水果派AV

First he looked at the day's expenses: Food, payroll, utilities, etc.

And then, next to that considerable number, Kirkland looked at a zero.聽

Not a single customer that day.

But Kirkland has no plans to close the bar and Jamaican restaurant that he and partner Marcia Myers聽opened in November 2019, less than six months before COVID-19 began crippling businesses.

"It's easy to close, but I'm affecting other people's lives," Kirkland told 水果派AV. "We have a lot of customers appreciate that we've stayed open. They love the place and want to come out."

The last year has been similarly difficult for most bars and restaurants in the Cayuga County area.

The pandemic has served those businesses one bitter pill after another, beginning with New York's executive order closing them for two months except for takeout and delivery. Next, they faced 50% capacity reductions and the increased expenses of sanitation and personal protective equipment. And this winter, in particular, customers were reluctant to return to dining out due to fear of the virus.

Some local bars and restaurants have closed, if only temporarily, under those inhospitable conditions. Connie's Tex-Mex shut its State Street doors last summer after more than 25 years. Curley's, down the street, has yet to reopen as its owners decide its future, and fellow Auburn institution the Hunter Dinerant went聽on hiatus for seven and a half months. Lewis' Restaurant and Thirsty Pug Craft Beer are among the businesses that took shorter breaks. Others, like Pure Market & Eatery and Gretchen's Confections on East Genesee Street, closed to customers in person but continued to take orders.

It's been "a rough ride" for Lavish Lounge as well, Kirkland said.

The Genesee Street business had its best month in February 2020. But since COVID-19 began in the U.S. weeks later, the restaurant has struggled to return to that level of success. Despite trending upward, takeout and delivery has been up and down, Kirkland said. Then, when the lounge reopened in June after the order was lifted, its customers were slow to come back for the first couple weeks.

By September, the restaurant was seeing most of them again. But another challenge persisted: staffing. The Lavish Lounge employed about 13 people before the pandemic, but since then that number has remained around five. Kirkland said some workers preferred to stay on the bolstered unemployment insurance, some didn't want to wear a mask and some weren't making enough money in tips.

Staffing during COVID-19 has also been a problem for John Gotsis, owner of Kosta's Bar & Grill in Auburn and聽Dimitri's Pizzeria in Elbridge.聽

For that same reason, Gotsis doesn't believe it'll be much help when the state's bars and restaurants are able to go up to 75% capacity beginning March 19. Even at 100% capacity he wouldn't have the staff he needs to return to business as usual at Kosta's, he told 水果派AV. The Grant Avenue sports bar has about 40 to 45 employees right now, compared to 50 something before the pandemic.

Gotsis additionally believes that reaching 75% capacity will be difficult in combination with the state's continuing聽 that tables be separated by 6 feet, or a physical barrier.

Regardless, Gotsis is grateful for the customers who have been supporting Kosta's over the last year. From the steady flow of takeout and delivery orders to the popular outdoor cookout menu the restaurant offered last summer, the sports bar has been well-supported, he said. He hopes the return of nice weather, and the COVID-19 vaccines, can bring his business back to normal soon.

Kirkland shares that hope. He's also more confident the increase to 75% capacity will help his restaurant. There have been some weekends when the Lavish Lounge was busy enough that customers walked out instead of waiting for a table, he said. That's business he can't afford to lose after the last year. December, which saw a second spike in local cases of the virus, was one of his worst months.

"We lost a lot of money," he said. "But we decided to keep pushing."

The past few weeks have been a little better at the Lavish Lounge, though.

As cases recede and the temperature warms, Kirkland has welcomed more customers and taken more orders to go. He's especially heartened by a group that's made a point of coming to the restaurant every Tuesday night, as well as the Auburn Fire Department's regular orders. And with the state rolling back its guidance and the vaccines being deployed, he hopes an end is in sight for his "rough ride."聽

"You gotta take the bad with the good," he said. "Thanks to all the people who've been really dedicated and supportive."