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Restaurants scramble to hire more employees
Indoor dining outside of NYC expands to 75 percent capacity and Connecticut is back to full capacity. Restaurants are scrambling to hire employees.
NEW YORK - As of Friday, all New York restaurants outside of New York City can open up their dining rooms at 75% capacity, while Connecticut is returning to full capacity for all businesses.
But some business owners in New York say no one wants to come to work.
"Throughout the whole entire industry, no-one wants to work. Why should they come to work, they can sit home and collect," said Steve Ma, the owner of the Japanese restaurant Fogama in Rye.
Ma says that his restaurant has relied solely on delivery for months now, but it’s not something he can do forever, especially with high rent in one of Westchester’s most affluent towns.
It might even be tougher in Connecticut where restaurants can open up at 100% capacity beginning Friday night, but that doesn't mean they'll be able to pack the people in the way they used to, due to social distancing rules which are still in effect.
"We still have to keep our safety and keep people six feet apart, so when you do the numbers it's actually about 50-60%," said David Fletcher, manager at L'escale, an upscale french eatery in Greenwich.
Fletcher says that it is bound to get better, while at Fogama, Steve Ma says he's just taking it day by day.