L.A. chefs, restaurateurs petition lawmakers in wake of fires: ‘We need support'
On Tuesday morning one of the city's most influential chefs stood on the steps of City Hall: Wes Avila, along with his business partner and a fellow small business owner, were there to appeal to local politicians and lawmakers.
L.A.'s restaurants and other independent businesses say they are hurting and need the city's help in the wake of last month's fires. Some restaurants have seen as much as a 90% decrease in business. Some are already closing because of it.
'Usually I try to stay out of local politics,' said Avila, founder of Guerrilla Tacos and chef of restaurants MXO and Ka'teen. 'But this is something that's super important.'
The fires destroyed and damaged some of the city's most storied restaurants and bars, but many that survived now face an uncertain future. On Wednesday, lauded Pasadena restaurant Bar Chelou — an L.A. Times 101 List awardee — announced its permanent closure, citing the nearby Eaton fire's decimation of business as a factor. On Jan. 11, Silver Lake lesbian wine bar and restaurant the Ruby Fruit announced its closure 'due to financial impact from the current natural disaster.' Its owners hope to reopen someday.
'It's reached this critical level with restaurants in L.A. that there's not really a light at the end of the tunnel,' said Ruby Fruit co-owner Mara Herbkersman. 'This is not just us speaking, this is talking to other owners [too], and some sort of intervention feels really necessary at this point in order to avoid a mass industry shutdown.'
At MXO and Ka'teen, Avila said he saw a drop in sales of 60% to 70% since the fires. On Tuesday he joined his business partner Giancarlo Pagani — author of a new petition for support — calling on L.A. and California politicians to encourage dining out as the city recovers and rebuilds. Pagani is a partner in Mother Wolf Group as well as Avila's MXO, a Mexican steakhouse in Beverly Grove.
As of Thursday more than 2,000 signatories endorsed Pagani's message to lawmakers, including Funke and Mother Wolf's Evan Funke, A.O.C.'s Suzanne Goin, Tao Group's Gregory Bach and Ben Shenassafar of the Benjamin and the Hundreds.
The petition, addressed to Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, calls on them 'to amplify public messaging that encourages Angelenos to support their local businesses during this critical time,' possibly with a coordinated campaign.
As the fires devastated the city, some of the first aid administered to Los Angeles was provided by chefs and restaurants. Many immediately began preparing and delivering free meals for first responders and those displaced. Some partnered with organizations such as World Central Kitchen, which reimburses restaurants for their product and efforts. Others say they provided aid out of their own pockets.
On Tuesday Avila, Pagani and Trent Lockett, co-owner of events company Nya Studios, met with District 4 City Councilmember Nithya Raman, a proponent of pandemic-era dining programs such as L.A. Al Fresco and moratoriums on ticketing unpermitted street vendors.
The trio said that while politicians are sharing news of fundraisers and programs to help those affected by fires, they have not heard messaging about supporting small business — and they hope Councilmember Raman and others can start.
'When a single event cancels, it's not just us,' Lockett said in the meeting. He added that all January events canceled due to the fires. 'There's hundreds of people that are involved. I think we're here on behalf of the people we support.'
Raman said she had already been in touch with local restaurateurs, including the owners of Silver Lake restaurants Kismet and Bé Ù, about the state of their businesses and possible solutions.
'Strangely out of this came a sense of real reconnection to Los Angeles,' she said during the meeting. 'People want to lift up Los Angeles.'
'I'm investing significantly in Los Angeles restaurants this year and it's not easy,' Pagani told Raman, adding that there is a preconception among restaurateurs that it's uniquely difficult to do business in California. 'Now it's amplified by the fires. I keep thinking: Why am I trying to open more restaurants? ... I love the team-building of it, I love the shared opportunity. For us to continue doing that in L.A. we need support in sharing the messaging, because people are scared. Investors are really scared.'
The restaurateur likens the economic fallout from the fires to 'a micro recession' and 'a micro pandemic.'
Pagani's Mother Wolf and adjacent cocktail bar, Mars, saw a decrease in business of roughly 80%, while private events falloff in his restaurants and at his Hollywood events space was 100%. His restaurants are slowly beginning to recover but are running at 65% to 75% of their business compared to the week before the fires began.
'We had guests at Mother Wolf that literally were asking for their checks because they had just found out they were in an evacuation area,' Pagani said.
Pagani's restaurants shuttered the first few days of the fires but reopened that weekend in order to give roughly 400 staff members hours.
On Jan. 11, after 'an instantaneous decline of like 90%' of business the week of the fires, Herbkersman and Emily Bielagus decided to close the Ruby Fruit, one of the city's few queer-owned-and-focused hospitality spaces. The announcement made waves in the region's queer communities, with thousands of responses — many begging for the closure to be temporary.
Both of the Ruby Fruit's owners signed Pagani's petition.
'We are delighted to stand with our fellow small business owners in Los Angeles,' Bielagus told The Times, 'and the idea of pressing the government and finding resources to help small businesses is really a critical and crucial cause.'
On Wednesday, they announced a fundraising event to help save their wine bar and restaurant. Ticket proceeds from the event, which will be held Feb. 22, will help to reopen the Ruby Fruit and compensate for business losses caused by the city's fires.
Though patrons can't currently visit the Ruby Fruit, its owners said they hope Angelenos will take the message of the petition to heart and support other small businesses around the city.
'Even if people aren't necessarily coming to our restaurant because we are temporarily closed,' Bielagus said, 'anyone in Los Angeles spending their money anywhere is going to help ignite and reignite and invigorate the economy of Los Angeles.'
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