 and welcome to Restaurants Hawaii. I'm Taka Wa'i. I'm your host, Cheryl Matsuoka, the Executive Director of Hawaii Restaurant Association. Today we'll be speaking with a restaurateur. He's an owner who has three locations on Oahu and the question to him is, is Oahu's emergency order number 2021-15, has it helped his business? First of all, I'd like to introduce Hawaii Restaurant Association's Executive Assistant, Siobhan Garcia. Hi, Siobhan. Can you introduce our guest? Yes. Hi, Cheryl. Thank you. Today we have Nicholas Wong. He is the founder and owner of YourLab Hawaii. He's also one of Hawaii Restaurant Association's newest board members. So welcome. Thank you, everybody, for having me. Yes. So on Wednesday, October 27th, 2021, Oahu's Mayor Rick Longiardi announced the loosening of some COVID-19 restrictions, allowing those restaurants and bars who have licenses to stay open later. They can stay open until either their license says it can stay open until either 2 a.m. or 4 a.m. to follow their licenses. And the announcement comes as Oahu's vaccination rate has increased to 73 percent. And we're one of the highest in the nation. And our city has also seen a decrease in COVID cases, hospitalization, and even death. So today we'll be discussing will the announcement relaxing some of these mandates, will it help restaurants and bars? So Siobhan, you want to go ahead and take it away with some questions for Nick? Sure. Well, thank you again for joining us, Nick. As Cheryl was talking about, we have all these different mandates that have come about over the last, what, 19 months, I believe. And just want to find out from you what are some of the biggest challenges that you had to deal with in dealing with all the different mandates? Oh, well, again, thank you guys for having me. I mean, really, where do we start with all of it? I mean, it's been up and down, you know, for the past, you know, feels like, you know, two full long years here. But I mean, really, the biggest and the hardest thing is that, of course, with the pandemic, you know, we've seen, you know, the ups and downs of, you know, getting sick, hospitals getting full. And really, the changing of these mandates has been a really, really difficult thing for us to want to understand, to learn, to try to educate our staff and really try to figure out how to follow these mandates. Yeah, it's really been a wild ride. You know, and again, you know, we are really focused on, hey, we want to be keeping our staff safe. And we want to be keeping, you know, our customers to be in a safe environment. But again, I mean, with these changing mandates, it has been very, very, very tough for the kids to follow and try to understand what direction and really what we're supposed to be doing. Yeah, I understand it's hard for everyone to kind of be able to read between the lines and some of these things and to really have to implement. Have you felt like you've had to make different changes for, I know you have three different locations, do you want to let everybody know where your three locations are? And maybe if you do have anything you have to do differently? Absolutely. I guess just to start. So yeah, we have three locations. One is located at 1010 University Avenue, which is right on University Ave across the street of Pucks Alley. That is our original location. We started brewing beer there back in 2016. And we have our original OG tap room there. Our second location is out in YPL, or YPL Gentry Area and the more industrial area. That is our main production facility, which now holds all of our brewing operation. Really cool location, able to see the brewing operations as they're going and see brewers coming in and out brewing beer and have a chance to chat with them. And then yeah, finally our newest location is our location in Pearl Ridge Mall. We were able to take over the old Applebee's actually during COVID. But yeah, it's a great restaurant, great tap room, full menu. We were able to actually incorporate a lot of food truck chefs into that operation. But yeah, I really could go into a little bit of the changes that we've had to make as these new mandates came out. And really the newest one, or I guess almost newest one, is really that the Safe Access Oahu, which is to check vaccine cards. You know, truly it's been a struggle. You know, one, you know, we are already an alcohol establishment checking, you know, IDs making sure that people are safe, drinking safe in a safe environment. But you know, really, we don't, we don't, we don't function as a true restaurant with a whole stand. You know, we're at Pearl Ridge, we have two entrances, one from the mall side, one from the street side. And to be able to really control those people and to make sure that everybody is getting back, is getting checked. You know, who's just, you know, we don't have somebody just sneaking and sitting down. So, I mean, we went a little old school and went back to stamping of hands to make sure that we get everybody checked. But yeah, I mean, really, now there's a pretty long list of welcome to beer lab. Here's your COVID tracking form. Can I see your ID? Can I see your vaccine card? Please don't walk around. Please