Open Letter From a Laid-Off Restaurant General Manager
Dear Industry Peers, Diners, My Thamee Restaurant Family, Friends:
Like many of you, my heart and soul has been numb for almost three weeks now following a partial at first, then gradual, and in some cases (like for the restaurant I manage and love), total shutdown of some or all of America’s restaurants due to COVID-19. I’ve related this moment to the death of the woman who has impacted my life the most. I imagine this is also what an athlete who is told s/he cannot compete for an indefinite period of time feels like. The shuttering of the majority of our nation’s restaurants has been simultaneously overwhelming, startling, and constricting for all who eat.
In my own social circles, my family and friends all know how deeply invested I am in the restaurant industry. Acquaintances may think I’m doing this job “while finishing school” — though they may not admit it to my face — but my friends know inevitably, I’ll be absent from most weekend plans. Likewise, my family knows that for me, being an agent of hospitality trumps even getting together for holidays, birthday parties, and all sorts of other important gatherings. When “duty calls,” our industry remains open while other offices and businesses take a pause for such celebrations and milestones.
What “civilians” (non-resturant industry folks) may not know is that agents of hospitality are forged from grit, resilience, and improvisation.
When COVID-19 first hit close to home, I instinctually started strategizing with my team: How will we get through this? Not if, but how? I mean, we have personally transported, prepped by hand (in a makeshift factory filled with volunteers), and sold 100 pounds of sugarcane. We have prepared for and participated in events for thousands of attendees with just two to four of our own staff. We have launched three new (kicka**) menus in less than a year, each time within a one-month timeline and to critical acclaim. Surely, I thought, we can figure out innovative ways to get through new legislation. It hadn’t hit me yet that COVID-19 isn’t just about new rules. It will (re)define our industry. We must navigate what the new normal, the new “how” is.
Everyone in our industry has, at some point, had that moment of surrender. The moment where we had to raise our white flags and say, “Okay, we concede.” In an industry where winning is the only option, this moment is even harder to articulate for people like us who are used to fighting for everything from razor thin profit margins to better healthcare and equity.
Any admission of defeat is more than just that. It’s us admitting: for the foreseeable future, we are conceding both our passion and our identities.
Please understand, this is heart breaking for us.
In our “So Long for Now” Letter to our tribe and our community, I was allowed to express that Thamee is not just a brick and mortar establishment to any of us who have been a part of it in any small or large way. Indeed, my team and I are taking pieces of Thamee with us during this time of social distancing.
And so to my team — both at Thamee and in all positions of our industry — I want to say this to you with all the love in my heart:
People still need you.
Hospitality does not give you purpose,
you give purpose to hospitality.
When COVID-19 subsides, the warmth and connections we are naturally inclined to provide will be more needed than ever. The intangible experiences we create with food and beverage will fill a void within our guests they didn’t even know was missing in their pre-pandemic lives. We have to be ready.
Do not lose yourselves in the abyss. Use this time to center yourselves, both spiritually and emotionally. I invite you to find a silver lining in giving the ones you love the time they deserve, which so often in the past we sacrificed in our own lives for the betterment of our industry as a whole. Continue educating the public about your craft, contribute your knowledge to the world in how-to videos, and develop new aspects of camaraderie within your networks. Connect with your teammates and peers about what you haven’t had time to say, ask, or share with them because of the moments when you had “nothing” but still had to sell “everything” to your restaurant guests.
When it is again time for us to mobilize,
hospitality will need the best of us.
The climate will not be the same,
and it is essential that we are not the same either.
For my part, I have never given up. I have lost battles, but I have not lost wars. I will not allow this pandemic to dictate my never-ending journey toward guest enlightenment and hospitality. I know with everything I am that my Thamee team will be with me when it’s our time again. I am hopeful and optimistic that all of you — anyone who eats — will be with us, too.
“If you want to go fast, go alone.
If you want to go far, go with others.”
This darkness is not a void, it is a tunnel. Focus on the light, and keep moving forward. We are in this together. I look forward to serving you soon.