Shut down: COVID piles up the worries for St. Cloud-area business owners

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ST. CLOUD — St. Cloud's hospitality industry is reeling from its second gut punch of 2020.

The news Wednesday of renewed COVID-19 restrictions that will end indoor dining at bars and restaurants, close gyms and fitness centers and press pause on entertainment and amusement options flipped the perspective of many business owners: from seeing things getting better, to going back to the early days of the pandemic.

“The hospitality industry has been the hardest hit so far, and they continue to be the hardest hit," said Teresa Bohnen, president of the St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce. "They’ve tried to recreate themselves in every way they can, but many of them are really, really suffering.” 

Watch:Gov. Walz announces new COVID-19 rules in Minnesota

Local banks have used a lot of resources to extend or forgive payments to help keep the area hospitality industries alive, she said. Almost eight months into the pandemic, “The banks don’t have very many tools left.” 

Bohnen said she expects that without support from the state or federal governments, many businesses will close in January. 

Restaurants will be especially hard-hit, Bohnen said, due to the loss of usually high holiday sales and the short notice of Walz’s announcement. 

“Waste... is a huge impact,” she said. “We’ve got business that have purchased food and beverages for this weekend, and those aren’t going to be sold.” 

In talks between the Minnesota Commissioner of Employment and Economic Development Steve Grove and a group of 40 chambers of commerce across the state, Bohnen said the business community has stressed the financial damage a second shutdown will have. 

“I think this is definitely a different scenario than we had the last time we closed down,” Bohnen said. “It just seems like this is really dire.” 

St. Cloud restaurant, bar owners react

Jules' Bistro owner Donella Westphal closed her dining room last week because she saw COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths rising even as her employees had to keep reminding customers to keep their masks on when they weren't seated at a dining table. 

"It was really starting to take its toll on them," she said of her team. "It seemed like the right thing to do."

Closing the bistro dining room helped Westphal align her values with her business practices, she said, but it does hurt the bottom line. Limiting service to takeout has meant losing 30% of the business Jules saw a week earlier.

And even that benchmark was low. Dining room sales during the pandemic have been a fraction — 50% to 60% — what they were before COVID-19, Westphal said. 

"I really worry about my team. I really worry about my community," Westphal said. "I don't have the resources now to support my team or my community the way that I would like to."

Any kind of public assistance would help and so would more takeout orders, she said. 

If customers want to help, she encourages them to order takeout more often and to order during non-peak times to relieve pressure on her smaller team. She suggests buying extra food, such as soup or baked goods, to freeze and eat later. 

"There are a lot of us hurting right now," Westphal said.

COVID-19 IMPACT:St. Cloud businesses choose to close, modify or highlight online options amid coronavirus

How long will the Minnesota shutdown last?

Scott Widor, owner of Blue Line Sports Bar & Grill in St. Cloud and Sartell, is worried about the duration of the state's order to close dining rooms. And he's worried it will be extended, as happened during the spring Minnesota stay-at-home order. 

"That's certainly concern No. 1," Widor said. "Concern No. 2 is it's another four weeks without business. This is three-and-a-half months out of the year that we aren't open. I don't know how many businesses can survive that."

To make matters worse, he said, there's no talk of financial assistance. 

On Thursday Widor and his staff will crunch numbers and "see how long we can do this," he said. In the spring the restaurant's takeout orders were enough to cover staff and supply costs. 

"It was barely survivable then," Widor said. "I'd like to get back to that. ... Based on the business we have right now, it's not good. And if it continues in this direction, you know, the writing's on the wall."

Slimmer margins from takeout

Doing takeout alone means has a much narrower margin for restaurants, said Jackie Lee, owner of the White Horse in downtown St. Cloud. She’s grateful for the people who made it a point to order from local restaurants. She said the White Horse plans to continue doing takeout during the four-week shutdown. 

'It's anybody's guess':Restaurants prep for outdoor-only dining, look to uncertain future

“We’ve done this before, we can do it. We did OK in March, April, May,” Lee said. “This feels a little bit harder this time,” because capacity has been restricted all summer. 

“Up until Monday of this week we were seeing our sales going up... it just felt good, it felt different, it felt better," she said. “I know why they’re doing it, the numbers are skyrocketing just unbelievably.” 

Fitness centers, gyms react

Jessie Sandoval, owner of Shanti Yoga Center in St. Cloud, said she was feeling blessed and even somewhat peaceful as news of Walz's announcement leaked out Wednesday. 

"I anticipated, as I'm sure most people have anticipated, that we need to make some stricter measures for our safety and the well-being of our community," she said.

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Sandoval's studio moved more than 40 classes online during the first shut-down, then continued with virtual classes and some in-person offerings as restrictions eased. 

"We're really poised to just take these next four weeks or longer and continue to offer all the things we have been offering but then start to build our online library again," she said. "It's an opportunity to work on some other creative things that are bubbling up to the surface and try to meet people's needs, especially with mental health."

Impact on entertainment, amusement centers

Jason Mathiasen, general manager of Partners Pub and Great River Bowl in Sartell, said the closure comes just as business was picking up and now looms over one of the busiest times of the year.

“…The limitations on events announced last week really hurt with holiday parties coming,” Mathiasen said Wednesday afternoon. “Now realistically we’re looking at being closed down in December, especially with things just starting to pick up. Bowling was picking up. Dinner crowds were picking up as the weather turns colder. We were feeling better...now we’re just…”

His family has owned the business for 36 of its 41 years.

More:Great River Bowl adjusts to reopening

“We’re faced with some real hard decisions,” Mathiasen said. “It’s awful to not only think about what it’s doing to our business, but our employees and their families at their biggest earning time of year. That’s real difficult.

“The real hard part is we’re small, family-owned, independent operators. We don’t have deep pockets like the big corporations.”

Mathiasen said the business will offer takeout orders, including a grab-and-go Thanksgiving meal available next week.

“Takeout helps but does not come close to paying the bills,” he said.