How the Coronavirus is Changing the Restaurant Industry in Philadelphia

Hi everyone, welcome back to another Momentum Monday! We hope you are all staying safe and healthy and have not been too affected by the coronavirus. Unfortunately, we know many people have been affected, especially restaurants and those who work in the restaurant industry. Here at Momentum we strive to give continuous support to our fellow local businesses, so we took it upon ourselves to reach out to restaurants in the Philadelphia area to learn about how their business has been impacted by the virus.

As of Sunday, March 29, 2020, The United States government has extended the social distancing guidelines until at least April 30th. Because of this, many more small businesses, especially restaurants, will continue to be shut down, or offering take-out and delivery services only. Without having the ability for people to dine at your restaurant, many restaurants (and other businesses) will suffer immensely. This pandemic has impacted everyone, but is hitting our fellow local businesses the hardest.

As the pandemic crisis continues, the stock market has dropped more than 25% since the inception of COVID-19. Thus, losing billions of earnings.

Congress is in the midst of passing a relief bill that includes:

• $367 billion small business loan program
• 500 billion “for industries, cities and states
• $150 billion “for state and local stimulus funds
• $130 billion to help hospitals; and an expansion of unemployment insurance

(You can learn more about the relief package here)

This package is essential to help support and sustain small businesses today in America. If this bill isn’t passed, it’ll be extremely difficult to sustain them over the next 6 months. Our team at Momentum 360 continues to pray that Congress will do the right thing and help keep the local businesses afloat.

Since we know this pandemic is hitting hard in our own community, we took to social media to find statements from local restaurant owners and bloggers to discuss their hardships during this pandemic.

Here are their thoughts:

First, we spoke to Marlo Dilks, owner of P’unk Burger. P’unk Burger is located in East Passyunk, Philadelphia, and offers a variety of authentic, ethical and fair-traded eats that you can feel good eating. Nothing artificial. No ingredients you can’t pronounce. P’unk Burger also offers a variety of other bites like salads, fries and shakes.

Here are Marlo’s thoughts on keeping his business thriving during the pandemic:

“For the restaurant industry this has been a difficult hit. At P’UNK Burger a huge portion of the business is sat in. At SliCE we have always thrived on delivery. So at P’UNK we had to quickly adapt and attempt to recover some business with delivery and pick up. We are fortunate that we can do this but the down side is 3rd party sites that help promote delivery like UberEats and GrubHub take a huge cut and that has negatively affected us. Overall we are fortunate and grateful to still be allowed to stay open and sustain as much as possible. We have been able to pay essential staff so that they can have an income and we are thankful for that.” – Marlo Dilks, Owner of P’unk Burger

If you want to continue supporting your local friends of the Philly area, like Marlo and P’unk Burger, place an order for delivery and pick up today! Order online directly at www.punkburger.com or place an order via UberEats or Grubhub.

Next we talked to Katie, who runs the Instagram foodie account @katieeatsphilly. Throughout her travels and adventures, Katie shares photos of the best eats in every town. Whether it’s a coffee shop, sushi restaurant or sweet treats, her IG feed highlights some of the best eats in Philly.

Coming from a college student’s perspective, Katie offers her own thoughts on the widespread of COVID-19:

“I personally felt like the restaurants, retails, real estates and other businesses are those we never appreciated enough until a crisis like this happened. Especially to those who are working right now to provide for the community and themselves. They are the heroes, not those well known CEOs, celebrities, or global leaders. We are all we got when the government doesn’t have our back. It’s unbelievable how some still treat COVID-19 like it’s a flu when it grew, mutated and quickly transmitted throughout the world in such a short period of time. Health care workers shouldn’t need to risk their lives in exchange for saving another from not having proper equipment. Having a crisis like this really shows how we can handle the situation as a team. We’re all in this together, as people of the Earth. Racism, hate, criticism does not do any good but starting wars. This has happened before in history, it’s just repeating itself. We need to act as one.” – Katie, Owner of KatieEatsPhilly

Similar to Katie, we also talked to another Philly Foodie, Bree Hall (@bitesofbree). When not she’s not sharing pictures of her latest eats, she’s busy blogging about restaurant reviews and recipes to try. You can check out her blog here.

As a Philly food blogger, Bree feels she has a personal responsibility to continue showing her support for the local restaurants around town.

Bree writes:

“When trying to think of words that can describe the last few weeks, the only word that comes to mind is crazy. It’s almost surreal that COVID-19 has has changed the way we think and live our lives in the matter of weeks, but will continue to impact our livelihood for months and even years. We are still in the beginning stages of learning and containing this virus, but it has already crippled our economy, our cities, and neighborhoods. These small businesses are the backbone of our city, but after COVID-19 has been contained, there’s a possibility that some of our favorite places won’t be there. As a food blogger, it was very easy for me to take the opportunity to try new places every week for granted. Now, I’m trying to do what I can to keep these businesses open. Philly would lose so much of its personality without them. There are so many ways to contribute to your favorite businesses during this hard time. I’ve been buying gift cards that I can use later. This provides a little cash flow that can be used to aid restaurant staff that have had their hours cut, or have been indefinitely laid off. Taking advantage of take out instead of eating in the dining room is also another way to help out. If we all take these small steps now, our small businesses will be there for us when we return to our normal daily lives.” Bree Hall, Owner of BitesofBree

So, amidst the pandemic and what is now an economic crisis, you may be asking yourself: How can I help? No worries, we’ve got ya covered.

• Buy gift cards from your favorite locations. For many restaurants that are unable to offer delivery or take out, gift cards will be the saving grace for keeping their business afloat. Show a little love to them!
• If your favorite Philly eats are stilling offering delivery – take advantage of it! Many restaurants are opting to offer their own delivery, or using a third-party delivery service like UberEats or Grubhub. A lot of them are offering take-out only as well.
• If you can, stay home. While the government extends the quarantine until April 30, we all need to be working together and cooperating with the lock downs. Take a breather. Try a new hobby.

Remember, we’re all in this together. Let’s support one another and make it through this. If you’re stuck between grabbing lunch from a chain or a local business. Choose local.

We post to our Momentum Monday and Small Business Saturday blog every week, so feel free to subscribe and make sure you are up to date on the latest trends in the industry. If you have any questions or concerns, leave them in the comments below! From everyone at Momentum 360, thanks for the love, stay healthy, and until next time, build Momentum!