A One-Stop Resource For Ways to Aid the Hospitality Industry
Many businesses, like Hibino in Brooklyn, took extra safety precautions for takeout, but it wasn’t enough to sustain business, and decided to keep staff and others healthy by shuttering. Photo by Amanda Schuster
A constantly updated online dashboard provides all-inclusive information for the hard-hit bar and restaurant community
We’ve joked that the month of March felt like it was at least 95 days long (with as many as 6 seasons). The latest COVID-19 statistics suggest April may feel as though it will be decades till we’re in May, with little chance of most businesses and schools able to open any time soon. As the days drag on, this will be an especially tough week for many who can’t be with their close friends and loved ones to worship and celebrate Passover and Easter in person because of necessary social distancing measures for public safety.
Many people have impressively used these extra hours away from commuting and our otherwise typically hectic schedules to take on big projects like learning new languages and skills, tackling home improvements or simply learning to bake bread or finish that big jigsaw puzzle. Others are using this time to focus efforts on bigger philanthropic challenges that affect the outside world.
Then there are those who aren’t physically ill from the virus, but are nonetheless feeling understandably anxious about our drastically changed societies, and the uncertainty of what the other side will bring to businesses that are now mostly or entirely cut off. No amount of bread-kneading, or avoiding screen time past a certain hour is going to make sleep more easy to come by, let alone that missing employment and wages to live on, even with some government bailout. Sometimes putting on a pair of jeans, or as a friend referred to them, “hard pants”, seems like too much to ask.
There’s obviously a lot of guilt attached to those anxious feelings. It can be creatively paralyzing. And the less we accomplish, the guiltier we feel that we aren’t doing something.
The thing is, there’s more that can be done quietly, anonymously, than many people know, and while time is crawling, progress is being made.
While the COVID-19 shutdown has affected thousands and thousands of jobs, It’s been reported that 60% of all jobs in March are fallout from bar and restaurant closures, and subsequently jobs at the businesses who supply them, which not only includes farms and restaurant goods, but also distilleries, wineries and breweries. Tobin Ellis, a Las Vegas-based hospitality design consultant who is taking extra precautions at home since he’s asthmatic, decided he had the means to expand his hospitality focused platform, barmagic.com, into a much-needed, ongoing resource to help the industry.
He says, “Maybe we can’t yet see the light at the end of the tunnel, but there is at least construction happening to dig toward that light.” He has now focused his attention entirely on maintaining the Hospitality Relief Dashboard on the Bar Magic website. Even though it is digital, think of it as a living, breathing source for all manner of information that is updated every few hours as news breaks. The information includes a relief map of where to donate by state, the latest data tracking the spread of the virus, related articles to read, a list of relief funds, support groups, restaurant and bar to-go lists and more.
Just as the scientific community has chosen to cooperate with one another to find viable drugs to treat COVID-19, the hospitality community is finding ways to pool its various resources to collaborate on meaningful charities and services for those affected by the financial impact of business shutdowns. This way, needed attention is not diverted to only one source, rather it allows progress to be made as a group effort. “I don’t want to be here to make more noise,” says Ellis. “I’m here to use my platform to help.”
If you’ve been admiring all your friends’ lockdown projects on social media, then think of this dashboard as the mother starter of the sourdough bread that represents all the projects happening around the world to aid the hospitality industry. Not doing it yourself? Then you can at least become proactive in your own way by using this resource to find ways to contribute. There is even a way to add your two cents by providing information you feel might be missing, since the site is constantly monitored for duplication and relevancy.
And you don’t need “hard pants” to take a look and see what you can do.
Access the Hospitality Relief Dashboard here.