Guest View: Robert Peters ~ Helping Oro Valley restaurants to thrive during the pandemic

 

As a former food writer, I am always drawn to how important food and food preparation is around the holidays. This year was very different from any other year I have experienced in my life, due of course to the pandemic. With many people out of work and their family budgets stretched to the limit, people have been driven to extraordinary means to put food on the table. Witness the car caravans lining up at food banks around the country.

One out of six restaurants nationwide has been forced to close
Tucson has seen its share of Covid-19 related restaurant closures this year, the most recent being Café Poca Cosa and Downtown Kitchen. The majority of the closures have been independently owned eateries, reflecting the difficulty of maintaining this genre of the food business which is already subject to painfully thin profit margins. This situation is also exacerbated by pandemic rules to include capacity limits. In fact, the National Restaurant Association has advised that one out of six restaurants in our nation has closed long-term or permanently because of coronavirus.

What can we do to help?
First of all, don’t give up on your favorite restaurants. Call them and find out what their protocol is for these times. Some establishments have maintained in-house dining with social distancing. Others utilize patio space for outdoor dining only, while others serve only takeout food. Some offer food service in all three of these categories. The important thing is to maintain your relationship with these eateries as much as your Covid-19 comfort zone allows. They will appreciate your business.

Adjust your tip to reflect these challenging times
Finally, with respect to tipping for take-out orders, and regardless of what tradition dictates, these are extraordinary times and food service all over the country has been operating in crisis mode. Paul Bagdan, a professor in the College of Hospitality Management at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island has suggested, “Now, it is strongly advised that you should tip close to that of in-house dining.”

In addition, food delivery service people are potentially putting their own health at risk to deliver to your door. Please keep this in mind when you are tipping them as well.

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Robert Peters relocated to Oro Valley from New England in 2003. Not long after arriving here, he parlayed some prior writing experience into getting his first job in Tucson, writing a weekly restaurant column. Over the course of the next three years, he reviewed over 100 restaurants in the greater Tucson area. He also worked for Raytheon for 12 years, retiring in 2016. He and his wife, Diane, have been frequent contributors to LOVE.