Eateries form ‘Save St. Louis Restaurants from Extinction’ group
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St. Louis. MO (KMOV) — At Colbalt Smoke and Sea in Creve Coeur, owner Bernadette Faasen looks around her dining room and wonders how they will survive a month of empty tables.
“We’re really concerned for our employees at this point, especially before the holidays. How are they going to buy gifts? How are they going to pay rent?” she wonders.
Faasen is working with several other restaurants to form a campaign called “Save St. Louis Restaurants from Extinction,” and hopes to work with County Executive Sam Page.
“We want to talk to Dr. Sam Page, not anything negative. I respect him. I support everything he’s doing with COVID. However, we want to be heard,” she explained.
She says in the group are the owners of Napoli, Herbie’s, Walnut Grill and Wildwood Pub and Grill.
It’s a different approach than some other St. Louis County restaurants. The Bartolino Restaurant group announced they plan to file a lawsuit along with several other family owned restaurants against the county executive over the restrictions on indoor dining.
“Sam Page’s overreach with the arbitrary closure of indoor dining for county restaurants and bars is irresponsible. The final weeks of the year are consistently one of the most important times of the year for restaurant employees. Our employees are FAMILY, and Sam Page took a direct uppercut towards their livelihood. We have partnered with other local county restaurants to file a lawsuit against Sam Page, and plan to REMAIN OPEN for SAFE Indoor Dining,” reads a Facebook post for Bartolino’s Restaurant. They have a location in St. Louis City which is not impacted but their second location in South County would be impacted by the new restrictions going into effect on Tuesday.
News 4 has reached out to several other restaurants tagged in the post and will update the story with information on who plans to join the suit.
Bernadette Faasen says she was on the call with the Bartolino restaurant owners and others but chose to not take that route.
“Honestly it’s not for us. We’re not trying to come at anything from an attack mode,” she explained. Instead, she hopes to focus on talking to the county about ensuring the shutdown doesn’t last longer than four weeks.
“We survived the first round. We want to survive the second round but there are many restaurants that are not going to survive and we want to save them from extinction,” she said.
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