Why one Illinois restaurant owner is packing up

(The Center Square) – Illinois restaurants, facing state-imposed restrictions because of COVID-19, had a difficult year in 2020.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker banned indoor dining in November for the second time. Many places don’t have space or funds to set up outdoor dining facilities.

One restaurant owner is throwing in the towel. John Scanlan, owner of the Filling Station in Rockford, said he is moving his business out of state after 35 years. Scanlan said he can’t survive without indoor dining and he is tired of paying what he calls high taxes, the state’s accelerated pensions and poor economic standing.

The $900 billion U.S. stimulus package passed before Christmas didn’t allocate direct funding for restaurants and bars, a blow to one of the hardest-hit sectors of the economy. The bill does allow small businesses to take out loans, and directly funds several beleaguered industries, but now restaurants and bars.

George Mahe, the dining editor for St. Louis Magazine, which covers the Metro East, said December is usually an important month for restaurants.

“There is a lot of gift card revenue coming in and their coffers are full in December and these guys all pay their sales taxes at that time,” Mahe said. “That didn’t happen this year.”

Some in Illinois are fed up with pandemic lockdowns and restrictions and have defied Pritzker’s orders by serving customers indoors, from McHenry County all the way down to Monroe County in the Metro East.

Restaurant owners in the town of Waterloo in Monroe County are sticking together and staying open. They say they are following health department guidelines including social distancing, mask-wearing and disinfecting. Owners there say the governor is overstepping his authority by closing them down.

The Illinois Restaurant Association said 60 percent of eateries would close without assistance. Mahe, who said 110,000 restaurants across the country have closed since the pandemic began, hopes there is light at the end of the tunnel.

“I think with a little extra money and some vaccines and COVID numbers going down, I think a lot of these guys that were really questioning if they could survive are going to survive,” Mahe said.

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