Restaurants are Collateral Damage in City-Wide Destruction
Restaurants are having a bad time lately. They’re disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Over 80% of restaurant workers have lost their jobs with no guarantee that restaurants will reopen at all. Many states are allowing restaurants to reopen but there is another situation quickly unfolding.
Widespread protests are happening in major cities all over the US over racial inequality and police brutality. While the majority of these protests are peaceful, a select few protests have become violent with rioting and looting. Many businesses face the brunt of the violence with property damage, vandalism, and theft.
Collateral Damage
Shattered glass, graffiti, restaurants engulfed in flames, dozens of restaurants across the US that were unfortunate to be in the path of violent protestors are cleaning up the aftermath of a multi-day protest.
Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles was heavily vandalized. Nancy Silverton restaurants were broken into and reported wine and computer theft. Petit Trois and Trios Mec were also burglarized with windows shattered from bullets.
A small convenience store owner who did not want to be named in Santa Monica lost his shop to violent protestors. “All I could do was watch. I couldn’t do anything. It felt like everything that I had worked to build for 18 years they could just wipe out in a matter of minutes.”
Similar stories in Santa Monica echo the disheartening situation. “They protected the protesters, but they did not protect the businesses,” said one business owner when asked if the police did enough to stop the looters. “If you want to protect the protesters, fine. I am with them. I feel their pain. But what about us, the mom and pop owners? We have already not been able to work for three months because of COVID. And now this.”
Many business owners sympathize with protesters and the cause but cannot condone violence or looting. Owner Ludo Lefebvre posted photos of the damage on Instagram: “It could have been worse for us… broken glass and some mess inside, but for the most part just a shock. We must all protest for George Floyd and the rights of all black Americans. But we need to stand together against the violence and destruction of our communities.”
Countless restaurants in cities like New York, Dallas, San Diego, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and St. Paul’s suffered vandalism, broken windows, and limited burglary but most remain in good enough shape to reopen when the time comes but others were not as lucky.
Minneapolis is experiencing some of the most intense riots in the country. At least ten restaurants were destroyed, some burned to the ground. Those include Town Talk Diner, El Nuevo Rodeo Restaurante, Minnehaha Lake Liquor Lake Street, the Domino’s on 26th Ave So and E 28th Street, the Popeyes on Chicken Chicago Avenue, Olympic Cafe on West Broadway, Hexagon Bar, and Wendy’s East Lake Street. In St. Paul, Bolé and Bolé Express were both destroyed as well.
Critics will demonize violent protestors.
Nikole Hannah-Jones of the NY Times stated bluntly, “The truth is that we know Americans pay attention to violence. Had there been no fires, had there been no looting, no physical confrontations with the police, these stories of police protest right now would have garnered maybe a few minutes on the local news cycle but we wouldn’t see the wall to wall coverage that we’re seeing every day.”
Others including many restaurant owners believe what is happening is necessary.
Solidarity
Despite the damage that is being done to livelihoods, many restaurant owners side with the protestors.
Chef Ria Dolly Barbosa of Petite Peso posted a photo of her restaurant’s shattered window on social media with the caption, “Our window can be replaced. George Floyd can’t.”
Co-owner Caitlin Cutler of Italian restaurant Ronan told L.A. Times “We had employees who were like we’ll stay here; we’ll defend the place and we were like no, no, no, go home,” she said. “We did put up signs that said: ‘We stand with you, black lives matter.’ At the end of the day we do support the protests.”
One of the most compelling stories comes from Gandhi Mahal Restaurant in Minneapolis. When a local police station was set ablaze by protesters the flames spread eventually reaching the restaurant. When Ruhel Islam, owner of the restaurant, found out his restaurant was on fire, instead of outrage he told his friend, “Let my building burn. Justice needs to be served.”
Despite the restaurant being the sole source of income for his entire family, he told reporters “We can rebuild a building, but we cannot rebuild a human. The community is still here, and we can work together to rebuild.”
Mr. Islam opened his restaurant during the 2008 economic crisis and believes in peaceful solutions, hence naming his restaurant after Mahatma Gandhi. He believes he should do good and so even after his restaurant suffered extensive damage, during subsequent protests he opened what was left of his restaurant as an area for medics to treat wounded people.
Aftermath
For business owners, the question on everyone’s mind is, will insurance cover damage done by looters?
The answer is disappointing, maybe. Insurance can cover damage done by vandalism and looting but only if it is included in the policy. Large chains that have comprehensive insurance policies that pay out millions will likely be covered.
For local businesses, depending on your location basic liability insurance is required by landlords in a lease agreement. So even if a business has insurance depending on its coverage insurance may not pay for a civil disturbance. Even the businesses that do have an insurance policy that can cover damage done by protestors may not pay for everything that was taken or damaged. Some stores are reporting losses into the hundreds of thousands.
Experts say restaurants will most likely have more comprehensive insurance due to high risk with fire and expensive equipment.
Business relationships with insurance companies are tenuous due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many insurance companies began offering specific coverage for pandemics after the 2003 SARS pandemic but they were expensive and did not sell well.
Lawyers expect that most insurance companies will pay for damage done by protestors as the situation would be similar to a robbery or vandalism which are usually covered by retail and restaurant insurance.
Unfortunately, many mom and pop stores cannot afford insurance and any damage must be absorbed by the business. There were multiple reports of owners outside their stores pleading with protestors, yelling they don’t have insurance.
To prevent further destruction, businesses across the US are taking valuables off-premises and boarding up windows.
It is uncertain how much longer the protests will last but if the rate of destruction by rioters and looters increases we may be facing record losses.
The two most costly civil disturbances in US history occurred after the acquittal of four police officers in the beating of African American Rodney King and the riots in Watts for a police dispute with another African American Marquette Frye.
The Watts disturbance resulted in $357 million when accounting for inflation. The disturbance in 1992 resulted in $1.4 billion when accounting for inflation.
Restaurants that are near protest areas should review their insurance policies to confirm their coverage in the event of any damage.
Restaurant owners despite everything that is going on have a simple message for everyone, police, protestor, bystander, “Please be safe.”
