Slow Recovery Prompts Businesses To Rethink Future In Downtown SF

By Susie Steimle, CBS San Francisco:

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) — As San Francisco slowly reopens, a trickle of patrons have found their way back to places like Wayfare Tavern, a British pub-style restaurant on Sacramento Street in the Financial District. Indoor dining there reopened at 50 percent capacity in early March but general manager Tony Marcell said business remains slow.

“I describe it as slowly watching paint dry. It’s slowly happening. It’s nothing major, there’s no significant movements. It’s usually, you know, a couple more heads at a time,” Marcell said.

Wayfare Tavern was able to scrape by during the pandemic by dropping from 100 employees to 14.

Laurie Thomas is a small-business owner and the executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association. Thomas owns Terzo and Rose’s Cafe in Cow Hollow. She says PPP loans got her through but, when office workers left the city, they took their spending with them.

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