Sonoma County restaurants furlough workers, shut down as struggles mount

HopMonk Taverns was getting by with food and beverage service in its outdoor beer gardens, complete with tents and heaters, at its four North Bay locations.

But the coronavirus-spawned public health order implemented one minute into Saturday sent a tectonic shift through the industry that feeds residents and visitors, limiting food sales to takeout and delivery only.

Some opted to furlough workers, and at least one prominent restaurant shut down for the duration of the profitable winter holidays.

The new restrictions prompted HopMonk owner Dean Biersch to furlough 122 employees on Monday and rely on takeout sales, with no assurance it will prove sustainable.

“It’s heartbreaking,” said Biersch, who opened the first location in Sebastopol in 2008 after founding and operating the Gordon Biersch Brewery. “I mean it’s something I’ve never experienced in over 30 years of business.” The other HopMonk sites are in Sonoma and Novato. Biersch, under the same company, also owns and runs Twin Oaks Roadhouse in Penngrove.

The outdoor gardens, designed for year-round use, allowed his taverns to maintain as much as 75% of the business they did when indoor dining was allowed prior to the COVID-19 onslaught.

“Now we don’t have that,” Biersch said. “I’ve gotta believe we’re going to get through it.”

A GoFundMe appeal designated as the HopMonk Staff COVID Relief Fund had raised more than $16,000 toward a goal of $50,000 on Wednesday.

The far-reaching health order — which also curbed capacity inside stores and shuttered personal services including hair and nail salons — came as the rate of new infections had nearly doubled in two weeks, straining the ability of county officials to track new infections and for hospitals to handle a surge of patients.

Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase said she knew it would hurt businesses, but said the sooner the restrictions were implemented the sooner in the new year “we’ll be able to open and open safely.”

The upscale John Ash & Co. restaurant north of Santa Rosa was “doing fairly well" with outdoor dining service — also at 75% of business compared with a year ago, said Percy Brandon, general manager of the restaurant and the companion Vintners Resort.

But takeout food doesn’t pencil out, he said, because “it takes a lot of hands to prepare a meal” at John Ash, which says on its website that “jackets and collared shirts are welcomed for gentlemen.”

Consequently, the resort and restaurant on Thursday announced a temporary closure from Sunday through Feb. 19. The health order is set to expire Jan. 9, but what happens then is uncertain.

“This has been a very difficult decision for us, but we anticipate Sonoma County will soon call for stricter stay-at-home orders, and will give local restaurants and hospitality businesses 48 hours to shut down,” Brandon said in an email.

When the first health order was issued in March, the inn and restaurant cut staffing from 200 to seven, he said in an interview. The latest order will prompt a reduction from 87 employees to seven.

“Keeping our employees and guests healthy and safe is one of our top priorities so we are taking the time to temporarily shut down,” Brandon said in the email. “We believe this will help make our business stronger when we reopen.”

The latest shutdown has impacted the county’s wide cross section of eateries, from mom-and-pop diners to acclaimed destination restaurants.

Single Thread Restaurant in Healdsburg had spent “tens of thousands of dollars” on a tented dining area in its parking lot, set up to serve a menu based on the cuisine of Hokkaido, Japan, said owner and chef Kyle Connaughton.

The outdoor space opened Dec. 10, and had just one more night before the order eliminated outside dining, causing a huge loss of perishable fresh seafood, he said.

The restaurant immediately switched to takeout service and furloughed more than 50 of its 70 employees until outdoor dining resumes.

“It’s hard for a business to pivot on 24 hours notice,” Connaughton said.

Mase’s announcement came after 4 p.m. on Dec. 10 and the stay-home order went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Dec. 12.

Shawn E. Hall, owner of Sebastopol’s Gypsy Cafe, said she was “just barely” making it with six outdoor tables that she said “at least paid the rent.”

Takeout is not a moneymaker, she said. “Restaurants can’t make it without butts in the seats.”

The cafe originally had 11 employees, and Hall said she brought back five when outdoor dining was allowed. She cut down to three on Wednesday, the first day of business with a revised menu for takeout.

Hall said her customers showed loyalty during the outdoor dining phase, eating in their parkas on cold days.

Restaurateurs, including herself, face a clouded future, said Hall, a restaurant designer who has worked at 18 restaurants in the county.

“We are really going to see a lot of doors get shut,” she said. “The chances of me making it are pretty slim if we don’t get interior seats by February.”

The county’s restaurant and bar sector has already shrunk, with employment in October at 9,200 workers, about half what it was a year ago, according to the state Employment Development Department. Mainstays of the local dining scene that have already closed for good include, in Santa Rosa, Bistro 29 and Bruno’s on Fourth, and the Brass Rabbit in Healdsburg.

Uncertainty over how long the dining closure may last is “making business owners very conservative in their financial planning within the next month,” said Robert Eyler, a Sonoma State University economics professor.

“It’s anybody’s guess right now, especially whether some businesses who have been pushed to the edge are going to be able to retain workers and/or stay open,” he said.

Peter Rumble, CEO of the Santa Rosa Metro Chamber of Commerce, said restaurants are “trying to figure out if Jan. 9 will be the time when things ease up.”

“We know the impact is profoundly negative and we’ll lose more restaurants for sure,” he said.

Neighborhood restaurants are places that “define the fabric of the community,” Rumble said.

“They are places where you go after soccer games, celebrate birthdays and anniversaries; where you go on your first date.”

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 707-521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com. You can reach Staff Writer Bill Swindell at 707-521-5223 or bill.swindell@pressdemocrat.com.