keep your mask on. Please sit down. And, you know, I mean, it's been tough, but I, you know, really just kind of rolling with the punches. Yeah, it's interesting to say the least, but I, you know, it sounds like you guys are doing a really good job with being able to handle the changes. You know, and so you were talking about how you have the, at your Pearl Ridge location, two entrances and trying to keep everybody contained, I guess, right, to make sure that you check everything. That was actually one of my questions as well was with the safe access, you know, changes, but not only are these new changes that we're hearing coming around welcome news, or is it just kind of a, maybe not taking too many big steps in the right direction? Well, I mean, of course, you know, being able to, I guess, utilize our licenses as we intend in when we open our businesses, of course, that that is a step in the right direction. However, you know, being in the restaurant industry, we know that, you know, there's, we don't have a steady stream of business. We have waves of business and, you know, that comes as a, you know, what we call, you know, dinner rush, there's a lunch rush, you know, and we need to be peaking in this case, being at full capacity. We need that ability to be able to make, you know, make the income that we need during those hours. You know, people don't want to be eating at nine o'clock at night, but, you know, hey, we're packed at six, but, you know, packed for us now is, I mean, it's a hollow, it's a hollow inkling of what it used to be. And really, until we're able to get back to that, you know, 100% capacity, you know, we're still going to be struggling. And I think, you know, yes, while we're thankful that, hey, we can get back to this 2am, 4am opening, it really, really still hurts when we have the, you know, until we get rid of the 100% and the six feet, you know, we're not going to be able to see much improvement in our business at that point. Yeah. And, you know, you're talking about the six foot distancing that is still even at 100% capacity, most restaurants can't even operate at 100% if they have to have that distancing. Are there any other changes that you're really looking forward to hopefully coming out in the coming, whether it's weeks or months as we start to make these little bit smaller strides as moving forward? Yeah, I mean, you know, truly, we're, you know, we're always really worried about, you know, public safety. And, you know, we really want to be all on board with whatever mandates come out. One thing that we are starting to really struggle with and find some sense in is that, hey, if we're going to be checking vaccine cards and we're only going to be letting 100% fully vaccinated people in, we're going to stick to this, you know, and now we have on top of that, we have a mask mandate or you have to wear a mask when you're, you know, you're standing up, sitting down. And then on top of that, we have to be space six feet apart. And then on top of that, we have to be, you know, 50% capacity. It's, it really starts to, I guess, give a, for us a little bit of a mixed message on one, we're trying to do business, but we're now we're at the point where we have layer upon layer upon layer of, of really mandates and restrictions that feel a little bit, I guess, in our opinion, a little bit lost on really what we're trying to do. And so yes, I mean, really, we are looking for, I guess, we are looking for a lot of these restrictions to be, I guess, removed. And, you know, hey, let's, let's kind of narrow our focus, let's be a little smarter on how we're going to be restricting things instead of just piling on and piling on. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for answering and giving a little bit of a background on your locations. We really appreciate it. Back to you, Cheryl. Thank you. So Nick, you know, the Hawaii Restaurant Association sent out a survey, and the survey results came in. So the survey was taken from October 21st to the 26th, and that was the period that we knew that we were out of the Delta. But yet, some of the restrictions are still very, very strict on us. So the impact of the survey showed us, and you tell me if this is the case in beer lab, right, that 80% of the restaurant surveyed said that they definitely saw a revenue dip of 30% or more. What kind of revenue dip did you see since, you know, as a Delta? So yeah, we're pretty right on board with that survey. We see 30% to 40% decline in business. And, you know, really, October is historically a slow month, but we've really never seen these huge dips, you know, in loss of revenue. And, you know, it's really hard for us to say like, hey, we have safe access and, you know, here we're all on board with this, but it is really difficult for us to be able to do anything as a business, to be able to promote something, to be able to plan an event, to be able to do anything to drive customers to our location. So where, you know, a little bit of it is we are sitting with our hands kind of stuck in our pockets, not being able to do anything, bring people in, do any promotions to get people excited. Because, you know, truly we're, you know, we're really kind of stuck with this six to eight o'clock window of where we try to do most of our business. And we try to do even more of our business on the Friday, Saturdays. And without that 100% capacity, it's almost like we're never going to be able to get back to that revenue that we've seen before and to hire our people back and, you know, to really create an experience that people want to enjoy dining. Exactly. And, you know, one of the main factors that was brought up in the survey is because restaurants are seeing lower foot traffic, which includes visitors. As you know, we saw decline in visitors. 