Would I Go Out to Eat? Not a Chance, Says Top RI Restaurant Owner

Would I Go Out to Eat? Not a Chance, Says Top RI Restaurant Owner

A top Rhode Island restaurateur said there is "not a chance" he would go out to eat in the state right now, as restaurants are currently allowed outdoor dining with restrictions -- and will be allowed to open with indoor dining on Monday.

Bob Burke, who owns Pot au Feu in Providence, made the comments following an online "town hall" held by Commerce RI on Thursday. 

"A Thursday 'Town Hall' for a Monday opening — are you kidding me? Workers and customers are at risk," said Burke. 

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"People are doing what you expect them to do in bad times. Workers are staying out, owners are trying to stay open. Decisions are being made on who’s making the most money — and people are going to get hurt," said Burke. "People are going to restaurants where standards are unclear."

"I would eat at Pot au Feu because since March 16, 2020 it has been the safest place to eat in Rhode Island," said Burke. "We continue to surpass every health and safety standard that the state sets to assure our workers and customers that we will make our workplace and food the safest in the state."

Town Hall Critique

Burke was scathing following Commerce RI's Facebook Town Hall on Thursday. 

"They still think restaurants take reservations by phone," said Burke. "I’m like, 'Welcome to the 90s!' I put in comments [online during the Town Hall], but they don’t respond. Just go to their homepage and look at the comments."

"It’s things like you can allow bar seating — but you can’t have a bartender. So they say if you seat people at the bar, people were saying how can we make drinks? Do you put the bartender in plexiglass? The said just make the drinks at another bar. Nobody has two bars," said Burke. "And then they said you can allow walk-ins but don't allow a line to form. So they said put your host station outside. With my computer and iPad and tell my employees to stand outside in the heat and thunderstorms?"

"They’re completely clueless. They said cooks have to wear masks unless they’re uncomfortable. So now they can sneeze and cough on food? They talked to organizations that know nothing about running restaurants. This is all about restaurants who can’t bear the thought of giving up thousands in free money. The organizations [the state talked to] got the marching orders to get the PPP money."

"RI Hospitality does not speak for workers. What we hear is workers who won’t come to work in hot kitchens. But they are so desperate to force it to happen," said Burke. "They want to show a reduction in the unemployment rate  — and an inverse in meals tax. It's a deal with the devil. They’ll put customers at risk, workers at risk, to beat the clock on PPP loans. Now we’re in the trap and people are desperate to get out of it."

HVAC & Emergency Response Questions 

"The House just passed the extension on the time that will be available to use the PPP," said Burke. "If they really wanted to make good use of it, they would allow restaurants to use the money to make customers and employees safer, make things as touchless as possible. Start with restrooms fixtures for example."

"We know air circulation is a problem — whether its restaurants or choirs in churches," said Burke. "We’ve ordered 20 UV lamps to completely sanitize our airflow in common areas and dining areas — we’re using the UV lights used in hospitals. We’ve ordered HEPA filtration at level 13 to completely purify the air."

"The one person who seems to be missing from [these discussions] are the people [who know] HVAC ducts," said Burke. "They say put more air in the room — a commercial HVAC is very very expensive. The biggest problem is we’re not getting a set of standards as to what should be done. The industry shows it tries to follow rules and we follow complex procedures every day and serve hundreds of millions of meals with low consequences."

"Suppose someone without a mask up is coming back from the bathroom and sneezes. He’s got the virus. What do you do? What can you do? You freak out, you’ve inhaled a lethal load of coronavirus," said Burke. "The first thing you do is hold your breath and get out into fresh air — you exhale and spit everything in your mouth out and don’t touch your face and eyes and nose. We’ll have kits where people have tissues and grain alcohol to swish in your mouth."

"Every restaurant is required to have a kit for a blood pathogen or vomit hazard, and you have to create a 25 feet area  — it’s a standard requirement," said Burke. "If you find you've got someone you suspect who’s suffering from COVID, what do you do? We need to say that standard applies to customers who say we’ve been exposed. Meanwhile they can’t figure out who can sit at a bar."

Partitions, Masks -- And Execution 

"Questions about partitions [between tables], they couldn’t answer that," said Burke. "They said that depends on how big the petition needs to be. Does it go down to two feet [bewteen tables] then? What is the safe standard? There is nothing in terms of safe standards for bathrooms, HVAC, staff members, back of the show, contact requirements on plates, glasses, and silverware. The list goes on." 

"What level of masking should an employee wear? Someone who is being exposed to unmasked customers or those wearing just a cloth mask. Should you wear a cloth mask? Wear a surgical mask? Wear an FDA approved masked? An n95 or P100 respirator?" said Burke.  "Our answer is our servers are wearing P100s, which are 99.7 percent effective. N 95 — it’s 95 percent effective — I’d rather get the 99.7 on the test than the 95."

"It’s like Bill Belichick just saying, 'Let’s go out on the field and let’s win this,' with the players going out with no plan for offense or defense. Kick or pass? There’s no one answering these questions," said Burke.