Woburn Coronavirus: Local Restaurant Owners Hit Hard By Outbreak

WOBURN, MA — The coronavirus shutdown has already started to hit local residents hard in their wallets. With people huddling at home and on-premise dining banned, restaurants and retailers are hurting already. And even take-out is hurting, for some: Two Woburnites, Thomas and Daniel Pak, own a small take-out restaurant in the financial district and report their revenues have fallen two-thirds "virtually overnight," with the usual customers working from home.

"The loss of traffic is what killed us," Thomas Pak said. "The past couple of days, revenue has dropped to $300 to 400 per day. On a good day we can do $2,000, on average we bring in $1,500."

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Thomas Pak believes they can keep cover rent for at least a couple of months, but the biggest concern is the restaurant's two employees.

"Financially it's tough, but I'm more worried about my employees," Pak said.

The business employs two men. One, John Blake, is in his 70s and has worked at the same location for 40 years under five different owners. The other, Jorge, has two kids and has already lost his other part-time job as part of the shutdown.

"He's supporting a family," Pak said. "If I cut him, he has no income whatsoever at this point."

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For the time being, Pak said, to avoid laying them off their employees, the restaurant has significantly cut pay. They are also sharing food and supplies from the kitchen to help cover expenses. Rent is close to $5,000 per month, even for the tiny space they have in a Financial District building; they have not heard anything about a rent freeze during the crisis.

"There's just no revenue there. For the time begin, we're trying to figure out a plan," Pak said. "Financially we can probably hold on to it for a couple of months. Then we'd have to make a decision."

Those decisions are even harder due to the uncertainty, Pak noted: experts do not know how long extreme social distancing efforts will have to continue.

Restaurant owners across the state are facing the same dilemmas, according to Stephen Clark of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association.

"There is no blue-print for what we are all dealing with," Clark said. "Operators are streamlining operations, menus and dining rooms to maximize delivery and take out, both in an effort to stay open but also to meet the critical need of feeding customers."

Clark encouraged customers to order delivery and take out to help restaurants during the restrictions on on-premise dining.

But nothing obvious will help Pak's restaurant, he said: they don't have the staff for delivery, and take-out has dropped off because they're in a commercial district, not a residential neighborhood. He hopes that the government will step up to help people like his employees.

"I'm not doing this publicity. I know times are tough out there," Pak said. "I can't offer my employees much money but I can offer them supplies that I have. I'm more than willing to share what I have. I hope people can do that."

The brothers opened their restaurant almost eight years ago with Thomas's life savings, and rose from the typical early struggles of new restaurants. They have gone through other hard times in the years since, Pak said, but nothing like this.

"By far this is the toughest thing we've faced," Pak said. "I hope during this crisis people are willing to come together."

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Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that include the common cold as well as much more serious diseases. The strain that emerged in China in late 2019, now called COVID-19, is related to others that have caused serious outbreaks in recent years, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the U.S. was on Jan. 21.

The disease, which apparently originated in animals, is now transferring from person to person, although the mechanism is not yet fully understood. Its symptoms include fever, coughing and shortness of breath, and many patients develop pneumonia. There is as yet no vaccine against COVID-19 it and no antiviral treatment.

According to the CDC, the best way of preventing the disease is to avoid close contact with people who are sick, to avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands, to wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, and to use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol if soap and water are not available.

To avoid spreading any respiratory illness, the CDC recommends staying at home when you are sick, covering your cough or sneeze with a tissue and throwing the tissue in the trash, cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched objects and surfaces.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.