According to The Dallas Morning News, several Dallas-Fort Worth restaurants are temporarily closing due to rising COVID-19 cases and staff exposure in the wake of the new Omicron variant.
Nearly two years into the pandemic, restaurants have endured it all: low staffing, state-mandated shutdowns, increased food cost, and food delivery issues. The eateries are in the midst of their busiest season during the holidays, but the surge of COVID-19 cases could affect their businesses.
Amor Y Queso in Deep Ellum was forced to close its doors after Sarah Carlock, who runs the restaurant, and several other employees tested positive for COVID-19 after Christmas.
She said staying open was not an option.
“Especially when it comes to food preparation and being so customer-facing, it’s just not a risk we were willing to take. It wasn’t so much of a question of closing but how I would make it up to everyone who had orders for New Year’s. We are mostly a pre-order business.” Carlock had to cancel orders for the upcoming weeks, and she also provided discounts for future orders.
She plans to reopen the restaurant’s doors on January 9.
The food truck Easy Slider at Harvest Hall also temporarily shut down due to COVID-19 exposure among its workers. The Grapevine restaurant announced its closure in an Instagram post, writing, “We’ll be back once everyone is negative and past quarantine protocols, hopefully before 2022.” Customers can still visit the Deep Ellum location.
Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine in Fort Worth will be closing the rest of the week because there are not enough workers to run the restaurant. Jon Bonnell, the owner, said on Facebook, “Because of the new Omicron variant, we do not have enough staff this week to provide the level of service that our customers have come to expect.” You may still purchase meals through their curbside service until tomorrow.
Other restaurants in similar circumstances include Pizza Verde in Fort Worth and Uchi in Dallas. Both have workers on their teams who have tested positive.
In a Facebook post, Pizza Verde stated, “One team member has COVID, while two others just happen to be regular sick. Prioritizing the health of our team and our customers has to come first, but we’d be lying to pretend it isn’t scary to lose a week of sales after only 5 weeks of being open.”
According to the CDC, restaurants are not required to close if staff members test positive for COVID-19, but they are asked to notify those who have been in contact with them and also to notify health officials.
