Page 17 - Patrick Cooley News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Customers of The Grainery may notice the bar and restaurant’s menu getting more expensive in the coming months. The Plain City staple might have to raise prices as high as 25% to offset rising salaries and commodity costs, said General Manager Andrew Dawson.  “Food prices are skyrocketing,” he said. “It’s a nightmare.” And it’s not just The Grainery. Restaurant patrons can expect bigger checks as the summer approaches and diners throughout Ohio pay more for labor and key ingredients like chicken and beef. The size of the increase depends on the restaurant, and industry inside...

Patrick Cooley Business groups cheered Gov. Mike DeWine’s decision to lift all coronavirus-related restrictions on restaurants and bars, but some restaurant and bar owners found themselves fretting over whether or not to keep mask rules or social distancing restrictions in place. Customers who aren’t actively eating and drinking are currently required by Ohio law to wear masks, and tables must be spaced at least six feet apart unless they can be separated by a partition. Those requirements end soon. In a televised address Wednesday evening, DeWine said the state health department will li...

Ahmed Quaraja, who owns the Columbus food truck Zaki, speaks English, but filing paperwork for small business loans and grants is still a challenge. “I’ve never been to school in the U.S.,” said Quaraja, a Palestinian immigrant. “Some words in the paperwork, I don't know what they mean.” The knowledge gap was especially problematic when Quaraja needed to apply for Paycheck Protection Program loans to keep his business open during the economic crisis brought on by the coronavirus outbreak last spring. He wasn’t sure what documents were needed or how to fill out the application form...

Enhanced unemployment benefits blamed by restaurant owners for worker shortage Experts and industry insiders cite a variety or reasons for a general reluctance to return to work, but Hall-Jones put the blame squarely on enhanced unemployment benefits.  "We fought hard to get through COVID, but COVID didn't kill us, the stimulus did," he said. Early in the pandemic, an extra $600 was added to weekly unemployment checks. While that figure is now $300, some workers can still make more staying at home and accepting jobless benefits than they could working a restaurant job. Numerous restaurateur...

This is a common story among Ohio’s servers and bartenders. Tips, shifts disappear as restaurant patrons continue to stay home, switch to carryout More than a year after the first cases of coronavirus were identified in Ohio, patrons are still staying home or switching to carryout, which means less gratuity for front-of-house workers like bartenders and servers, and fewer shifts for back-of-house workers like dishwashers and cooks. Others are still catching up after extended periods of unemployment. Restaurant workers describe living a more frugal lifestyle, and in many cases their depres...