Restaurant trying to protect patrons, staff from potential spread

SAN ANTONIO – Aldaco’s in Stone Oak is among the state’s more than 55,000 restaurants statewide that employ 1.6 million people, according to the Texas Restaurant Association.

Blanca Aldaco said she’s like many restaurant owners who are taking the necessary precautions to avoid potentially spreading the coronavirus.

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Ahead of Gov. Greg Abbott’s news conference on Monday, the Texas Restaurant Association issued a news release saying it was “imploring state officials to keep restaurants open.”

San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said following the press briefing that restaurants would be exempt from the 50-person limit indoors. However, if that were to change, Aldaco said take-out, drive-thru, curbside pickup and meal delivery services would help keep many employees on the job.

If the worst-case scenario were to happen, and restaurants would face temporary closure, Aldaco said, that would be “definitely devastating.” But, she said, “I will find a way somehow to retain my staff.”

Among them would be employees like Gina Torres, a single mother. She spoke for others like herself by saying, “It’s a scary situation.”

“We have bills. We have rent. We have electricity. How’s that going to be taken care of if we’re out of work?” Torres said.

Emily Williams Knight, Ed.D., president and CEO of the Texas Restaurant Association, said, the state’s second-largest employer for many is “their primary source of income.”

“Keeping restaurants open to provide food via delivery or take-out and pick-up, enhanced with safe, zero-contact curbside pick-up, is vital to the support of Texas’ communities and the State’s second largest employers’ ability to support their teams,” William said in a statement.

She also said shutting down restaurants also would impact their service providers in technology, distribution and agriculture.

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Knight said restaurants in Texas already abide by strict sanitation guidelines overseen by local health departments.

She said restaurants have “increased their diligence toward sanitation” as a result of the COVD-19 crisis.

Knight said more than 50% of the food consumed by the public comes from Texas restaurants.

With grocery stores trying to keep up with demand, especially now that children are still home from school, AJ Kumaran, co-CEO and COO of Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, said, “We respectfully request that restaurants should be considered ‘essential business’ and need to remain open to feed the public.”

COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new virus, stands for coronavirus disease 2019. The disease first appeared in late 2019 in Wuhan, China, but spread around the world in early 2020, causing the World Health Organization to declare a pandemic in March.

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