TOLEDO, Ohio — The coronavirus pandemic is hurting the restaurant and food service industries in Ohio and across the country.
The Ohio Restaurant Association says about one in six restaurants and bars are closed down.
"Bars are particularly hurt here in Ohio because we have a curfew at 10 p.m.," said John Barker, President and CEO of the Ohio Restaurant Association.
The owner of a popular restaurant chain in Toledo couldn't agree more.
At the beginning of 2020, Jeremy Hartle owned two Jed's restaurants, one in downtown and the other in west Toledo.
When COVID-19 hit, Hartle says he had to lay off employees and shut down his downtown location
Now he's hanging on by a thread with his location on Bancroft Street.
"The 10 p.m. thing is absolutely absurd, because we've proven, the restaurant and bar industry has proven that we can do it and we can do it safely," said Hartle.
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The Ohio Restaurant Association says there is about 20 percent unemployment in the restaurant industry at this time.
That's three times the current unemployment rate in the state.
But not every Ohio restaurant has been hit so hard.
An owner at Sunrise Skillet in south Toledo says they aren't hurting as bad.
Sunrise Skillet closes by 2 p.m., so there aren't restrictions on their hours of operation.
"It does not affect us, and I think that's a lot of the reason why we have been able to be so successful throughout all of this," said owner Jennifer Hurst. "My heart goes out to any of those businesses that have to go through that because, you know, thankfully, we're not affected by that."
The industry is looking forward to the next stimulus bill so furloughed employees can continue to get unemployment.
And there is more good news for the industry; the COVID-19 vaccine rolled out this week.
"I know in our industry, we're going to have a lot of operators on our team to take the vaccine because that will be a way for them to give guests even more confidence," said Barker.
And there's hope ate the end of a nightmare year for Jed's on Bancroft.
"Moving forward hopefully this vaccine works and hopefully we can get herd immunity and get people to stop getting sick," said Hartle.
The association asked the governor to ask food service workers be considered in the second wave. They're hoping to get some clarity by mid-January.