At Shaw’s Tavern, some of the regulars have let the staff know they might not be in for a while. After all, another government shutdown is here. “A lot of them are really uncertain how long it’s going to last, and even if they’re going to have their jobs at the end,” says general manager and partner Rob Heim. While some furloughed workers have used past shutdowns as an excuse to go out drinking, “it was more of sad feeling this go around.”
It’s not just furloughed government workers who are particularly anxious about this shutdown. Restaurants are also bracing for yet one more hit amid an already rough year for the DC dining scene. Costs have gone up for everything from labor to ingredients. Mass federal layoffs—or fear of them—mean diners are tighter with their spending. Tourism is down. And many business are just climbing out of an August slump worsened by the federal law enforcement takeover and immigration crackdown.
“We’re just getting back up and now this. So I’m a little concerned to see how many people are going to stay home now,” Heim says. Shaw’s Tavern is holding off on plans to give staff more shifts after a summer slump. Heim says they haven’t hired anyone new all year.
While discounted meals and all-day happy hours might bring out crowds initially, the fear is that this shutdown could drag on like it did during the 35-day shutdown from late 2018 into January 2019.
“The bars got packed because people were commiserating and drinking. The restaurant obviously got quiet,” recalls Carmine’s owner Jeff Banks. While he doesn’t remember exactly how much of a hit the Penn Quarter Italian restaurant ultimately took during that time, he estimates it was about a 10 to 20 percent decline in sales.
“Just the uncertainty is what the problem is,” Banks says. “Should you lay somebody off? Should you cut the schedule? Should you not cut the schedule? You don’t want to cut your key staff members’ hours, right? But then how many weeks can you carry everyone?”
Those decisions are all the harder now because DC restaurants are in a very different position than they were in 2019. Micheline Mendelsohn, whose restaurants include burger joint Good Stuff Eatery and We, The Pizza, says customer count is already down because everything has gotten so much more expensive and people have become more accustomed to cooking at home post-pandemic. The size of the staff isn’t what it used to be either: What was once a team of 65 at Good Stuff Eatery before the pandemic is now around 20.
“It feels different, like there’s more things that we’re coming up against,” Mendelsohn says. “The government shutdown for us is just another exhausting pivot.”
If the shutdown drags on, she fears pivoting won’t be enough for some small businesses: “It could definitely be the death knell, because I think restaurants are hanging on by a thread now, hoping things will get better.”
Mendelsohn’s restaurants also do a lot of catering on Capitol Hill. Perhaps tellingly, not a lot of takeout is headed to Congress right now.
“When people were having these hour-long meetings on how to come to together on issues, we obviously delivered a lot of pizzas from We, The Pizza,” she says. “We haven’t seen that in the last day or two.”
Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind D.C.’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.
