'Pritzker Is Destroying Small Business': Tap House Grill

PLAINFIELD, IL — "Pritzker is a far-reaching, power abusing, tyrant that is destroying small business," said Santino Patragas, owner of Tap House Grill in Plainfield, which along with all other restaurants in the area had to suspend indoor dining once again Aug. 26.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker decided to shut down dining rooms across Will and Kankakee counties after coronavirus cases went up in the region. He made the announcement Aug. 24; according to Pritzker, if the numbers improve, there's a chance that the more-stringent measures affecting the food and beverage industry could be eased in a couple of weeks.

"I do feel its unjustified. First and foremost, we are in this together. We want everyone to be safe," Patragas said. "However, when just looking at data, I struggle to see the relevance in the numbers they are looking at. If you are looking at the amount of positive tests, there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to that."

He said the rising rate of positivity can be attributed to more number of testing.

"But deaths and hospitalizations should be the data we are looking at. If deaths and hospitalizations are down, then we are moving in the correct direction," he said. "We were originally told on March 16 that we are making the moves to 'flatten the curve' and not overwhelm our healthcare facilities. Well, that's been done. Our healthcare facilities aren't overwhelmed. We were successful at our quarantine. It's time to open the world."

Since there were so many changes in the last few months, Patragas said they've been living "by the seat of their pants" and were able to pivot quickly and alter their operation. He said they made an investment in partitions and social distancing in order to be compliant and now that was "all a waste of money to already struggling industry."

"The first three months just about buried us and this one seems to be the nail in the coffin," he said. "It's very challenging to try and operate a business at 15 percent capacity and have to navigate the weather. We are down about 60 percent in sales."

Patragas said he feels that if masks help in containing the virus, then shutting down dining rooms was a baseless step. He misses serving his loyal customers.

"We are sorry to you that we are being blackmailed by this state," he said. "The government is best which governs the least."

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