TAHOE RESTAURANTS COOK UP SOME CREATIVE WAYS TO COPE WITH COVID-19
It all happened so fast.
As the highly contagious COVID-19 rapidly escalated from new virus to global pandemic, the fallout was swift and unprecedented, with orders to stay at home and close dining rooms across the country ravaging the restaurant business like no other segment of the economy. Deep and widespread losses of jobs and sales quickly mounted: Some two out of three employees in the food and beverage industry lost their jobs, with a projected $240 billion loss of sales nationwide by the end of the year, per the National Restaurant Association.
Here in Tahoe, a Miracle March had laid out a snowy welcome mat for spring break skiers headed for the slopes; restaurants and bars were fully stocked and ready for the food- and drink-fueled aprés and everything after, when, faster than you can say “social distancing,” quarantine mandates shut it all down. After the initial shock of closing doors to customers for an unforeseeable future subsided, Tahoe restaurant owners, managers and employees, like those elsewhere around the country, found ways to adjust and adapt, with the ultimate goal of somehow staying afloat in rough, uncharted waters.