27% of dropped from July to September. So July we saw peak, we saw summer, which was, you know, an awesome time. And all of a sudden come August and September, our visitor numbers dropped 27%. Now, I don't know how much of that percentage of visitors beer lab gets, but I do know that many of your probably your patrons work in the hotels that are not at full capacity. And so, I mean, you share with us, has the visitor industry's decline, has it affected beer lab? Oh, I mean, of course, I mean, luckily, you know, we aren't super, you know, tourism dependent for our customers. But, you know, economy as a whole for Hawaii, you know, everybody is connected. And, you know, while we're not seeing a lot of tourists as our customers, you know, our customers are the ones who are, you know, serving the tourists. And, you know, when they see a drop in their revenue, of course, they're going to say, Hey, no, I got to stay home. I have to, you know, save money. I have to cook at home. And, and yeah, it really is a, it's a two trickle down effect from, you know, top to bottom. And of course, you know, we've, I mean, you know, just kind of going back to the survey, we see that 40% decline in revenue, you know, it truly is top top to bottom, you know, if we're going to see a decline in our economy from, you know, which is tourism is our largest, you know, part of our economy to see that huge dip there, we're going to see it hitting us in some way or form, really across the board. And, and yes, it was, it still is. But yeah, that was a very difficult time. Exactly. And I get feedback because Hawaii Restaurant Association represents the whole food service industry, also our suppliers, our farmers, our delivery people, you know, they all got affected because there was, there weren't as many tourists, visitors here in town. 19% of our restaurants also stated that they lost over 30% of their employees in September and October. And many of it is due to, of course, the declining sales. As we get ramped up for the holidays, like for me at my restaurants, we're currently getting ready to get geared up for the holidays. Normally, we have a busy, you know, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, everybody else, everybody's out celebrating the holidays. So you share with us is the beer lab seeing a labor shortage, and that you are looking for more staff to get you through the holidays? Oh, I mean, absolutely, we're always looking for great people. But, you know, it's been, it's been a weird year with things. And, you know, our biggest thing is it's difficult for us to plan out really where and how many people we're going to need. You know, again, going back to, you know, this, you know, there was 50% restriction. If we don't even know when this is going to go away and we don't know how long we're going to be stuck with it, it's difficult for us to really hire the correct labor, you know, labor levels that we're going to need to just, you know, really, we just don't know. I mean, are we going to, you know, be stuck in this till, you know, so Christmas? And that for us is really going to hurt, you know, missing really the entire holiday season of sales. You know, and again, kind of going back to it, you know, people don't want to eat dinner at four o'clock, right? They want to be eating at six, seven to eight, you know, and to be constrained in those hours is really just kind of, you know, decimating us at this point. But yeah, I mean, really with the labor shortage, I mean, yes, you know, we're short on labor, but we don't even know what level we're trying to get up to because we don't know when the capacities are going to be raised to be able to hire up to that portion on that level. I have so many restaurants that report back to me that when they reach back out to their long-time employees, you know, the employees have decided to either move away because they move back home to where they came from, or they decided to get out of the industry because of the volatility, you know, they need consistent income also. And so they didn't know whether or not it would be something that they could support their family with. So we saw a lot of people leave our industry. So we're hoping that all those employees come back. We hope that, you know, we can get to the holidays fully staffed because we're in the service industry, right, Nick? I mean, we want our patrons to enjoy a good dining experience and we need employees to do that. Something else that the survey results revealed was that 80% of the restaurant tours said that over 70% of their employees