lender.

他可以通过支付高额的违约金来解除5年的租约，但他仍然欠餐馆贷款人的债。

“We can’t go anywhere and get more money,” he says. “Nobody will give it to us right now.”

他说:“我们没有其他地方能筹到更多钱了。” “现在没人会借钱给我们。”

So, everything he owes has to be covered from the income from MoPho, which has meant decisions that even affect the menu.

因此，他的所有欠款都必须从摩福餐厅的收入中支付，这意味着他所做的决定甚至会影响菜单。

For instance, customers have been asking Gulotta to bring back the restaurant’s popular spring rolls, which came with a variety of fillings, including marinated tofu, fried gulf shrimp, griddled pork, chicken vindaloo, and roasted eggplant.

例如，顾客们一直要求古洛塔恢复餐厅最受欢迎的春卷——春卷里有各种各样的馅料，包括卤豆腐、炸墨西哥湾虾、烤猪肉、咖喱鸡肉和烤茄子等。

But, the spring rolls are made by a cook whose only job is rolling spring rolls. “It’s a whole ‘nother cook, and a whole ‘nother shift,” Gulotta says.

但是，做春卷的是一个厨师，他唯一的工作就是卷春卷。 “这是一个专职的厨师，一个完整的轮班。”古洛塔说。

That means Gulotta has to sell enough rolls, at $11 per order of two, to cover labor costs for the cook, the ingredients for the spring rolls and factor in the serving costs.

这意味着Gulotta必须卖出足够多的春卷，每两份11美元，以支付厨师的人力成本，春卷的配料和服务成本。

And with limited seating, and the limited carryout demand, he can’t afford offer them. “It’s one of those heart-wrenching things,” he says.

由于座位有限，而且需求有限，他根本无力供应这道菜。 “这是令人心痛的事情之一。”他说。

Gulotta says he plans to reopen MoPho later this week with 25 percent of the seats he previously served.

古洛塔说，他计划在本周晚些时候重新开放摩福餐厅，不过仅保留他以前提供的25%的座位。

To cover all his costs, he has to sell $1,000 more per day in food. With a typical check of $25 per person, or $50 for a table for two, that means at least 40 people a day need to eat in his restaurant, along with those getting food to go.

为了支付所有的费用，他每天得多卖1000美元的食物。 按照每人25美元，两人桌50美元的标准，这意味着除了外卖订单外，每天至少得有40人在他的餐厅用餐。

In pre-COVID times, that would be a no-brainer for MoPho, which served 350 customers on a busy weekend day. Now, Gulotta says he’s figuring on 15 people for lunch and 25 people for dinner.

在疫情前，这对摩福餐厅来说根本不成问题，因为在繁忙的周末，摩福餐厅每天能接待350名顾客。现在，古洛塔说他估计午餐时段只能有15 人，晚餐时段也只有25人。

He’s regularly pondering, “How do we keep MoPho on life support, and get Maypop back open? We love Maypop, and we don’t want to get out of it.”

他经常在思考，“我们如何让摩福餐厅保持运转，又如何让美波普餐厅重新开业？ 我们深爱美波普，我们不想放弃它。”

But as a restaurant owner, Gulotta maintains he’s an eternal optimist. Of the new environment, he says drily, “It’s going to be interesting.”

但作为一家餐馆的老板，古洛塔坚称自己是一个乐天派。谈到新经营环境，他冷淡地说:“这将会很有趣。”