What you should know
- As of Monday, New York City will become the first large city in the United States to require proof of vaccination in order to eat inside restaurants.
- Restaurant owners will face a number of new challenges, such as training and assigning their staff to enforce the mandate.
- The measure could also help restaurants keep their workforce healthy and make customers more comfortable dining indoors.
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NEW YORK – Starting Monday, New York City will become the first large city in the US to impose a vaccination requirement for people who want to eat inside restaurants, which leaves the owners of these businesses with a series of new challenges.
The measure comes after the increase in new cases of COVID-19 linked to the delta variantIt requires proof of at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine for a range of indoor activities, including dining inside restaurants, gyms, and attending indoor shows, such as in theaters. With this, New York City becomes the first large city in the United States to impose such restrictions.
Employees at those places should also get vaccinated. After a few weeks of transition, the measure will be mandatory as of September 13.
Politics is gaining ground. On Thursday, San Francisco followed New York City’s lead and implemented its own vaccination requirement for indoor activities that goes into effect on August 20. The California City mandate differs slightly from that of the Big Apple by requiring proof of complete vaccination but allowing two months for employers to verify the status of their workers. Los Angeles is considering a similar plan.
As more vaccine requirements come from the towns and the restaurants themselves, OpenTable of Booking Holdings has implemented a feature that allows restaurants to display their COVID-19 inoculation requirements to customers. The reservation service also plans to publish a national list of restaurants that require proof of vaccination.
Inevitably, the New York City mandate will have a learning curve. But restaurants are also waiting for more detailed guidance from city officials, such as how much information they need to collect and record from customers.
“I feel like Monday will be a little free for everyone, where customers and restaurants won’t really know what’s going on with this,” said Art Depole, co-owner of Mooyah Burgers, Fries and the Shakes franchise with his brother Nick at the center. from Manhattan.
The executive director of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Brian Niccol, told the Washington Post on Wednesday the city should find out how the vaccination requirement applies to people who can’t get vaccinated for medical or religious reasons. Otherwise, they will be left out of the workforce.
The workforce has been an ongoing challenge for the industry, needing all the workers it can get. Restaurants have resorted to raising wages and offering retention bonuses to attract new workers, but the unemployment rate at places to eat and drink was still 8.4% nationwide in July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. .
Depole said that more than half of his Mooyah employees are vaccinated. However, you are seeing vocal rejection from a handful of your unvaccinated workers, who threaten to quit if the vaccine becomes a term of your employment. Enforcing the mandates also places the burden on your staff, who would have to handle non-compliant customers.
And checking proof of vaccination could also mean scheduling an additional worker just to stay by the door for the entire shift, adding to rising restaurant labor costs. Chipotle is still figuring out how it will verify proof of vaccination.
“Obviously, it’s something that will take a bit of thought if we want it to be really executable,” Niccol said.
Tourists present another difficulty in implementing the mandate. Depole’s Mooyah restaurant is located between Times Square and Herald Square, two tourist spots, and orders from those customers are necessary.
“It seems like there are more locals on board and they get it, but tourists and outsiders say, ‘Oh no, that’s the last time you’ll see me in town,'” Depole said. “It is a polarizing issue.”
And while the number of international tourists is not expected to rebound to pre-pandemic levels until 2025, some still travel to New York City. For those visiting from outside the US, some might have a difficult time getting their proof of vaccination accepted.
For example, retail consultant and founder of SW Retail Advisors, Stacey Widlitz, received the vaccine Oxford-AstraZeneca in the United Kingdom. While the World Health Organization approved the vaccine, Widlitz has faced difficulties getting some New York businesses to accept his proof of vaccination – a QR code generated by the National Health Service mobile app.
“I’m not a tourist, but I got vaccinated in London and they don’t know what to do with a barcode from a foreign country in an app they don’t recognize,” Widlitz said. “They give you a blank look.”
So far, an Upper East Side gym has already told Widlitz that it would only accept vaccinations. Modern, Pfizer O Johnson & Johnson for those who want to exercise without a mask. Workers at several independent restaurants told him that he would not be able to eat inside once the mandate went into effect because they had no way to verify vaccines that were administered outside of the United States.
But restaurant owners will also see some benefits from the vaccine mandate, in addition to stemming the tide of new COVID cases. For one thing, it could limit the number of workers who say they are sick because they tested positive or came into contact with someone who did. Niccol, for example, told the Washington Post that the burrito chain is seeing more workers lose shifts due to the delta variant, although the burrito chain will not implement a company-wide vaccine mandate until vaccines receive approval. regulators end.
The mandate could also encourage some consumers who have been reluctant to return to restaurants to dine indoors again. Le Bernadin chef Eric Ripert said Thursday on the show “Worldwide Exchange“ from CNBC that his restaurant’s existing vaccination policy has made customers feel relieved and safe, rather than alienated.
“It is a huge difference between what we see on social media and the reality of what is happening with the business,” he said.
It is Article was originally published in English by Amelia lucas for our sister network CNBC.com. For more from CNBC enter here.
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