Syracuse, NY-The coronavirus pandemic has hit businesses in the bar and restaurant industry incredibly hard, but restrictions are beginning to loosen. Beginning today, the 11 p.m. curfew on bars and restaurants in New York State is extended until midnight. This is an hour longer than the previous curfew which should mean more business and more money for those in the food service industry, but some owners aren’t completely satisfied with this new change.
Raymond Faigle is the owner of Orange Crate Brewing Company, a popular bar next to Syracuse University, and says he has mixed feelings about why there is a curfew on businesses in the first place. He believes that as long as establishments are following the rules, the time should not even matter.
“If we’re compliant at 2 p.m, 5 p.m, 11 p.m, then why wouldn’t we be compliant at 1 a.m or 2 a.m?” asked Faigle.
For Faigle, restrictions from the state make sense from a social distancing and public health perspective, but restricting the hours that bars and restaurants can be open doesn’t. To him, it seems a little unfair.
“I still have mixed feelings or mixed understandings of why we continue to be penalized if we are following the recommendations,” he said.
As the number of people in the United States and Central New York continues to rise and restrictions continue to loosen, restaurants and bars like Orange Crate Brewing Company hope to continue to make up their losses from the pandemic and continue serving their communities.
