PORTLAND, Ore — Oregon Gov. Kate Brown's pause on Multnomah County's application to begin slowly reopening came last minute, the night before many businesses were planning to open their doors.
Now, that light they saw at the end of the tunnel feels further away.
The hospitality industry has taken one of the hardest blows during the pandemic. Restaurant owners tell KGW it will be years before Portland's restaurant scene resembles what it was before.
Portland is defined by its vibrant culinary scene, but since March that's been dulled.
“It’s just really become a bit unbearable to survive,” said Dayna McErlean, who owns several Portland staples. "There's a lot of odds against us. I think we’re going to see many places closing and a very different approach.”
Concern over a spike in COVID-19 cases led the governor to pause all county reopening plans for at least a week. Some counties are already in Phase 1, with restaurants able to open in come capacity, however, Multnomah County is not.
Researchers say it is too early to determine the full scope of why cases have surged over the past few weeks, but recent data appears to show transmission has increased by at least 10 percentage points since counties began gradually reopening in Oregon on May 15. The Oregon Health Authority said several factors, from the state’s partial reopening to workplace outbreaks to increased testing and contact tracing, could be playing a role.
Researchers said it’s too early to determine the effects of recent protests for Black Lives Matter, which began in Oregon around May 28.
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“It put me in a pretty foul mood,” Jason French, owner of Ned Ludd and Elder Hall told KGW. “There’s no good reason why Multnomah County shouldn’t be open.”
On SE Division, staff at Olympia Provisions Public House have been operating on a take-out only basis. The company spent hours and dollars laying the groundwork for sit-down service at that location this weekend. Tilden re-hired some staff and had them come off unemployment. He purchased food, beer and other supplies.
"We’ve all been punched in the face so many times now in the last three months that after a while you get used to it. So I wasn’t surprised,” said Nate Tilden, who owns multiple Portland restaurants including Olympia Provisions, Clyde Commons and Spirit of 77.
The last minute change, of course, took a toll on him and his employees emotionally but he says they will be ready again when the time comes.
While he was planning to open up Olympia Provisions Public House because it has such a large outdoor eating space, Tilden was holding off opening his other restaurants until July.
“We’ll scramble like crazy and then we'll try to reopen,” he said.
But not everyone is singing the same tune after the let down.
French took a look at the latest COVID-19 case numbers and projections; because Multnomah County and the state of Oregon will continue to see an increase, and because recent numbers after the protests aren't available yet, he’s now skeptical the county will reopen anytime soon.
“I will not do anything until I get a green light. I'm not going to prepare,” French said.
County leaders said things looked promising, so Ned Ludd took reservations and brought back employees on their payroll who felt comfortable and safe returning.
“We ordered product up for that. We started prepping for that probably on Tuesday," French added. “What we have been faced with now is guns blazing, everybody excited about reopening, getting public interest and getting the only real revenue stream for us, and that's now been taken out from under us.”
Meanwhile, many restaurant owners chose to watch others open their doors and wait it out.
“A lot of my colleagues in the business are waiting until it really seems right because it just doesn’t make sense to open up because they’re just losing money,” McErlean said.
She owns several popular spots in town including Yakuza, DOC and Nonna. Some of her restaurants are in very small spaces so it will be difficult to reconfigure the layouts to allow for social distancing. They won't be able to seat as many guests, therefore less revenue and income will be coming in, and it will be difficult to make any sort of profit.
"We weren't quite ready. Our staff wasn't feeling comfortable. I think we need today – it’s the first day where several people are coming in and we’re going to have a cleaning party, go over protocols and kind of figure out a plan,” McErlean said.
Whenever restaurants do reopen, they have to gauge how many workers they'll actually need and how many even want to return.
“Nobody knows what the plan is. We're being directed by a virus. It could uptick and that's just the way it goes,” Tilden said, “So we have to try, and I know our government leaders are trying and I believe in them. They're saving lives.”
As they try to keep their heads above water, Portland restaurant owners must reconcile and watch as the industry changes before their eyes.
“Many industry jobs are gone forever,” Tilden said. “It’s scary and it's sad. We've all worked very hard to make Portland, in my opinion, the best restaurant city in the world, really.”
“I don’t know how and if we will recover and be the way it was. And in some ways I don't think the way it was was sustainable and healthy,” McErlean added.