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LA Restaurants Are at a Financial Breaking Point Due to the Wildfires | Eater LA

"General manager Mark Nechols describes early uncertainty and a large weekend decline: "To begin with, it was just a lot of uncertainty as to what was happening and how severe it was. Once we got an understanding that it was just going to keep getting worse, we wavered on whether we should be even open for service, just for the sake of the safety of our staff. Throughout last week reservations definitely declined, and a lot of people canceled. On a normal weekend night perhaps we might do 130 to 140 guests — this past week it was pretty much half of that. Labor has definitely been tricky, especially on the weekdays, which are typically a little quieter. For the most part, it hasn’t been drastic, but we’re just cutting hours earlier or being a bit more efficient with overall hours. We’ve been trying to create more things to do so we don’t have to cut hours. I’ve just been trying to keep a “this too shall pass” mentality. We’re really doing the best we can." Summary: roughly 50% weekend drop, staffing/scheduling strain, cautious operations focused on preserving hours where possible." - Eater Staff