November 2, 2020 – Restaurant owners from across the state say the closure orders being instituted by Gov. J.B. Pritzker will devastate small businesses, leaving thousands jobless even though the state found an estimated 1% of COVID-19 outbreaks came from restaurants. “Make no mistake,” said Sam Toia, president and CEO of the Illinois Restaurant Association. “Illinois restaurants are in a moment of complete crisis. Closing indoor dining means that the majority of restaurants will no longer be able to sustain their operations. Takeout, delivery and curbside pickup equate to only a small fraction of normal revenue. They are having painful conversations – again – with dedicated team members whom they will no longer be able to employ. And with no broad-based state or federal relief on the horizon, there seems to be no end in sight.”
While many restaurants followed Pritzker’s orders in the spring, closing down and awaiting the state’s permission to reopen with heavy regulation, hundreds are now announcing they’ll defy the latest bans on indoor dining and capacity limits. Several restaurant challenges are making their way through the legal system in multiple counties. Instead of filing a new challenge, Toia said the association decided against filing its own lawsuit over the restrictions because filing the court statements on existing cases in counties across Illinois was a better way to help restaurants statewide.
Toia said he would meet with Pritzker’s office sometime in the first week of November.
