Bobby Van’s owner, Joseph Smith, over Cuomo’s government to reopen indoor dining hall in New York City with 25% capacity.
A NYC restaurant owner on Friday stormed a government indoor dining room on Valentine’s Day, arguing that New York is the ‘worst managed country in the country.’
Joseph Smith, owner of Bobby Van’s Steakhouse, said during an appearance on ‘Mornings With Maria’ that the 25% indoor dining capacity starting today would do little to help sick restaurant businesses in the city.
‘Give us 12 hours of closing, give us the bar and give us 50% [capacity] so we can break even and possibly make up for the last year we had, ‘Smith said.
Smith explained that reopening success in other cities and even surrounding parts of New York State seems to be being treated badly.
NYC RESTAURANT OWNER FOUNDED BY COVID LOCKDOWN TELLS CUOMO ‘STOP PLAYING’ WITH HIS LIFE
He added that commercial districts in the city were particularly hard hit because a large number of clients, such as lawmakers and Wall Street employees, returned to office space with only 10% occupancy.
In addition, Broadway and the hotels in the area will only reopen in June when many vaccines are expected to be distributed, making it even more difficult for restaurants to retain customers.
Some restaurant owners have called for frontline workers, such as food and beverage workers, to be pushed to the forefront of vaccination to reopen their businesses with higher capacity.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo characterizes the call for restaurant workers to be put ahead of the state’s coronavirus vaccine, a “cheap, dishonest discussion” Monday.
“Yes, I would like restaurant workers to be eligible – that makes perfect sense,” Cuomo told reporters. “But what does suitability mean if you do not have the necessary stock?”
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Cuomo also noted that by adding a group to the list of individuals, he will have to remove another group as the vaccine is limited.
FOX Business, Brittany De Lea, contributed to this report.