Restaurants & Bars
RI Restaurants Respond To RI's Coronavirus Curfew
The Hospitality Association said the new restrictions will be a hardship on local restaurants.
PROVIDENCE, RI — As part of the state's new coronavirus regulations, Rhode Island's restaurants must close their doors at 10 p.m. on weekdays and 10:30 p.m. on weekends. While it will be a hardship on already struggling local businesses, the state's Hospitality Association thanked Gov. Gina Raimondo and other state leaders for working to minimize impacts to restaurants as much as possible.
The new restrictions are not meant to be hard deadlines, Raimondo said Thursday; instead, the state is taking a "last-call" approach, which means restaurants and bars must start to wind down at those times. To help mitigate the effects of business lost after closing time, the state will offer all impacted restaurants and bars grant payments of $2,000 to $10,000, depending on the amount of business usually conducted.
"The RI Hospitality Association has been in constant conversations with Governor Raimondo's office over changes to the restaurant guidelines," the organization's president, Dale Venturini, said in a statement.
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After business owners self-attest that their business was impacted by the early closing time, the state's Division of Taxation will send out payments within 30 days, the governor said. The grants are paid for by the state's federal pandemic relief funds.
The association went on to thank the governor for working with business owners and tailoring the guidelines to minimize impacts while keeping Rhode Islanders safe.
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"Last week, we were notified that the Governor was planning on implementing a 9:30 p.m. closing time for restaurants similar to what Connecticut and Massachusetts have recently mandated," Venturini continued. "As a direct result of RIHA's advocacy, we were able to gain several concessions from the Governor's office to limit the impact on our industry ... The additional restrictions are difficult for restaurants already struggling, but we are thankful that Governor Raimondo and Commerce RI listened to RIHA to minimize the impact as much as possible."
While in-person dining must stop by the cutoff, takeout and drive-thru services are still permitted.
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