Chicago Business Curfew, Contact State Leaders
Thursday, October 22, 2020
The Illinois Restaurant Association continues to engage with local, state, and federal officials to help our employers and employees address concerns about COVID-19. Please see the below resources and information for your business - updated as of 2:25 p.m. on Thursday, October 22. *** City of Chicago 10:00 p.m. Business Curfew Effective Tomorrow, No Change to Restaurant Occupancy, Taverns Without Food Must Close Indoor Service
Moments ago, Mayor Lightfoot announced a series a measures meant to curb the spread of COVID-19, including a 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. business curfew and ending of liquor sales at 9:00 p.m. nightly, and no indoor service at bars and taverns that do not have a retail food license. Restaurants continue to be allowed to serve customers indoors with 40% occupancy and a maximum of 50 people per room or space with social distancing. Additional details include: Restaurants may continue operating for take-out, delivery or curbside pickup, but indoor or outdoor consumption of food or alcohol must cease at 10:00 p.m. Additionally, all bars, taverns, or breweries that do not have a Retail Food Establishment License will no longer be able to serve customers indoors at any time. All establishments that serve alcohol for on-site consumption must end alcohol service (last call) at 9:00 p.m. before closing at 10:00 p.m. under the business curfew. All liquor sales of packaged goods for off-premises consumption, via delivery or carry-out, must end at 9:00 p.m. All other existing restrictions remain in place, including indoor capacity limits at restaurants of 40% or 50 people within a room or space.
The Mayor's office has shared with the IRA that their intent is for these measures to be in place for a minimum of two weeks in order to slow the spread. Click here to read the full announcement. The city of Chicago's positivity rate has been steadily rising for several days. If the city's positivity rate reaches 8.0% for three consecutive days, the state of Illinois' mitigation plan will automatically take effect - including the closure of indoor service at restaurants and bars. The state's authority supersedes the city of Chicago's related to reopening. The IRA remains in constant communication with Mayor Lightfoot and city leaders, and we will share more updates as they become available. Read more: Send a Message to State Leaders - Allow for Indoor Service in Regional Mitigation
The IRA is calling on Governor Pritzker and the General Assembly to take a pragmatic, tiered approach to mitigations and provide direct financial support to struggling restaurants around the state. Unless the state of Illinois takes a more reasonable approach to mitigation, thousands of restaurants are at risk of permanent closure. Here's how you can help our efforts: Send a message to the Governor and leaders in the General Assembly to urge them to allow restaurants to remain open for indoor service during mitigation. Share our campaign via text or email with at least five colleagues in the industry, and ask them to send the message to the Governor and share the campaign with their networks as well. Post the link to the campaign on your personal and business social media channels, and tag three industry colleagues in the post. Sample post language below: "Tell Governor Pritzker and the General Assembly to allow struggling restaurants to maintain indoor service during regional mitigation and provide direct financial support to our state’s 25,000+ restaurants. Restaurants need help to survive now and thrive in the future!”
To be clear - the IRA is not advising for operators to disobey any state orders while we strongly advocate for necessary changes to the state’s mitigation plan. Read more:
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