Some restaurants in downtown San Diego say their bottom line is hurting because of coronavirus fears. Eateries in the area usually benefit from thousands of convention attendees, but conferences have been canceling, and now the county has banned gatherings of 250 people or more through the month of March.
"We can survive March but if it’s more like two, three, four months, it’s going to be very scary for us," said Nael Chami who owns Tapas & Beers downtown. "Because we are a small business so if we do 50% of our sales for more than two or three weeks, it’s going to be a nightmare."
Tapas & Beer is located just a few blocks from the convention center and right next to Horton Plaza and the Spreckels Theater.
"So weekends are crucial for us," Chami said.
He said just this week's business during the day dropped around 50%, and he is closing earlier at night. The restaurant is also seeing large corporate events cancel, with people specifically citing coronavirus concerns.
"This month we’re supposed to have about 20-25 big groups and one private night here, and they all canceled," Chami said.
The owners say so far, they haven’t heard anything from the local health department about any potential closures. If it came to that, it could have a permanent impact.
"We are a very small restaurant — it's family-owned — it’s me and my wife basically," Chami said. "If we have to close one or two weeks it might mean closing the restaurant forever."
Chami said staff hours have not been cut. He said if he did that, employees would likely leave to find full-time work.
Other restaurants in the downtown area near the convention center also said they were feeling the squeeze, but did not want to talk about it on the record.
