Posted on 03/02/2020 6:27:54 PM PST by Coleus
Even the Big Apple’s most beloved Chinese restaurants are in critical condition as the coronavirus keeps customers at bay.
Restaurant owners, the people who work for them and city lawmakers say business at Chinese-owned establishments has plummeted by as much as 60 percent as the global pandemic spreads. Some restaurants in Queens have closed, possibly for good, sources said.
“It’s been terrible for business,” said Thomas Lo, a co-owner of Spy C Cuisine of Forest Hills, Queens, which opened in 2018 and garnered a coveted spot in this year’s Michelin Guide. “We’ve had a steady increase in business since we opened, and then coronavirus hit,” said Lo, who is an anesthesiologist by day and a chef by night.
“None of our food comes from China, but that doesn’t matter to diners. I don’t know what motivated the scare. A lot of it is misinformation,” said Lo, who says business at Spy C is down more than 50 percent from a month ago.
“It’s killed a lot of restaurants and others are just getting by, trying to survive. “A lot of the large Chinese restaurants in Flushing are now closed — for renovations, they say, but it’s unlikely they’ll reopen,” said Lo. “Chinatown was also really hit. It’s a lot slower. All you have to do is walk around to notice it.”
Councilmember Peter Koo of Queens has called on Mayor Bill de Blasio to offer a helping hand in light of Hizzoner’s recent vow to “provide small businesses the support they need to survive.”
“The city should do something like lower taxes,” Koo said. “Some restaurants have even closed. They have no business and even the ones that are open have more staff than diners. These are big spaces with huge overhead.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
There are nail salons that hire them as well. The owners will typically be Cambodian/Vietnamese...but they hire Chinese in our area.
Don’t they all taste like chicken?
I hope Robert Kraft is staying away from the Orchids of Asia Day Spa.
I’d worry about the guy in the kitchen who visited relatives back home recently.
I have a little Chinese takeout near me.
Each year in January, they shut down for the whole month and head back to China.
I imagine business is not as brisk as it once was upon their return this year.
Chinese Bats have squinty eyes.
And wear thick glasses.
Gotta take the wife in to a small city for a hand operation next week. Usually, it is either Red Lobster or a Chinese buffet when we go. No Chinese this time for just that reason. In fact, no nothing. We're in our mid-80s, so we're just being prudent.
I hate to say it but I’m one of those people.
Every few months, I get a pedicure. Nah, not metrosexual. My toes are nasty. I’ll leave it at that.
You can’t find a nail salon that isn’t owned by Asians. Truth be told, I don’t know what country they’re from or if they’ve had relatives visiting them who may be infected (but asymptomatic).
The place I go is clean and the people who own they place are great. They actually speak good English and offer me a Coke everytime I come in.
But in the back of my mind, I’m thinking “Hmmmm, but I don’t know where these people have been lately or who they may have come into contact with”.
It’s a sad thing.
Chinese New Years, many do that and stay there for a month or so...
Bad timing this year
“I have never and never will drink Corona...”
I’m not a beer snob. If offered one, I’ll drink it (it’s drinkable) but there’s many others I’d rather drink first.
I am not in their demographics.
When your local Chinese wait staff can hardly speak English, and you don’t know how long they’ve been here, or if they’re even legal, it’s foolish to eat there. Same goes for Mexican restaurants. God expects us to have wisdom about things like this.
Early 70s here, and I’d be just as cautious.
“Coronavirus taking a toll on Chinese restaurants in New York”
we had a very large chinese buffet restaurant here in my town for many years, and it was obvious that ALL of the employees were illegal alien chinese aliens being funneled through the restaurant, with most staying there only a few days or weeks before moving along ... I wonder if that’s the REAL reason many of these chinese restaurants in NY are being shunned, namely that everyone pretty much knew all along that the labor in those restaurants were illegal chinese immigrants, and that was OK until patrons decided that a side of cornoavirus from ever-changing illegal labor with their twice cooked pork might not be such a hot idea after all ...
“Weirdly enough, I’ve heard that it’s the Orientals who are staying away, whereas the round-eyes are showing up as usual, sans mask.”
Yep, it’s Asians mainly staying clear, since that was most of the customer base to begin with. And it was mostly Asians, at the start, who loaded up on breathing masks.
And no, Asians don’t need anti-Trump ‘media hype’ to do the above, they know what’s happening by watching news from the ‘old country’.
Restaurants and patrons must go about their business, yet exercise caution pending outcome of health emergency.” This according to Asian food spokespersons Wei Too Soon and Sum Ting Wong.
The virus can live on a hard surface for over a week. It’s hitting all restaurants...
Eating out in a Sanctuary City is always a big risk.
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