CLEVELAND, Ohio — The restaurant and bar business has felt the impact of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s recent order prohibiting alcohol sales after 10 p.m. He also ordered that all alcohol inside of those establishments must be consumed by 11 p.m.
The owner of Stackers Bar & Grille, Roy Dunnican, said the pandemic in general has greatly affected business. He had to shut down his bar for two weeks because some of his employees tested positive COVID-19. The governor’s order limiting the time alcohol can be served only makes the situation more difficult, Dunnican said.
“Stackers is simply affected because we have great business towards the evening,” he said. “We have a pretty good happy hour crowd, but we have an even better business towards the evening, especially on the weekends.”
Dunnican said that the order put in place by DeWine has forced him to make difficult decisions regarding the bar.
“We had to cut the staff, especially on the weekends,” he said. “The gross sales pretty much cut in half. You know, we still have a pretty decent happy hour, but the evening sales are definitely not what they were.”
Bar owners and employees alike are feeling the impact of the order. A Touch of Italy barmaid, Maleah Campbell, said business is much slower. As a result, hours are being cut affecting the pay of the employees.
“We close at 12 a.m. now as opposed to 2:30 a.m.,” she said. “So with the hours being cut and customers leaving, we are not going to make much money.”
Campbell said that by prohibiting alcohol sales after 10 p.m., the bar is missing out on its usual prime hours to make money.
“People mainly come to the bar to socialize and drink,” she said. “We are most busy around 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. especially on the weekends.”
Both Dunnican and Campbell said they will have to make adjustments to the new order in order to stay afloat.
“I would just implement more daytime activities to increases sales and roll with the punches,” Dunnican said.
Campbell said that the bar industry by nature is hit or miss. Some days are just slower than others. She said this new order only reinforces the idea that if you want to be involved in the bar industry, you should have more than one source of income.
“So I just recommend that people never just depend on being a barmaid or working in the restaurant industry period right now,” she said. “You know because nothing is for sure. We can shut down at any time like we did before.”
