Barry O’Donovan can make a lot of sandwiches with 2,000 pounds of corned beef.
With 30 barrels of beer, he can make the suds flow into plenty of mugs and growlers, too.
The owner of Kilkenny House Restaurant & Pub in Cranford won’t be able to do either for St. Patrick’s Day, or beyond, after Gov. Phil Murphy took the next step to fight the spread of coronavirus.
On Monday, as the state reported at least 178 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the governor banned dining in restaurants (they are still open for take-out), and closed all movie theaters, casinos, gyms, performing arts centers, night clubs, racetracks, and classes.
Murphy’s edict builds on ground rules that Cranford had already set for its businesses. Mayor Patrick Giblin and the township committee decided that all non-essential businesses must eliminate pubic access. The rule in Cranford applies to restaurants and bars, but also spas, nail salons, barbershops and salons.
“It’s challenging, but we are tasked with keeping our residents safe," Giblin said.
O’Donovan is not crazy about it, but he understands.
“It’s about lives now,” he said.
Sonny Gjevukaj gets it, too, but it hurts the owner of five New Jersey restaurants with 150 employees.
In Cranford, Sonny G’s Brick Oven and Italian Cucina would have been filled with lunchtime customers. On Monday, even before the mandated closure went into effect, the place was empty. His other restaurants, including a pizzeria, a hibachi steak house and seafood spot, were not doing well, either. The people have stopped coming.
“They don’t want to take a chance," he said.
In the meantime, his workers don’t know what to do. They live paycheck to paycheck. He hopes the state and local governments can do something for small business owners while they deal with the health crises.
At NJ WineSeller, customers were getting ahead of the town curfew. Sebastian Carvalho was stocking up Monday with several cases of beer after a friend told him about the mandate.
“Hopefully what we have right now is sufficient, so we won’t have to come back out," he said.
Anthony Infantino, left, general manager at NJ Wine Seller talks with a customer about her order. The mayor of Cranford is enforcing restrictions that will remain in place for at least two weeks on downtown businesses in an effort to reduce the transmission of the coronavirus.Monday, Mar. 16, 2020. Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media
If it doesn’t last, Carvalho said he would order in advance and wait outside for the store to bring his order to the curb. That’s how the store manager, Anthony Infantino, explained it.
“Call me over the phone, pay over the phone, somebody runs out a box to you, and you’re done," he said.
They’ll make home deliveries, too.
Wow!
“Wow is right," Infantino said.
It works, but it’s not ideal. The new way of doing business is going to cut back on employee hours, he said.
“It’s going to hurt us in every way."
Down the street, Angelo Lomonte said he’s going to miss the morning crowd who comes into eat breakfast at Mr. J’s Sloppy Joes.
“We have to do what we have to do," he said.
They will deliver locally, and to comply with the rules, he said take-out is available.
“We’ve been telling people all day."
O’Donovan said it’s going to be tough. Thirty-five of his employees – about 14 are full-time – won’t have a job.
“They are tip employees," he said. “They don’t have a nest egg saved up."
As for the corned beef, O’Donovan said it’s yours -- for a price.
The beer is for sale, too, but he’s hoping the beer company will take it back.
“I don’t know when I’m going to be open again," said O’Donovan, who will do take-out orders.
“It could be two weeks. It could be three months.”
By then, the beer won’t be good to drink.
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Barry Carter may be reached at bcarter@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BarryCarterSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips.
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