The dining maestro weighs in on to-go dining and state support amid the coronavirus crisis.
Uncertainty and intense anxiety is gripping the Valley restaurant and bar industry following the coronavirus closures mandated by Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, and a similar statewide policy expected from Arizona Governor Doug Ducey. Only takeout and delivery services will be permitted for the foreseeable future.
Unfortunately, one of the Valley restaurant owners who preemptively ended in-restaurant service last week, FnB partner Pavle Milic, says the State of Arizona is not yet taking steps to meet the industry halfway.
Milic, who also serves as PHOENIX magazine’s wine columnist, says he reached out to the state liquor board last week to see if he and chef-owner Charleen Badman could suspend the FnB liquor license temporarily, to help them limit the financial hemorrhaging of any empty restaurant, but the board official flatly refused. “To which I responded with a ‘Thank you for your time’ and hung up,” Milic says.
It was not a reassuring development for the James Beard Award-winning Old Town Scottsdale restaurant, which was ahead of the curve when it instituted takeout-only service last week. “We saw the writing on the wall. And we felt like being open, we were being part of the problem, not the solution. Staying open [was] adding to the transmission of the virus. It was the most painful no-brainer, if that makes any sense. And it’s really fricking scary. You spend your life opening the restaurant of your dreams and then it comes to this.
“I had to do the hardest thing in my whole professional career: Lay off my whole staff,” he continues. “We’re in uncharted territory, so right now we’re trying to take care of the few remaining employees we have.”
Milic says he and Badman have enough working capital to “last maybe two months” without permanently closing. But he says he’s more concerned about his current and ex-employees. “I have cash that can last [personally] a couple months, but my staff, I don’t know.”
He’s hoping prominent Arizona liquor distributors will use their political connections to lobby the state to approve takeout wine sales at restaurants, a la New York City, which could enhance their takeout food program. “Hopefully, we’ll generate revenue with our takeout [program]… to be honest, [we’re just] throwing a noodle at a wall and see what fucking sticks.”
Milic says the award-winning restaurant has had only one takeout order so far, as of Tuesday afternoon.
