Local restaurant employees struggle to make ends meet
As stricter guidelines are handed down by state health officials in the wake of exploding COVID-19 cases, restaurant and retail workers are among those hit the hardest by the stay-at-home order.
Since March, restaurants have closed several times with the exception of only allowing outdoor dining during certain periods of the pandemic. Under the new stay-at-home-order restaurants have closed again, and are only able to offer takeout and delivery. The shift in operations has led to many restaurant employees being laid off across the board.
"This couldn’t happen at a worse time- 2, 3 weeks before Christmas," said co-owner of The Beer Hunter, Kevin Steele.
The La Quinta restaurant has had to dramatically reduce its staff of more than 80 employees throughout the course of the pandemic. The current stay-at-home order led to 25 people being laid off, according to the restaurant's general manager.
"Right now we have 5 employees," said The Beer Hunter general manager, Johanna Alarcon.
On Wednesday the restaurant's remaining skeleton crew prepared a bar for visitors trickling in to get a pre-made drink to-go. Staff has implemented a variety of ways to bring in money aside from traditional food and bar service.
"Right now we pay more in labor than we actually get in to-go orders, so it’s a really hard situation because you try to employ as many people as you can and try to give them hours, especially because the holidays are coming, and you can’t," said Alarcon.
Alarcon was on unemployment at the start of the pandemic. The mother of 4 understands how hard not having an income can be. With more than 80 employees, the restaurant could not keep everyone staffed.
"It’s heartbreaking. I have to sit down with them and talk to them about having to lay them off right before Christmas and they have families, they have children. They just cry about it but there’s nothing we can do at this point," said Alarcon.
Many people are jobless and having to revert back to unemployment for a paycheck.
"You have to lay off an employee and then you have them come back. So they come back, stop their unemployment, and then all of a sudden they’re told now that they’re unemployed again and laid off. Now they have to restart their unemployment and it takes another 2 weeks to get that started up for them so it really puts them in a bad position," said Steele.
The time it takes to process a claim through the state's Employment Development Department is at least 3 weeks. However, the department has become overwhelmed with claims and is advising people that there could be delays.
After seeing the ongoing struggles of restaurant employees, Steele decided to create a GoFundMe page for restaurant workers of the Coachella Valley.
"We thought it would be a great idea to get some money and get [it] in some restaurant workers' hands that need it for their family and for presents for their kids," said Steele.
Steele set a goal of $20,000. He said he plans to distribute the money before Christmas.