are vaccinated. And many of the restaurants that did fill out the survey said that they're at like 99%. And maybe, you know, there's a few people that have religious or medical reasons that they can't take the vaccine. Now, do you see that because of the mandates, do you see that more of your employees are taking the vaccination? Absolutely. And we are truly 100% on board with that portion of it. We are, yeah, we are in the 99% of our company vaccinated. And yeah, I mean, you know, I think, well, you know, of course, we make some mandates, we make some rules, I think really, this one, this one truly hit the mark and kind of, you know, really did well for what its intention was. And yeah, I mean, we've seen, you know, a few of our employees that were on the fence now get vaccinated. And we are really, yeah, we saw really good things come out from this one. That's awesome. You know, we believe that our guests really feel more comfortable knowing that we have a mandate that our employees need to be vaccinated or take a test, a weekly test. So for us at my restaurant, they have to upload if they're not vaccinated for medical reasons or religious reasons, they have to upload their negative result on Monday morning by 7am, get on the schedule for the week. And that has been a system. And if they don't upload, then they're not scheduled, basically. So, you know, we are definitely, you know, hearing from a lot of the, many of the restaurants, all of them that this whole mandate has increased the vaccination percentage. As you know, Hawaii Restaurant Association was one of the leaders on the high got vaccinated campaign, encouraging our community to get vaccinated, because we know that that's the way out of this pandemic. So yes, you know, getting the information back from the survey saying, many of the restaurants say, Hey, we're at 99%. And some of the restaurants reported back to we're at 100% fully vaccinated, because they feel that that's really important to ensure that their patrons feel comfortable in their dining rooms. Also, many of the restaurateurs are sharing with me that as they are interviewing and hiring new staff, that is now one of the questions on the application process. So is that something that beer lab is also saying that, you know, if we're going to have any new hires, you better be number one vaccinator or be willing to upload your negative test every week? Oh, absolutely. I mean, you know, of course, being vaccinated, it gives us, you know, a less of a headache to really figure out, are you going to be available for this week or for the next week? Yeah, and of course, you know, we really do prefer people coming vaccinated. But of course, you know, we do know that, hey, there might be, you know, a few outliers here and there about why you cannot. And then, you know, of course, that that is that is number one of the questions. Otherwise, they can't work with us. I mean, that's again, that's that's just a world we're living in right now. Yes, it is. And we see that many of those employees that has chosen or cannot because of medical reasons, you know, they're in other industries. So and that's okay, because for medical reasons or religious reasons, they can't get vaccinated. You know, right now, our infectious rate, our COVID cases, our hospitalization, our deaths are all very low. So it, you know, it's working, right? The herd immunity numbers are definitely working. And we're hoping to get out of this pandemic really soon. Cheryl's tired of it. It's 19 months of being in this pandemic. Nick, I am so over this. Oh my goodness. But yes, 58% of the restaurants pulled said that they believe that because of this mandate, restaurants, the vaccination mandate for employees and for patrons, they believe that it is a lot more comfortable to dine in restaurants because they know that we have these strict mandates on us. So it's been a kind of a blessing in itself because we know that we need to get out of this pandemic. So let's go ahead then. Is there any closing remarks before I make my closing remarks? Siobhan, any closing remarks? Nope. Just thank you to Nicholas for joining us and we're very grateful to have you on as one of our newest members as well. Nicholas, any closing remarks before I close the show? Sure. We would really appreciate if you guys all came out and supported the local restaurant. Really, if you are able to, we would love if everybody would dine in with us. If not, grab some beer to go or to be able to check out some of our special releases and as we try to connect with our other local businesses and try to really bring everybody up through this rough time. Thank you, Nick. And really and truly, Nick is so right. The survey results reflects that many of the restaurants are still struggling. And as we heard from a local restaurant tour with three locations today, the restaurants really need our community support. If you are able to, as Nick said, support our local Hawaii restaurants. Dine in, take out, purchase a gift card. Any support would be greatly appreciated. And again, the Hawaii Restaurant Association is the voice for our food service industry and we look forward to dining together again. Thank you.