Gail Simmons Has The Perfect Way To Aid The Struggling Restaurant Industry While Social Distancing

Gail Simmons, judge on Bravo's "Top Chef," shares her resources on how to help your favorite local restaurants during the COVID-19 health crisis.

Video Transcript

GAIL SIMMONS: Just decline. Yeah. Sorry Mom, I'll call you back in a minute. You know, they're not doing great. I will say, honestly, you don't realize it until you're in it. I don't think any of us truly understood the gravity and the breadth of the situation until it hit us like a ton of bricks. The restaurant and event and bar industry is built on gathering, is built on bringing people together, and that's the opposite of what we all need to do right now. And while we all understand that, it means that literally millions of people in this country are not just out of work, but there's a very good chance that most of these establishments will not be able to get up and running again after this closing.

People think that restaurants work in a way that they don't. And I think it's been very eye opening for the public to come to understand the operations of restaurants. That the margins of restaurants are so narrow when you factor in rent and cost of food and cost of staffing and all of the factors that go into running a restaurant day to day. Restaurants live hand to mouth for themselves so that they can feed others. And right now restaurants, bars are just one of the many industries, but certainly one of the biggest industries, that's hit so hard.

And the reason also is that unlike other big industries like the cruise ship industry or the airline industry, that's also taking a beating, those industries are unified. There are unions and giant corporations that run the biggest of them. Restaurants are mainly small businesses, independently owned. So there is not an overarching corporation or union that is advocating for them. So very, very quickly the restaurant industry has had to mobilize together across the country at a million different levels. And that's been an incredible challenge.

Thank goodness the restaurant industry is becoming part of this bailout stimulus package, the CARES Act. And that's great, but it is not enough. It will take months, if not years, to get these restaurants back up and running, to give people back their jobs, to get us all out and eating again. And so there needs to be more. And at the moment, there are so many people in the restaurant industry who are struggling to get food on their tables and to keep their families and their businesses alive.

BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: I know. It's so scary, honestly. I have a lot of friends who serve in the city, and it's just checking in with them, making sure that they're good. I know a lot of different restaurants have GoFundMe up for the waitstaff. You know, I think all of us just if we have a favorite restaurant and just making sure that we're checking it and trying to support it.

GAIL SIMMONS: That's right. And it's not just the waitstaff. It is all staff. It is everyone from the manager to the dishwasher to the cooks and pastry cooks. You know, every aspect of the restaurant industry. And not just the people in the restaurants, but the people who work adjacent to them. Think about all the farmers that no longer have people buying their food to cook in these restaurants. Think about the people who do everything from doing the dry cleaning of their linens to delivering the flowers. All of that money is gone. All of those accounts are gone. People who program the music. The people who supply and are related to and adjacent to every aspect of this industry, myself included.

Most of the things I do during the year when I'm not shooting Top Chef is related to chefs as well in restaurants-- festivals, events to promote and champion them. And that's all gone right now, too.

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