Manhattan Beach restaurants set to resume outdoor dining on Friday
Shellback manager Rico De Alba and former Shellback bouncer “Wood” were preparing the downtown Manhattan Beach’s bar outdoor dining area on Wednesday, with hopes of serving outdoors on Friday. Photo by Kevin Cody
by Mark McDermott
Beleaguered restaurant owners in Manhattan Beach finally received some positive news after two months of being all but shuttered by COVID-19 restrictions.
The state and county this week lifted their Stay at Home orders, meaning outdoor dining will be allowed to resume on Friday. Additionally, the Skechers Restaurant Covid Relief fund raised another $55,000 and will disperse a new round of $5,000 grants. And the City of Manhattan Beach launched a low-interest loan program aimed at small businesses impacted by the pandemic.
Skechers president Michael Greenberg, who contributed $500,000 towards the $730,000 total raised for the relief fund thus far, urged residents to get out and support their restaurants as much as possible through contributions and dining.
“We need to keep in mind that it’s still only outdoor dining and take out,” Greenberg said. “We’re going into the rainy season and cold weather and outdoor dining is a challenge. Our restaurants are not out of the woods yet, and we need to continue to do everything we can to raise money and help them weather the storm and get to the other side. I said it before and I’ll say it again to anyone who wants to listen — they are hanging on by a thread.”
The City of Manhattan Beach on Wednesday, began accepting applications for a $250,000 low-interest loan program aimed at all small brick-and-mortar businesses, including restaurants.
“Manhattan Beach small businesses are part of the fabric of our community. Our city is taking a leadership role in providing much-needed financial assistance to help our businesses sustain their operations,” said Mayor Suzanne Hadley.
The loan program is accepting applications on a first-come, first-served basis until all funds are exhausted. The loans will range from $2,500 to $10,000. Eligible businesses must have a yearly gross revenue under $3 million and be physically located in the city and not classified as a home occupation.
“These loans could provide urgent liquidity to help keep some doors open a bit longer until the economy improves,” Hadley said. “The resumption of outdoor dining will help our restaurants tremendously — as well as our smaller retailers, who rely in part on the foot traffic generated by our world-class restaurants.”
Not all the news was good for restaurant owners. On Wednesday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health issued revised requirements for outdoor dining that included 8 ft. spacing of tables — rather than the 6 ft. previously required — and no more than 50 percent occupancy of dining decks.
Mike Simms, an owner of several local restaurants and president of the Downtown Business Association, said he was on the call with DPH officials when the new restrictions were announced. He said officials were asked three times what the science behind the restrictions were and received no answer.
They just don’t have any answer,” Simms said. “And so it’s very frustrating from our perspective, where we’re going to constantly say we’re going to follow data and science to make our decisions. But clearly, this is not the case in our industry….I mean, don’t get me wrong. I go home after work, and my spouse is an ER doctor at the County hospital. So I understand there’s a pandemic going on and the lives are being lost…. But per capita, there’s just other states that don’t have this high of a level [of COVID-19 cases] and they have outdoor dining and indoor dining. So it’s just the focus on our industry that’s really, really frustrating.”
Simms said the hope is that the city will expand outdoor dining areas, possibly even closing some streets to make up for the loss in dining deck usable space. Councilperson Richard Montgomery, who is part of a city subcommittee that has been working to help the restaurants, said that option is on the table. But Montgomery said the city might also issue a complaint with the county because the new restrictions are not in keeping with CDC guidelines, which indicate 6 ft. spacing is adequate.
“I think six feet is doable,” Montgomery said. ‘Again, I’ve never seen a study that said outdoor dining is the cause, or has contributed to the influx and number of cases in our city.”
Simms said that several restaurants closed when dining decks were closed, and those remaining open are at about 20 percent of normal business.
“We’re down to pretty much nothing,” he said. “I mean, the only reason we stayed open was to keep the continuity of our kitchen staff so we don’t lose anybody. We obviously want to keep them employed, but we’re losing money.”
Simms said the Skechers program and the city’s attempts to help have been essential, but the next few months will be critical to the survival of the Manhattan Beach dining industry.
“Manhattan Beach has been our saving grace,” Simms said. “We’re in a city that loves our restaurants and loves our businesses. So any which way they can come out and support the restaurants is absolutely crucial. Just eat out as much as you can. Because the Skechers program was just unbelievably generous and helpful… But that’s an instance of ‘Give a person a fish, eat for a day…’ What we’re really looking to do is have people come out and support our restaurants so that we can fish every day and have our staff and our teams and our restaurants support themselves. So yeah, come on out.”