Here & Now

How Bars and Taverns Weather the Pandemic

Frederica Freyberg:

Wisconsin bars and restaurants continue to be among the small businesses struggling to survive in the face of COVID-19. In Dane County, an emergency order declared July 1st reduces restaurant capacity to 25% and closes indoor service altogether at bars. The Tavern League of Wisconsin has something to say about these kinds of restrictions. Chris Marsicano is president of the league and operates the Village Supper Club in Delavan. Sorry. He joins us now. Chris, thanks a lot for being here.

Chris Marsicano:

Thank you for having me. Appreciate that.

Frederica Freyberg:

So what’s your response in particular to Dane County’s restrictions on bars, basically prohibiting people from being in them?

Chris Marsicano:

Well, we understand the issue and we take it very seriously, the protection of our customers, protection of our employees. You know, a lot of our small — our members in the Tavern League especially, are 5,000 small, mom and pop individually owned and operated establishments. And we understand the seriousness of the pandemic and what it brings to our communities. Our association has always been very involved in our communities. But the other side of the coin is that our people can’t survive. These are small individual businesses that have families to feed, roofs to keep over their head. We need — a lot of these bars, especially in Madison, Dane and Milwaukee have been closed for four months now with no income coming in and yet the bills still come, the mortgages, the rents, everything else that goes with it. We’re just trying to find a way to survive. If the federal, state, local government told us to close, you know, we wouldn’t have a problem with that as long as they would show us a way to pay the bills. We have to pay the bills. The airlines got their bailout. Some of the bigger corporations got their bailouts. And there’s nothing been — and I’m not just talking particularly bars and restaurants, but main street America has not gotten the bailout that we need. We’re all about keeping our customers safe, our employees safe and our families safe because a lot of our employees are our families. We’re just looking for some help here to stay afloat, keep our heads above the water.

Frederica Freyberg:

Weren’t some of the businesses, bar and tavern businesses, eligible for the Paycheck Protection Program?

Chris Marsicano:

Some were. My business in particular, I did get a small PPP loan to help me along the way. But it’s by far, with the restrictions on the PPP and some of these small individual places, they have maybe it’s the husband and wife and one of the kids that run the establishment or it’s just a small family or they only have one or two employees. A lot of our — like I said, our members are small establishments. It just didn’t work for them. They didn’t get what they needed. They have to use it for — so much is set aside. Some of the adjustments did help a little bit, but so much is set aside for the wages and that. With being closed, then 25%, we can’t hire these people back. We can’t employ that many people to take advantage of the PPP. We need the money for other thing like our rent, our mortgage payments, things like that.

Frederica Freyberg:

What do you know about whether or not there would be some of that kind of financial assistance forthcoming for businesses like this?

Chris Marsicano:

Well, we would hope that in the coming months, that the legislature, whether the state or federal government, would look at that to help us. The longer that this drags on, and at this point who knows how long this will last, and, you know, we are trying to do everything we can to abide by the CDC and WEDC guidelines. We have told all of our members follow the guidelines, do the six feet apart, the social distancing. Move some tables out. We encourage all of our members to have their employees wear the masks, put up partitions, where applicable. You know, take off all the condiments. Do all these things that we can do that they’re asking us to do. But at 25% occupancy right now for our Madison and Dane friends and our Milwaukee people, it’s just not cutting it. Some people have told me it’s just — it’s better for them to close right out, you know, than to go for 25% because they’re losing money at 25%. So we really need to look at some relief for these people. I mean we’re all about helping with the pandemic and stemming the curb and flattening it. But we need help to do that. We cannot stay closed and then — for over 100 days, four months, five months, six months. How long is this going to stretch out to? We have to have some business relief, small business relief. Not just for bars and restaurants like I said, but for all main street.

Frederica Freyberg:

Have you or do you expect to file a lawsuit over the Dane County order?

Chris Marsicano:

We have not filed a lawsuit. We don’t expect to file a lawsuit. Like I said, we are trying to work with our local governments, not just Madison, Dane, Milwaukee, but all around the state of Wisconsin as different local governments, local and county, enact different statutes, ordinances, adopted for the protection of their people in most counties. We have encouraged our people to go along with that and to follow all the guidelines to help. Let’s be part of the solution of this problem and let’s help stem this tide so we can get back to normal, get back to work. But, again, I go back to the fact that we’re all about helping and trying to get this done, but we cannot survive without some type of income and I think the state, local and federal governments need to look at some type of help for main street USA. Our businesses have always been part of the community. We are very involved in the community. I know a lot of my members, they are integral in the community, helping with raise charities, do fund-raising. Even during this pandemic, we have — our businesses have reached out to the community. I myself was involved with several restaurants here in Walworth County feeding around Easter time when the pandemic was at its height. We were feeding people for Easter, handing out hams and turkeys and all the fixings that go with it. This is happening all over the state. Even in our tough times, when we’re struggling, we are still part of the community. We know our other community members are struggling. We’re still there trying to help them. So we are trying to help with the pandemic. We are trying to help. And we are asking for help now from the government to help us stay afloat.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Chris Marsicano, we need to leave it there. Thank you very much and good luck through this.

Chris Marsicano:

Thank you very much.