SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) — As of 10 p.m. Sunday, San Francisco’s outdoor dining tables will no longer be allowed to serve customers.
The city will be under a new stay-at-home order limiting restaurants once again to just take out.
The early move caught small businesses by surprise.
“Those of us in the restaurant business are looking at having no source of income now for probably for weeks,” Laurie Thomas said.
Laurie Thomas with the Golden Gate Restaurant Association says the time leading up to the holidays is crucial for making money.
But under new restrictions, restaurant workers will miss out on tips and benefits — and be out of work.
“Losing a week of pay and tips or you know just base pay is critical. It’s critical,” Thomas said. “We gonna lay off tens of thousands of people on Monday.”
Karaweik Burmese Cuisine in the Marina District is anticipating the squeeze.
“More debt. It’s going to be increased. It’s very difficult to you know keep the business,” restaurant owner Aya Koichihara said. “But we still do delivery and take out order so you know we try our best to keep running our business.”
Diners were taking advantage of the outdoor parklets Saturday before they too will be limited to only getting their food to go.
“It’s a bummer, I mean everything has been open it’s been really lively and we’ve been having a lot of fun,” one man said.
“I think it’s smart,” another man said. “I mean I’ve been down here when it’s been like Spring Break and it just doesn’t make any sense at all.”
Residents say they’ll try to support their favorite local spots as much as possible over the next few weeks.
“It’s really important that somehow someway we can support these businesses however we can so they can continue to thrive and survive, really,” one customer said.