Surviving the Pandemic
The pandemic has undoubtedly caused chaos in everyone’s lives over the past year, causing people to stay home, lose their jobs, keeping kids out of school, and of course the dreaded wearing masks everywhere and short supply of toilet paper. I think we can all agree that this behavior is necessary to get our community healthy again, however, it is definitely not enjoyable. Although we have all been affected, I argue that small businesses such as the local bars and restaurants in Old Town, Fort Collins have suffered substantially.
Old Town, Fort Collins is home to a ton of local bars, restaurants, and breweries. There are so many wonderful places in such a small area of town that the options are nearly endless and there is always a viable option for everyone. Unfortunately, so many of these small businesses are struggling to stay afloat given the constant government shut downs and decreased capacity allotments.
According to the City of Fort Collins website, Fort Collins has been reduced down to a level ‘yellow’ safer at home order. What does this mean for restaurants?
- Take out, curbside, delivery or to go permitted. Outdoor / open air dining permitted. Indoor dining at 50% capacity or 50 people.
- Last call is 11 p.m.
- Maximum capacity at gyms 50% or 50 people.
- Indoor events 50% capacity or 50 people.
- Outdoor events 50% capacity or 175 people.
- Retail businesses, 50% capacity.
- Offices at capacity 50%, remote work is strongly encouraged.
For some of the local bars, 50% or 50 people is drastically low compared to their normal human capacity numbers. Tommy, the manager at a local college bar called The Bar District says their normal max capacity is 750 people. Now, The Bar District is only allowed to let 50 people be in the establishment at all times, including staff. Obviously that is a difference of 700 people every night, which on a weekend night means losing a ton of money. The worst part is that the expenses of these bars and restaurants remain the same, which is forcing many of them to lay people off, and some are even forced to close down permanently.
People around the United States are beginning to grow angry about the lack of government support and understanding for local businesses. Many people are wondering when things will ever officially open back up, and will businesses be able to survive until then? Again, this is a hard situation because as a society we are inclined to keep people healthy, but we also don’t want to see businesses die and people losing their livelihood. One man who openly stated his disapproval of this topic is a man named Dave Portnoy.
Dave Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports and philanthropist started an organization that is solely devoted to raising money to help save some of these small businesses. “The Barstool Fund” began on December 17, 2020 and since then has raised a whopping 36 million dollars and has helped support 277 businesses around the United States. Small businesses are reaching out online and trying to get Dave’s attention in hopes that he will help financially support their dying businesses. Of course, Dave is scraping together all of his best contacts with large pocket books to help fund this mission. He has received a massive amount of public approval and gratitude from business owners as well as normal customers!
So, the million dollar question is: How do we save small businesses while also staying conscious of public health?
Unfortunately, there is no simple answer. However, with efforts from people like Dave Portnoy and The Barstool Fund, we are getting closer to normalcy and slowly helping get each small business back on its feet. So, if you’re in Old Town, Fort Collins, consider a small business for your next night out, and please, tip! Every bit helps! One of these days Old Town bars and restaurants will be crowded and sweaty again, but until then we can only stay hopeful and do our part to end the spread of the coronavirus.
